It doesn’t take too long for colorful lawn chairs to pop up on our lawns or grills to be hauled onto the decks. Well past the calendar date, spring has arrived: daffodils, forsythia, and the “golden” centerline painting on Main Road.

Another busy weekend in the neighborhood: the Wiscasset Primary School and Partners in Education (PIE) are holding their Spring Dinner and Raffle this Friday, May 3.

This is a major fundraiser to help our youngsters learn how to swim – all proceeds will go toward instruction fees for swim lessons and water safety, and busing for our first second and third graders!

Here are a few of the generous businesses and groups who are donating items or gift certificates: Ames Hardware (bird feeders), Wiscasset Ford (car detailing), Maine Imaging (matted print), Abbott Incorporated (chimney cleaning), Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Monkey C Monkey Do, Papa Gepettos Toys and Treasures, Red Cloak Haunted History Tours, Wiscasset Quick Stop, Wiscasset Newspaper, WW&F Railroad, Alna Store, Pemaquid Campground, Dunkin' Donuts, Hannaford, Kidz Closet, Hammond Lumber, and more.

The Dinner and Raffle begin at 5 p.m., with tickets at the door, $8 for adults and $4 for children, and kids age 4 and under eat free. The raffle drawings begin at 6:15 p.m. The dinner is all local, all scratch cooking and all good. Raffle tickets are $0.50 each, 12 for $5, or 25 for $10. For info, call Natalie at 207-882-9108 or Alexa Abbott at jamabbott76@gmail.com/.

On Saturday morning, join in the Annual Island Clean-Up, organized by our Conservation Commission. Everyone gathers at 9 a.m. at the Town Hall, and Ann Springhorn and other members will send us off to different parts of town (you can choose what stretches of what roads you’d like to clean up, but please come by as close to 9 as possible).

There will be caffeine and goodies to power us through our morning walk. The roadsides accumulate a lot of paper, bottles and other trash over the year, and for everyone who walks, bikes and drives along our roads, it’s a few hours of “spring-cleaning” time to spruce up our beautiful town! Give Ann a call at 207-882-4477 if you have any questions. If it’s pouring rain on Saturday, we’ll do it on Sunday.

The Westport Community Association’s (WCA) Meet and Greet (Saturday, May 18, 5-7 p.m.) will be a nice occasion to see friends and neighbors. While this is a very popular evening (thanks to Treats wine and cheese selections), the WCA has received wonderful items for the raffle to benefit the fund for students: a cherry-edged bowl by Ken Shepherd, eight hand-sewn, handled organizers with 10 pockets by Georgia Sledge, a large basketful of Jill Cooney’s creations for Christmas as well as other holidays, a hand-made 70x82-inch quilt by Carol Blake, and an almost brand-new seven-speed Trek mountain bike, donated by David Blake. This is a raffle, not an auction, so I can imagine quite the crowd buying a lot of tickets!

Be sure to catch up with Carol with additional raffle items (207-882-4267 or cjblake6@gmail.com). The Cottage Pantry would also appreciate donations that day of non-perishable food and household products, many thanks.

Getting acquainted with a new neighbor (a pileated woodpecker) quite the expert in drumming. I’d love to hear from you at mewbarnes2@yahoo.com or 207-882-6055.