Jason Lainsbury | BDN

ORONO, Maine — Join Maine Maven for a pre-Valentine’s Day celebration from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10, Maine Maven will host a fundraiser for Orono’s sculpture in the Schoodic Sculpture Symposium. The event is free and open to the public, and donations are encouraged.

The event will include a a truffle tasting with Black Dinah Chocolatiers and a silent auction (6 to 7 p.m.) including the work of well-known Maine artisans and designers. Maine Maven will donate a portion of the evening’s sales and all silent auction proceeds to the town of Orono to help pay for the sculpture the town will receive as a sponsor of the Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium.

Maine Maven is pleased to welcome Grace Ferguson as a guest of honor. Grace Ferguson is honorary co-chair of the summer 2012 sculpture symposium with her husband, UMaine President Paul Ferguson. After a successful debut Down East, the symposium will move inland in 2012, extending the reach of the Schoodic Sculpture Trail. The symposium will take place July 22- August 31, 2012, in the steam plant parking lot on the University of Maine campus. Orono, Old Town and Bangor will sponsor site-specific sculptures, as will the University of Maine, the University of Maine Foundation, Husson University and Eastern Maine Health Systems.

Many of the participants in the celebration are proud UMaine alumni, including Steve Shaffer of Black Dinah Chocolatiers, Maine Maven owners Jason and Kristen Lainsbury; and wedding and floral designer Amber Small of Sweetest Thing Weddings, who has donated flowers for the event and silent auction.

For information, visit, visit http://schoodicsculpture.org/.