E-mail your "Community Events" to us: susqtran@epix.net; no phone-ins, please. We will publish events in the two issues prior to the event, free of charge for nonprofit or community events.

We regret that we cannot be responsible for keeping track of regular monthly events. Each must be submitted separately and are listed as space permits.

MAY 27

ROAST BEEF SUPPER: The Thompson United Methodist Church is having a Roast Beef Supper on May 27. Take-Out begins at 4:30PM and Dine-In begins at 5:00PM. Located at 586 Main Street, Thompson PA. All are Welcome.

MAY 27, 28

GARAGE SALE: May 27 and 28 from 9AM to 3PM. Something for everyone! Household items, antiques, soda machines, blank canvases to paint on, saddles, saddle racks, parts cleaners, hay elevator, antique refrigerator with large coil top and more! Located at 2189 Baldwin Road, Thompson PA (Ararat Township)

MAY 28

MEMORIAL SERVICE: Thompson Hose Co. is hosting a Memorial Service at The Thompson Veterans Memorial Park, located at 53 Water St. Thompson, PA, Sunday May 29th @ 1:00pm. Followed by refreshments at the fire station

MAY 29

MEMORIAL DAY BBQ: Montrose Bible Conference Memorial Day BBQ, bring your own picnic or purchase the MBC BBQ. The event will be held at Maplewood Campus (Conference Rd) with the BBQ lunch from 12:30-2pm. Activities will run all day, picnic games, swimming, Giant Swing, and the climbing wall. Come enjoy Memorial Day with your family and friends. For additional details, visit www.MontroseBible.org or call (570)-278-1001.

COURTHOUSE CLOSED: The Susquehanna County Commissioners wish to announce the Courthouse will be closed on Monday, May 29,in observance of the Memorial Day Holiday.  All court related offices will be available.

MAY 31 – JUNE 2

RUMMAGE SALE: St. John Men’s Club Rummage Sale at the Parish Center, 15 E. Church St. Susquehanna PA. May 31 and June 1, from 9Am to 4PM. June 2 (bag day) from 10AM to 1PM. For more information call, 570-853-2331

JUNE 3

PANCAKE BREAKFAST: There will be a Pancake Breakfast at the East Ararat Church on Saturday, June 3rd, from 7AM to 11AM.

OPEN HOUSE AND CHICKEN BBQ: Thompson Hose Co. is having its Annual Open House and Chicken BBQ on Saturday, June 3rd from 11AM to 3PM. Eat in or Take out, other food will be available. To pre-order call 570-442-1107 or 570-442-1208. Free smoke alarms will be available while supplies last. The Commonwealth One Air Medical Helicopter will be arriving at 12PM if available and weather permits. Jackson Pin Thimblers 4H club will be doing free face painting.

JUNE 5

ALUMNI CHORUS: Brenda Tiffany and Jeffrey Keyes are starting an Alumni Chorus for the Susquehanna Community District. The first practice will be held, June 5 at 7:30PM, at St. John’s Hall in Susquehanna. All former Susquehanna students who have sung in the high school chorus, between the years of 1956 and 2017, are asked to attend. A song list and schedule will be handed out at the first practice. A concert will be performed on Sunday, July 30, 3PM, at the Susquehanna High School Auditorium.

JUNE 8

TIM ZIMMERMAN AND THE KING’S BRASS: A performance will be held at the Conference Gym, located just off Lake Avenue, 116 Conference Rd, Montrose PA 18801. Formed three decades ago, the King’s Brass are professional musicians, who lead others in praise and worship. No tickets necessary, an offering will be received to support the ministry of the King’s Brass. Concert begins at 7PM. For more information call 570-278-1001 or visit www.MontroseBible.org

MONDAY: CENTER CLOSED FOR MEMORIAL DAY.

TUESDAY: Beef and broccoli stir fry, Asian vegetable medley, broccoli, whole wheat noodles, rocky road pudding.

WEDNESDAY: Chicken and sausage bake, chuck-wagon corn, steamed brown rice, yogurt and fruit with granola.

THURSDAY: Glazed pork roast, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes, whole wheat roll, apple slices.

FRIDAY: Turkey and dumplings, brussels sprouts, boiled new potatoes, dumpling, peach crisp.

On Monday, May 29th, a Memorial Day Service will take place honoring the fallen heroes of Susquehanna County, Bradford County, Lackawana County and Wayne County, who paid the ultimate price in defense of their country in the Iraq War. The Service will take place at the Welcome Center, Great Bend, on Interstate 81, Exit 230, in Great Bend, Pennsylvania at 1:00 pm.

The names of the honored fallen are:
SPC Lee Wiegand -Hallstead, Susquehanna County
SGT Eric W. Slebodnik -Greenfield Township, Lackawana County
SFC George A. Pugliese -Carbondale, Lackawana County
SSG Ryan G. Ostram -Liberty Township, Susquehanna County
SPC William L. Evans -Hallstead, Susquehanna County
SPC Oliver J. Brown -Athens, Bradford County
SGT Andrew W. Brown -Pleasant Mount, Wayne County
SSG Daniel L. Arnold -Montrose, Susquehanna County

These young men were part of: Bravo Company, First Battalion, 109th Pennsylvania Army National Guard

Please remember and honor our fallen heroes!

Lyme Disease Coalition, Inc. will be hosting an educational Tick Training Seminar on June 10th, at the Apolacon Towhnship Building, 390 Bowbridge Road, Little Meadows, PA.

Amanda B. Roome, with Binghamton University, will be training us on how to do tick drags for useable data. With this information we hope to conduct tick collections around the county in efforts to find the area’s prevalence for risk of Lyme and associated diseases. Information gathered will allow the LDC to coordinate prevention methods in the areas of highest risk first. This is one step in a process; the LDC hopes to add tick testing once we have funding and an established relationship with a lab which will further the risk assessment.

Mandy Roome is a senior PhD student at Binghamton University under the direction of Ralph Garruto. Her interests are infectious and chronic diseases. She has performed extensive field and laboratory research on Lyme disease in the six county region of the Upper Susquehanna River Basin since 2012, follow up research on transmission of chronic wasting disease to humans since 2013, and chronic disease burdens in Melanesian populations in the island nation of Vanuatu since 2013.

The Training session will include a tutorial inside, followed by hands on demonstration outside pending weather conditions.

The first aspect is demographic and behavioral training. This will allow you to understand the general area in which you are working. You will have people stand along pathways to record what they see, i.e. how many people they see, what these people are wearing, trash cans, what’s inside of trash cans, etc. By having this information, you will be able to better understand the average risk that people are at within these areas. Are there high levels of skin exposure (easier for ticks to bite)? Are people typically walking by (less of a risk) or sitting on grass, leaves, etc. (more of a risk)?

The second aspect is in tick collection. This involves going parallel to walkways (where you also do these demographic and behavioral observations) with a corduroy drag to collect ticks that are actively seeking a meal. You will measure your walkway distances and record the number of ticks that you collect so you’re able to accurately assess the tick density along that pathway or in any area you choose to evaluate.

The third aspect will be identifying life cycle stage and sex of deer ticks. We can teach you how to identify larvae, nymphs, adult males and adult females. Larvae are not seen as a risk to humans, as they cannot carry B. burgdorferi, the infectious agent of Lyme disease. Nymphs are seen as the most dangerous stages to humans as they are small, about the size of a poppy seed, and adults are seen as less dangerous (though can still cause infection) because they are larger, about the size of a sesame seed, and typically removed by people before the infection can be transmitted.

The demonstration will be open to anyone wanting to participate, however you NEED to be dressed appropriately.

Please visit http://lymediseasecoalition.org and click on the events tab, open the event on the 10th, and you will find attached a document to use as a guide to prepare your clothing. Or send an e-mail to ldc@lymediseasecoalition.org and ask for a copy to be sent to you. 

Please let know if you plan to participate in the hands on demonstration so we can be prepared with enough supplies to do so. Use the link supplied on the website, or call 570-500-LYME (5963) and leave a message with the number of attendees you will have.

A walk with naturalist Nancy Wottrich in pursuit of wildflowers is no mere cataloging of plant species (though identifying and naming plants is part of the experience). This nature walk, held at Florence Shelly Wetlands Preserve on Sunday, May 28, at 2:00 PM, is a journey into springtime.

The 400-acre wildlife preserve just north of Thompson, PA is recognized as an ecological niche of uncommon diversity, attracting plant and bird species not typically discovered either this far south or this far north. During Nancy Wottrich’s walk, participants will discover both rare and common wildflowers hidden among leaves, clustered along streambeds, nestled against rocky outcroppings and even feeding on insects in a glacial pond.

Wottrich will explain why wildflowers flourish in some places and not in others and describe the challenges that plants face from insects, invasive plants, pollution, and development of woodland and wetland areas. She will also teach shortcuts to identifying flowers by leaves, stalks, etc., so you don’t have to flip through a guidebook to find out the name of a plant you’re drawn to.

Nancy Wottrich has been involved in the field of environmental education and interpretive natural history since 1980. She has a Masters degree in Environmental Studies and has worked with all age groups, teaching natural history through the whole-ecology approach, which studies species in the context of their surroundings. She has been actively involved with Salt Springs State Park and does biological surveys in the fields of land protection and land trust.

Whether you’re an expert on wildflowers or a beginner, you’ll enjoy exploring the world of wildflowers as you discover this beautiful and diverse wildlife refuge.

The walk will begin at the Stalk Road parking lot on Route 171, a mile north of Thompson. The walk is scheduled to last two hours. An optional extra hour of wildflower viewing is possible, though you are free to leave whenever you wish. The walk is free of charge. It’s a good idea to wear waterproof shoes, since we’ll be walking in a wetland. Be advised that, though the trail is flat, it is very uneven in places, with roots and stones protruding through the soil. No reservations are required. A sign marks the entrance. For more information call Trebbe Johnson at 570-396-0293.