The Bangor Daily News from Bangor, Maine • 23

Click and ClackC7 Wyeth on CBSC8 53angor daily PAGE C5 -FRIDAY, JULY 11, 1997 memories of a Ballerina's death used as example Tragedy to warn dancers of eating disorder dangers The Associated Press BOSTON A 22-year-old Boston Ballet dancer who had developed an testing disorder after being told to lose weight died suddenly while home on break in California. Her mother said it happened so quickly, she thought at first she was joking. Heidi Guenther collapsed and died instantly June 30 while riding in a car with her family on the way to Disneyland. Her mother Estimated that her 5-foot-3 daughter weighed about 100 pounds at her death. The Boston Globe reported that Guenther was told last year by Anna-Marie Holmes, then the companys assistant artistic director, to lose weight.

Ballet spokeswoman Nina Berger confirmed that. In recent months, staff members became concerned Guenther may have had an eating disorder, She was going to spend the summer relaxing and gaining weight. Cathy Fischer, family friend Aroostook Countys first Maine Potato Queen reflects on the last 50 years of festival, industry I was told to hold the bag so the farmers name wouldnt show. Valeska Ward Lombard By Debra Sund Of the NEWS Staff Valeska Ward Lombard was driving a potato truck in her fathers Limestone potato field during the 1935 harvest when a local businessman came and asked her if shed like to be a potato queen contestant. I thought he was kidding, said Lombard, who was 19 years old at the time.

I drove off and left him standing in the field. But Lombard did enter the contest and was named the very first Maine Potato Queen. Her crowning started a long tradition of queens who were later chosen during annual festivals to promote the states largest cash crop. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Maine Potato Blossom Festival, which has grown through the years to an eight-day festival, featuring tournaments, pageants, potato house banquets and, of course, the annual crowning of a new potato blossom queen. The festival will run from July 13 through 20.

Back when Lombard was crowned, there was no festival with parades or fireworks. The idea of a queen originated with a local group of farmers and businessmen that wanted to publicize the industry during the fall harvest. At the time, Maine was the nations largest producer of potatoes. County towns that wanted to participate selected contestants, and Lombard, now of Caribou, represented Limestone. The queen was crowned after a noontime banquet at the Northeastland Hotel in Presque Isle.

Aside from the farmers and businessmen, there were media people, including some from Augusta and Boston, Lombard remembered. There was no competition; we just ate, Lombard said during a recent interview as she sat at her weathered kitchen table, built 50 years ago from four thick planks by her late husband and father. Lombard laughed as she said she must have won because I didnt drool or anything. For the banquet she wore a black dress with a silver collar. After being named the potato queen, she was given a' gold queens costume with puffy sleeves.

It was a one-size-fits-all outfit, and safety pins were used to fasten the dress in the back so it would stay on, Lombard said. A gold cardboard crown was placed on her head. After the banquet, Lombard was taken to a field See Queen, C6, Col. 3 and Holmes told Guenther to put weight back on when the company broke for vacation in May, according to the ballet. Guenther arrived in San Francisco and told her mother she had been told not to get any thinner.

She was going to spend the summer relaxing and gaining weight, said Cathy Fischer, a family friend and spokeswoman for Guenthers mother, Patti Harrington. Berger said the ballet wants to use the tragedy to educate dancers on dieting and dangers of extreme weight loss. Weve all been terribly shocked, Berger said. As horrible as Heidis death was, the thought is that we should seize the moment. Dancers have historically been among those prone to anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder in which people, usually women, lose more than 15 percent of their body weight and obsessively worry about gaining it back.

They sometimes induce vomiting or use laxatives to preclude weight gain. Some dance companies say are taking steps to address these problems, and are becoming more tolerant of different body types. Guenther was a rising star who trained on a full scholarship with the San Francisco Ballet before arriving in Boston in 1994. She joined the corps in 1996. Harrington, through Fischer, said her daughter seemed to be eating normally but had complained in recent weeks that her heart was racing, and she could feel it pounding heavily in her chest.

She refused her mothers offer to take her to a doctor. An autopsy ruled out anorexia as the cause of death, but any traces of diet pills or blood abnormalities will onlyshow on toxicology tests. David Herzog, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, said women with eating disorders often die of heart arrhythmias that are not detected in autopsies. Maine Potato Queen. Lombard (above) today.

(NEWS Photos by Debra Sund) Blues festival to draw large crowds to Rockland Expanded two-day lineup to feature award-winning artists; pub crawl added this year Parkman to celebrate towns 175th birthday Johnson and the Oilers. More than a decade ago, Benjamin started to bring blues acts to the Golden Spike, and later to the Red Jacket Lounge, where only a handful of people would show up. But he stuck to his passion and gradually the crowds grew. The Red Jacket could no longer hold the crowds and the annual festival has spread out to the public landing. This year the lineup has expanded to two days, with the acts performing at local spots for the first pub crawl on Saturday night.

The Sunday night performance will end with Chicago blues legend Junior Wells. HiS album Come on in This House," is in the top 20 selling albums, according to Living Blues Magazine. The all-acoustic album features six of the best slide guitarists in the world. By Emmet Meara Of the NEWS Staff ROCKLAND Several thousand music fans are expected to jam the Rockland Public landing Saturday and Sunday for the North American Blues Festival. Organizer Paul Benjamin is hoping that famed artist Andrew Wyeth may even drop in for a few bars.

Wyeth will celebrate his 80th birthday Saturday at the Farnsworth Art Museum, a few blocks away on Main Street. You never know, Benjamin said. If Wyeth does show up, he will see the best blues lineup anywhere, according to Benjamin. The lineup will include three winners of the W.C. Handy Awards, blues musics answer to the Oscar.

The winners are Junior Wells, Rory Block and Big Jack in Maryland. -Pat Johnson, who co-chaired the birthday committee with Liz Morin, will present town keys to the well-known duo during a' parade stop at the honor roll monument. Sen. Stephen Hall, R-Guil-ford, will address the crowd during the stop as well. Work on the 175th celebration began in October when a dedicated group of residents gathered to make plans.

From that start, a book on Parkmans history, a cookbook featuring some tempting dishes, and a 1998 calendar featuring families of the town were developed. These fund-raising items are available throughout the community. Proceeds from the birthday celebration will benefit the towns honor roll monument, which needs updating. See Parkman, C6, Col. 1 By Diana Bowley Of the NEWS Staff PARKMAN Its been 75 years since a parade was held in Parkman, but this weekend the town will make up for those lost years.

Besides holding the parade, residents of this small Piscataquis County town will celebrate their communitys 175th birthday Friday through Sunday with an endless supply of food, games, competitions, demonstrations, displays and entertainment. Two Parkman natives, brothers Vincent and Victor McKusick, will return to serve as parade marshals. Vincent McKusick is a retired chief justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, while his brother, Victor, is a research scientist at Johns Hopkins University Blues artists LIT Brian the Zydeco Travelers will perform at this weekend's North American Blues Festival In Rockland. For years, Wells was partners with Buddy Guy. The two were synonymous, the very reason for the breakup.

There was no fight or See Blues, C6, Col. 1 I A.