The Piscataquis Regional YMCA kicked off the 2017 Maine Whoopie Pie Festival on June 24 with the its annual Earn Your Whoopie Pie 3K and Kids’ 1K Fun Run, with both races starting on River Street.

When I started work for the IFW in the mid-1980s, we were having a peak in fishing activity. Angler use was at an all-time high and I used to cringe on the Monday of the Memorial Day weekend to see the steady stream of traffic heading south all loaded with fish from my favorite trout ponds (in my mind anyway).

On June 10 at the Foxcroft Golf Club over 70 area golfers teed off to benefit Pine Tree Hospice. This year’s tournament was co-sponsored by Kimball Insurance of Sangerville.

After Arctic charr became perilously close to disappearing from one of the last remaining ponds in Maine, actions by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IFW) have restored the charr population in Big Reed Pond in northern Piscataquis County.

Trailing 3-0 after the top of the fifth, the Rowell’s Navigators came back to tie the team’s home opener against the Hampden Riverjacks during a matinee Junior American Legion contest on June 18 at Foxcroft Academy. The Navigators (who improved to 2-0) then walked off with a 4-3 victory on a squeeze bunt by Luke Stedman to drive in Doug Kane.

University of Maine field hockey head coach Josette Babineau is pleased to announce her 2017 incoming recruiting class. This year's class consists of five newcomers who will be eligible to compete for the Division I Black Bears in the fall, including recent Dexter Regional High School graduate Abby Webber of Garland.

Senior Nate DeSisto drove in what proved to be the winning run in the bottom of the fifth and classmate Jackson Coutts pitched three scoreless innings of relief as the third-seeded Red Riots upended No. 5 Dexter 2-1 in the Class C North baseball final at Mansfield Stadium.

A two-run blast from Sydney Underhill-Tilton and a three-run triple from Bryanne Lancaster were two of many hits that gave Richmond its 88th straight win, 14-6, and its eighth consecutive regional title. The Bobcats were also playing in the program’s 14th regional final in a row.

Greenville High School came back in the bottom of the seventh inning to defeat Buckfield High School 7-6 in a Class D South softball semifinal on June 10 between the region’s second and third-seeded teams.

Senior Brayden Miller’s walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh gave fifth-seeded Dexter Regional High School a 6-4 victory over No. 9 Fort Kent Community High School in a Class C North semifinal on the afternoon of June 10.

One might ponder why the department doesn’t back the hatchery truck up to the shore of a pond and just keep tuckin’ the fish right to it until their backs are out of the water. This would certainly produce some pretty good fishing, right? Well, sometimes in fisheries management less is more.

The area’s five high schools all had representation on the 2017 Penobscot Valley Conference (PVC) All-Conference Outdoor Track Teams.

Four top four performances from three team members helped the Penquis Valley High School girls outdoor track team tally 22 points during the 2017 state championship on June 3 at Foxcroft Academy. The 22 points enabled the Patriots to finish in ninth place among a field of 31 schools scoring points at the competition.

Foxcroft Academy senior Emily Mikoud successfully defended her state championship in the discus by winning the event at the 2017 Class B championship on June 3 at Yarmouth High School

Sophomore Cymeria Robshaw captured the 100-meter title during Monday’s 2017 Penobscot Valley Conference (PVC) Small School Track & Field Championship to help the Penquis Valley High School girls earn fifth-place honors among a field of 13 schools recording points at the competition held at Foxcroft Academy.

The Foxcroft Academy outdoor track and field teams took part in the Penobscot Valley Conference (PVC) Large School Championship on May 27 at Mount Desert Island High School. The Pony boys finished with a score of 28 points to place seventh among 10 schools, and the girls from Foxcroft came in ninth in a field of 10 teams with 16 points.

Jamie Russell has amassed over 340 victories in 32 seasons coaching boys high school basketball at Central High School of Corinth, Penobscot Valley High School in Howland and, most recently, Piscataquis Community High School in Guilford. Now he will try his hand at coaching a girls basketball team. On May 22 Russell was approved by the RSU 64 Board of Directors as the coach at Central.

The area’s high school outdoor track and field teams recently took part in the final meets of the 2017 regular season, with four squads traveling to the University of Maine on May 18.