Go and do

WHAT: New Year’s Bethel celebration

WHEN: 6 p.m. to midnight Monday, Dec. 31

WHERE: Venues for performers include Gould Academy’s Bingham Hall and Bingham gym, the Bethel Church of the Nazarene, and the West Parish Congregational Church. Other activities will be on the Bethel Hill Common.

COST: Adults $12 each; ages 6 to 18 are $10 each; ages 5 and under get in free.

INFO: Contact the Bethel Historical Society at 824-2908 or 800-824-2910, [email protected], or visit the society’s Web site at www.bethelhistorical.org/.

Bethel to ring in 2008
Celebration will feature children’s dragon parade

BETHEL – Organizers behind New Year’s Bethel are expecting between 400 and 500 people of all ages on New Year’s Eve.

The 10th annual event, which starts at 6 p.m. today with a children’s dragon parade at the town common, will feature seven performing groups or individuals from 7 to 10:15 p.m.

“It’s a well-balanced program with new acts and a new humorist,” organizer Stan Howe, executive director of the Bethel Historical Society, said Friday afternoon.

And, if Mother Nature cooperates, there should be some light snow falling to give the historic Bethel village setting a nostalgic Currier-and-Ives ambiance.

“Light snow, we like that. As long as it’s not too heavy. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for light snow,” Howe said.

New this year is an old-fashioned sing-along from 10:30 to 11:30 p.m. with pianist Lynn Arizzi in the meeting room at the Dr. Moses Mason Home.

“We’ll sing ‘Auld Lang Syne’ as the last song before we go down to the town clock and ring in the New Year with our historical bells,” Howe said.

Also new are Maine humorist and storyteller Clyde Folsom, a Millinockett native, and professional performing artist Judy Lee. Lee, Howe said, will perform a fast-paced, fun-filled, Broadway-style cabaret show for kids of all ages.

Other mainstay performers include State Street Traditional Jazz Band, three-member contra-dancing band Ti’ Acadie, local singing duo Jewel Clark and Donnie Katlin, and the Finnish lap-harp music group, The Maine Kanteles.

The Kanteles are a group of 10 women – many of Finnish heritage – from central and western Maine.

Additionally, from 7 to 10 p.m., there will be marshmallow roasting on Bethel Hill Common and horse and wagon rides through Bethel village.

“We went through several hundred marshmallows last year,” Howe added.