POLAND – The Thompson Lake Environmental Association annual meeting will be held at Camp Fernwood on Saturday, Aug. 5. The meeting is scheduled from 8:30 a.m. for coffee and refreshments, registration and sales to 11:30 a.m.

Camp Fernwood is hosting the meeting and providing the refreshments and coffee. The association will have items for sale: hats, T-shirts, cups and hand-carved loon ornaments.

The co-presidents will report on the association’s new quarters at Robinson Mill. Dr. Scott Bernardy will report on the Benthine Tarp project to reduce and eliminate milfoil in the Otisfield Cove area and on the invasive plant species workshop held on June 28 at the Otisfield Community Hall.

Principal Jane Fahey will report on Lake Day at Agassiz Village held on May 25. More than 140 students from SAD 17 participated.

The third annual I Did A Paddle event will be announced by the Events Committee as well as plans for an old-fashioned barbecue at Agassiz Village Camp on Saturday, Aug. 26.

Tom Brennan, head geologist from the Poland Spring Bottling Co., will be the keynote speaker on lake aquifers.

The I Did A Paddle will take place Saturday, Aug. 12, and rain and wind date will be Saturday, Aug. 17. The event will start at boat ramp at the Thompson Lake Marina on the south end of Thompson Lake at 9 a.m. and end at Pismo Beach in Oxford. During August 2005, more than 52 entrants participated.

A cookout will await paddlers and sailors (it is hoped sailboats will join in this year) at Pismo Beach at approximately 11:15 a.m.

At the finish of the race, Tony Caggiano from Sand Island Cove will head up the cookout. Registration is requested prior to the event if possible. Those interested can call the association office at 539-3545 anytime and leave name, address, e-mail, phone number and number of participants. There is no registration fee.

Registrants wishing to eat at the cookout should indicate that when they call. Deadline is Friday, Aug. 11, so the cooking crew will know how much food to buy and prepare. Lunch guests not paddling or sailing are welcome. The cost of the cookout will be $6 a person.

Each participant must wear a life jacket while in the regatta. Approximately four committee/safety boats will accompany the participants during the regatta and they will fly orange ID flags and will have water to distribute.

In the event of bad weather, the office will have a message on its answering system, and there will be notices of cancellation posted at the launch site at Thompson Lake Marina and at Pismo Beach.

For more information, call the association office at 539-3545; Sharon Rice at 998-2088; or Jane Fahey at 6274936.

An association fundraiser barbecue planned from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 26, at Agassiz Village Camp, Johnson Hill Road, West Poland. There will be barbecued pork and chicken, baked beans and potato salad, desserts and beverages. The food will be prepared by Jeff Cain of Oxford.

All lake and watershed residents and guests are invited to attend by car or boat. Cost is $15 a person; free, children under 12.

Chairman Tony Caggiano and Events Committee are in charge. Register prior to the event by calling association office, pay at the annual meeting, the regatta or at the event.

For more information call Caggiano at 539-4864 or Rice at 998-2088.