Atwood Primary School teacher Kristi Chiasson helps Spencer Gibson with a painted hand print as students, from left, Kambra Worcester, Damian Stanley and Mariah McDaniel work on paper flowers on Wednesday in Oakland for a public benefit dinner for Chiasson’s husband, Tim, who is recovering from a stroke. The dinner will be 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday at Messalonskee High School. A silent auction and 50/50 raffle will also take place.

The falling snow did not slow Waterville Public Works employees Wednesday from building a retaining wall along First Rangeway. From left are Mike Folsom, Dan Wilson and Scott Green. Folsom said their next project would be attaching plows to city trucks for the anticipated overnight storm. Snow is possible today as well.

Jean Scripture, left, and Peggy Denis are reflected in a pond as they play a game of Yahtzee on a sunny and comfortable Monday. Spring officially arrived early this morning, and with more warm weather forecast for this week, the days for the seasonal pond may be numbered.

  Jim Smith checks the consistency of his maple syrup as steam rises from a large evaporator at the Smith Brothers Maple Syrup business on Rowe Road in Skowhegan last week. Smith and his brother Patrick are collecting enough maple sap to make 600 gallons of syrup, plus candy and cream. Part of the operation […]

Jim Smith checks the consistency of his maple syrup as steam rises from a large evaporator at the Smith Brothers Maple Syrup business on Rowe Road in Skowhegan last week. Smith and his brother Patrick are collecting enough maple sap to make 600 gallons of syrup, plus candy and cream. Part of the operation includes 5 miles of lines to collect the sap, though some is still hauled by hand. He said freezing nights and warm days are needed to make the sap run from the trees. “There is a small window to collect sap and you have to be ready,” Smith said. Maine Maple Sunday — Maine’s statewide maple syrup celebration — is this Sunday.

Maine Department of Transportation employee Tim Clemments carries one of many signs to a storage trailer after taking inventory at the Skowhegan facility on Tuesday.

As fiber stuffing flies, Corey Gerry uses a chainsaw Saturday to cut an unwanted couch into three sections for easier disposal at his home in Troy.

MADISON — A gaping hole on Main Street is all that is left after fire destroyed a building that housed an antique shop Tuesday night.

Josh Laury welds steel girders in the section where dressing rooms for cast members are being built during renovations for the Waterville Opera House on Monday.