Nateva — the three-day festival that attracted thousands of people to the Oxford Fairgrounds in July — was a good neighbor while it was here, and is making itself a good friend to Oxford Hills students now.

On Monday, Nateva Festival President Frank Chandler presented a $5,000 check to the Oxford Hills school district.

Chandler’s gift will be used to update the school’s auditorium sound system, a project the district had planned but didn’t complete because it didn’t have the funds. The upgraded sound system will truly enhance performances in the auditorium, and is a fitting and generous gift from a concert promoter to student performers.

Cheers to Chandler.

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This past Wednesday was International Walk and Bike to School Day. It’s a day organized to highlight the benefits of walking or biking to school.

Some schools in Maine organized “walking school buses,” with an adult supervising a group of student walkers. Other schools organized “bike trains,” with children cycling to school with adult volunteers. Other schools organized events at school, with students walking or biking some distance around a track or around a school building.

Schools were asked to register their programs with the Maine Department of Transportation, and 23 schools did. None of them were in Androscoggin, Oxford or Franklin counties.

According to MDOT, a major goal of the day’s events is to “increase bicycle, pedestrian and traffic safety,” a worthy goal given the increasing inactivity and resulting obesity of today’s youngsters.

There are resources for schools to plan such things through Maine’s Safe Routes to School program, a program MDOT says is recognized as a national model for keeping children safe from “traffic dangers while walking and bicycling to school.”

To be fair, for many students in rural Maine, it’s just not practical to walk or bike to school because sidewalks are lacking along narrow roads. But there’s no reason every school in Maine could not have organized an at-school activity that day to highlight the importance of walking and biking, if not to school, then to other locations, for exercise or for just plain fun.

Active and healthy lifestyles don’t just happen. We have to walk the walk, and our schools are natural places for students to learn how.

Jeers for missing that opportunity.

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The two-day Dempsey Challenge raised $1.1 million last weekend, which is worth a hearty cheer. So, too, is the care organizers took to include children in the event, from Saturday’s Kids Fun Run to Sunday’s short cycling routes.

Everyone who registered to participate in the 5K/10K or any of the bike routes received a participant packet of coupons and other goodies, which is common for these kinds of fundraising events, but the Dempsey organizers also provided packets for children who participated in the Fun Run.

The packets included handmade pillowcases featuring bright colors and lively characters — the perfect combination for children. It took enormous effort to organize and hand-craft so many cases, but the work was true to the Dempsey Center’s mission of hope, healing and caring for people of all ages.

Cheers to that.

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