It could be a hot time at the BICA hall on Wednesday, Nov. 20 as it will be Men’s Night for the potluck. You are asked to bring either a main, a side, a salad or a dessert to share. As always, you are welcome to bring your beverage of choice. BICA will have water and coffee available. See you at 5:30 p.m.  

We will also be holding a turkey raffle for our annual collection for our local Food Pantry. Since BICA will be matching the amount generated, please be generous with your purchase of raffle tickets at the dollar per ticket price or the bargain price of six tickets for $5. This will result in a great donation to the Food Pantry providing it with needed funds for the upcoming holiday and winter seasons.  

Costumes were not mandatory but there were many awesome outfits in attendance at the October potluck. Among the costumed attendees was a gypsy, a pirate, a dog that was the victim of a shark attack, and a bunch of convicts along with some Hawaiian tourists. The hall was most festively decorated with all manner of scary décor including photos from past Halloween potlucks. Thanks to Kim and crew for their work decorating and managing the kitchen.   

Thanks to Cole and Dalton for hollowing out some pumpkins so folks could try their hands at carving. Works of art resulted.   

There was spooky music featuring the Monster Mash among other songs to accompany the costumed folks as they made the stroll before judges Doris, Brenda and celebrity judge Jake from State Farm. As it turns out, the winners were: Prettiest was Dalton (a returning winner) as a coral reef; Ugliest was red faced Bruce, Scariest was Sharon with some very strange moves, Most Original was Patti as Superman’s mom, and Funniest were the jail birds, Evelyn, Mel, Laura and Bucky. The grand prize of Roland’s look alike went to Luke with a black body and white face — an amazing tribute to Roland well pulled off.  

BICA has always provided the island children with a Christmas gift. Folks have done a great job selecting tags from the gift tree. If you haven’t delivered your gifts already, you may bring your unwrapped gifts to the November potluck, to the Sunday, Dec. 8 tea (2 p.m. start time) or drop them off at Evelyn’s house. The gifts will be wrapped at the December tea which is a fun time of getting together to get gifts ready for delivery to the island children. This is a great BICA tradition with the gifts being delivered by our Barters Island Santa and Santa’s elves close to the holidays. Cash is gratefully received so BICA can do some shopping to fill any missed needs.  

Another date for the calendar should be Wednesday, Dec. 18 which will be the holiday potluck. This is the night when the officers and trustees do almost all the cooking. You just need to bring a dessert to share and your beverage. This will be the last potluck of the year as the BICA hall will be put to sleep until April so please join us.  

As we get into the colder weather, you may know of some folks on the island that need a little assistance. If so, please let Evelyn know. And as always, she (207-380-6977 or evelynshahan@gmail.com ) is happy to answer any questions you may have about BICA, its mission or its events.