GORHAM, ME – M&T Bank has announced a Halloween costume drive to support Goodwill Northern New England’s reuse initiatives that divert millions of pounds of goods from local landfills annually. The donation drive is set to run November 1 through 13.

“M&T Bank is proud to partner with Goodwill Northern New England once again to support its Halloween costume recycling program. Thrifting your costume is an affordable, planet-friendly way to help reduce waste while making Halloween a little greener,” said Phil Cohen, M&T Bank’s Regional President in Maine. “By giving Halloween costumes a second life, families can make a simple, sustainable choice that’s good for the environment and our future.”

As a community-focused bank, M&T Bank is committed to supporting customers and communities, not only in navigating today’s climate challenges but also in proactively preparing for the environmental risks and opportunities of tomorrow. From November 1 through November 13, M&T Bank branches across Maine and southern New Hampshire will serve as collection sites for gently used costumes, supporting Goodwill’s efforts to promote sustainability and provide affordable Halloween options for families.

M&T Bank’s contribution comes at a pivotal time, as 83% of Halloween costumes are thrown away each year in the United States.

Goodwill Northern New England operates workforce programs that support individuals across Maine, New Hampshire, and northern Vermont, offering personalized support to job seekers, including those experiencing homelessness, living with disabilities, or reentering the workforce after incarceration.

To learn more about Goodwill Northern New England or how to get involved, visit https://goodwillnne.org/about/

GORHAM, ME – This year a group of Gorham friends and family will again serve meals which can be picked up or delivered on Thanksgiving Day, November 26 for those who find themselves alone or otherwise without a Thanksgiving meal. It is free, anyone interested can call Roxanne Hanscom Moody at 839-4516 or email trmoody75.rm@gmail.com to make a reservation.

Last year we put out 146 meals to Gorham & surrounding towns. The meal includes turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, peas, green bean casserole, carrots, variety of breads, pickles, olives, cranberry sauce, deviled egg, and pie.

Last year’s volunteers working out of the Gorham Recreation Dept kitchen to feed their neighbors in need.

GORHAM, ME – Burn off the Turkey 5k race start at 9:00am

$100 Prize for men and women, and $250 prize for winners who break a course record. Record times are Ryan Jara: 15:08 and Christine Snowe-Reaser: 17:34.

Race results will be published on www.active.com

Race day registration 7:00am to 8:00am Saturday morning at Gorham Recreation

Race fee with shirt for first 150 registered – $25.00

Race fee with no shirt $15.00

Free registration for those over age 65 (no shirt)

Race fee after Nov 23rd – $30.00 for all registrations (no shirt guaranteed)

Kids Fun Run

Distance: .5k around Robie Park

Start time: 8:15am

Cost: Free

ORONO, EAST BOOTHBAY, AND FALMOUTH, ME – The Maine Department of Education (DOE) and the Maine Environmental Education Association (MEEA) will host three regional gatherings to bring together Maine students, educators, and school leaders for a day of resource-sharing and interactive workshops designed to help participants crowdsource project ideas, learn from one another, and develop sustainability action plans for their schools.

The gatherings are part of the Maine Green Schools Network, a state-led initiative working to advance sustainability, resiliency, and youth leadership across Maine schools. At each event, participants will have opportunities to learn from regional case studies, connect with peers from other schools, and engage in youth-led sessions.

Friday, November 6, 8:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m. at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay

Thursday, November 19, 8:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m. at Gilsland Farm in Falmouth.

To learn more about the regional gatherings, visit the Green Schools Regional Gatherings event website.

PORTLAND, ME – The American Red Cross urges people to leave a lasting impact by giving blood or platelets now. Donors of all blood types, especially those with type O blood, are needed to keep the blood supply steady ahead of the holiday rush.

As we lean into fall activities, keeping blood and platelet donation appointments on the books is crucial to ensuring hospitals have the tools they need to care for patients this fall. In thanks, all who come to give Oct. 19-Nov. 22, 2026, will get up to $20 in Gift Cards ? that’s a $10 Amazon Gift Card by email and 500 bonus points, which can be redeemed for a $10 e-gift card through Blood Donor Rewards! Visit RedCrossBlood.org/Maze for details.

Get into the spirit of saving lives. Visit RedCrossBlood.org, call 1-800-RED CROSS or use the Red Cross Blood Donor App to schedule a donation appointment.

Empower your health

November is National Diabetes Awareness Month. To help empower and educate our blood donors, in November, successful donations will once again get free A1C testing, commonly used to screen for prediabetes and diabetes. (One result per calendar year; do not fast before donating.) For additional information, see RedCrossBlood.org/Maze.

Upcoming blood donation opportunities Oct. 21 – Nov. 14:

Cumberland

Brunswick

11/13/2026: 10 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 27 Pleasant Street

Falmouth

11/11/2026: 9 a.m. – 1:30 p.m., The Episcopal Church of St. Mary, 43 Foreside Rd

Gorham

10/30/2026: 10 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., Brooks Student Center, 32 Campus Avenue

11/5/2026: 1 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., Harmony Lodge #38, 33 Cressey Rd

Portland

10/29/2026: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m., Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine, 1342 Congress St

11/4/2026: 8 a.m. – 1 p.m., Deering High School, 370 Stevens Ave.

Scarborough

11/3/2026: 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., Martin’s Point Scarborough, 153 US -1

Standish

10/29/2026: 8 a.m. – 1 p.m., Bonny Eagle High School, 700 Saco Road

Westbrook

11/2/2026: 9 a.m. – 2 p.m., Trane Technologies, 860 Spring St

Windham

11/6/2026: 10 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Windham, 755 River Road

Yarmouth

11/6/2026: 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., American Legion Post 91, 196 Main St

MAINE – As you spend time in the woods this fall, don’t forget to don your blaze orange! Some of Presumpscot Regional Land Trust’s preserves are open to hunting, including Black Brook Preserve, Mill Brook Preserve, and Windham Community Forest. These are all subject to state regulations and local municipal ordinances, so don’t forget to check before heading out hunting.

If you need some new bright orange, swing by REI Westbrook and pick up a PRLT beanie (which are made by our neighbors at Creation Lab)! We’re grateful to participate in REI Local Buy, which helps local producers get their gear into stores.

Installing a hunting sign at the Black Brook Preserve trailhead

GORHAM, ME – Gorham/Windham/Westbrook Triad group for Seniors meets the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 11a.m. At the Gorham Police Dept. This month’s speaker will talk about his trip to Normandy on D-Day in June. All welcome. TRIAD stands for seniors, police and agencies working together to enrich seniors’ lives.

WESTBROOK, ME – Trunk or Treat is back for the second year! Bring the whole family to the Westbrook Crossing Plaza on Friday, October 30th from 5pm – 6:30pm for some Halloween fun!

Make sure the kids wear their best costumes for the Costume Contest at 6pm!

This is a great Halloween experience in a safe environment — with lots of candy and fun mini games — all brought to you by your favorite local businesses in the plaza! You don’t want to miss this!

Please remember to keep a watchful eye on your children and supervise them at all times!

There is no rain date; last year we kept it going despite the rain and we plan to do the same this year. Halloween fun, rain or shine!

WESTBROOK, ME – The crowd-favorite natural spaces of East Windham Conservation Area and Lowell Preserve have been officially united under one identity. On September 8, 2026, the Windham Town Council voted to formally rename the combined property as Windham Community Forest.

“As we learned more about how people use the spaces and began thinking about long-term management plans, it became clear that unifying the two preserves under one identity would make a lot of sense,” said Linda Brooks, Director of Windham Parks and Recreation.

The Council established the East Windham Steering Committee in January to recommend a new name that unifies the two preserves and to develop a process for establishing a master plan for further development and management of the property. This committee is composed of 11 representatives from town committees, recreational groups, nearby residential associations, and the general public, and is staffed by Brooks and Presumpscot Regional Land Trust’s Executive Director, Will Sedlack. The committee brainstormed names over the course of several sessions and sent the top four choices for public input via FlashVote in mid-August, then shared survey results with the Council to make the final name selection. The Council also approved new names for the two entrances to the preserve: the trailhead and parking area formerly for East Windham Conservation Area will be called Atherton Hill Trailhead (189 Falmouth Road) and the one formerly for Lowell Preserve will be called Lowell Farm Trailhead (45 Falmouth Road), honoring the history of both locations.

The land now known as Windham Community Forest consists of 1,104 acres of hilly and forested terrain with a mix of hardwood trees and scenic views of the White Mountains and Little Duck Pond. It is part of an over 2,000-acre conservation corridor–larger than any state park in Southern Maine. “The scale of this project is considerable and is an incredible asset to our community,” said Mark Morrison, Chair of the Windham Town Council. “We believe that the name change will help promote this area as a recreation hub, bringing more visitors to Windham to experience this outdoor destination.”

The Town of Windham and PRLT have jointly managed Lowell Preserve since 2021 and East Windham Conservation Area since it was opened in 2023. “With the Town as the property owner and PRLT holding a conservation easement, we have collaborated to make sure these spaces provide both a great place for the community to recreate year-round and for wildlife to thrive in perpetuity,” said Will Sedlack, Executive Director of Presumpscot Regional Land Trust. The purchase of East Windham Conservation Area was made possible by the Land for Maine’s Future program, the Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, the Town of Windham’s conservation bond, lead business partner Maine Community Bank, and over 400 local individuals, businesses, and foundations.

The preserve offers over 16 miles of trails for hiking, mountain biking, trail running, and cross-country skiing. The newest trail is a Universal Access Trail, designed with a low grade and smooth path so wheelchairs, strollers, and other users with mobility concerns have access to the outdoors. The one-mile trail stretches from Atherton Hill Trailhead to the White Mountains Overlook and was partially funded by the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

To celebrate the new name and the completion of the Universal Access Trail, PRLT and the Town hosted a naming ceremony and ribbon-cutting on October 17.

These changes are all part of continued strategic improvements at the preserve to elevate the user experience and to make the spaces easier for PRLT and the Town to manage. The steering committee will continue meeting to develop a management plan for the property. For future updates on the committee’s work, visit https://www.windhammaine.us/880/East-Windham-Steering-Committee

For more information about the celebration, visit https://www.windhammaine.us/m/calendar/event/detail/7881.

For more information about Windham Community Forest, visit https://www.prlt.org/windham-community-forest.

GORHAM, ME – The USM Department of Theatre Opens Stoppard’s Hilarious Murder Mystery Spoof, The Real Inspector Hound

Feuding theatre critics Moon and Birdboot are swept into the whodunit they’re reviewing in this hilarious spoof of Agatha Christie-esque melodrama. In the wild proceedings that follow, reality and make-believe blur, the body count rises, and no one is quite who they say they are. As mists rise around the isolated Muldoon Manor, Moon and Birdboot become ludicrously entertwined in the murderous rampage of an escaped madman.

The Real Inspector Hound was written by Stoppard when he was just 25 as a critique of the very reviewers who are play’s main characters. This parody of the classic murder mystery invites audiences to question reality and ask “What if you entered the play? What if you answered that old-timey telephone during intermission and the phone call was actually for you?”

Director Reba Askari says that she has embraced the parody,  “We are blurring fiction and reality by breaking the fourth wall into many walls, and then tearing all those walls down completely” At its core, she says, the play is a love letter to theatre that takes audiences on a wild ride through a fast-paced murder mystery. She says that bringing the show to life with USM Theatre students, “Has left me in complete awe of our incredible actors who are so willing to dive in and play.” So, sit back, embrace the absurdity, and good luck solving the mystery!

Show Info

The Real Inspector Hound

By Tom Stoppard

Directed by Reba Askari

October 23-November 1, 2026

Russell Hall, USM Gorham Campus

10/23 at 7pm

10/24 at 7pm

10/25 at 2pm

10/28 at 10am

10/29 at 7pm (Pay What You Can)

10/30 at 7pm

11/1 at 2pm

Content Advisories: Sexual references, use of gunshot sound effects

Age appropriateness: 12 and up

Show length: 75 minutes with no intermission

Ticket Info

General Admission: $18

Senior 65+: $12

USM Faculty/Staff/Alumni: $14

USM Students & Non-USM Students: $8

Group rate: $8/person – for schools and community groups

Pay-What-You-Can: Thursday, October 29th, 7pm

Tickets available through PortTIX, the official ticketing agent of the USM Department of Theatre. To purchase tickets, or for more information, visit PortTIX at:

Call (207)842-0800

In-person at 400 Congress St., Suite A, Portland, ME.

For more information on USM’s Department of Theatre events and programs, click here.

Group Reservations & Special Accomodations

Contact Audience Services & Outreach Coordinator Janice Gardner at (207)780-5289 or janice.gardner@maine.edu.

Hearing impaired: Call USM’s telex / TDD number (207)780-5646

A recent rehearsal of The Real Inspector Hound by Kat Moraros Photography.