Calendar of Events

The Sun Our Living Star
2025-06-07 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
The Sun has shone on Earth for four and a half billion years. Consuming 600 million tons of hydrogen each second, it is the source of energy that drives our winds, our weather, and all life. Experience images of the Sun’s violent, fiery surface and discover the secrets of our star. Show length: 25 minutes

Larry Cat in Space
2025-06-08 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-06-09 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-06-10 13:00 - 14:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
Larry Cat In Space is a playful, imaginative cartoon presentation about an inquisitive cat who takes a trip to the Moon. Through Larry’s eyes, we observe his human family, a group of enthusiastic sky-watchers. Larry notes how human time differs from cat time. Diana takes a job on the Moon, and sadly leaves Larry behind. Larry figures out a way to hide in her clothes trunk.
The trunk and Larry are loaded onto the Space Plane, which takes him to space station Freedom. From there, he is transferred to the Lunar Shuttle. During weightlessness, the trunk opens. Larry floats out into the cabin, and looks out the window. When Diana discovers Larry, he leaps to greet her, but sails over her head, since he only weighs two pounds in lunar gravity.
He meets the rest of Imbrium Village’s inhabitants, including the evil Commander Stone, who orders Diana to return Larry to Earth. The Moon base crew petitions to keep Larry, and the Commander relents. He even makes Larry a cat space suit. When Larry ventures outside, he spots the Earth, looking a lot like the Moon did from the porch at home.

Dinosaurs at Dusk
2025-06-11 13:00 - 14:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
A whirlwind time travel adventure back to the epoch of the dinosaurs!
We have to tell you that we’ve been waiting aeons to announce that we have a full dome, computer animated dinosaurs show! A larger than life extravaganza rife with roaring monsters from the ancient age: bounding, stomping, flying, hunting, and foraging frenetically above us.
Well, by heavens, now we can tell the world that the dinosaurs have arrived at the Southworth Planetarium!
Propel yourself back through the epochs toexplore an Earth teeming with Pteradons, Triceratrops and, of course, the ferocious -and therefore wonderfully marketable- T-Rex!
And, if we can say so, this is NOT your great great great grandfather’s dinosaur show with slides and lethargic Sunday afternoon nature special narration. Instead, we’re embarking on a causality violating adventure through time to discover a planet dominated by the largest land animals that ever set claw to topsoil.

Super Massive Black Holes
2025-06-12 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-06-13 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-06-13 19:00 - 20:00, 2025-06-14 13:00 - 14:00 | ME
Leading scientists, industrial experts, and professionals in science dissemination come together to combine state-of-the-art observations, simulations and innovative tools to compare theory with observation, and shed light on the physics of black hole formation in the context of galaxy evolution.

Coffee and Crosswords
2025-06-13 08:00 - 08:30 | ME
Calling all mini crossword fans! Start your Fridays off right with the New York Times Mini Crossword (and share your time, if you’re the competitive type) in the Virtual VRC. Sudoku fans also welcome, and coffee, while not provided virtually, is highly encouraged.

Seeing! A Photon's Journey
2025-06-15 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-06-16 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-06-17 13:00 - 14:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
Follow the journey of a single photon as it is produced in a distant star, before travelling across the vast expanse of space to land on someone’s retina. This fulldome planetarium show explores some of the fascinating processes of the cosmos, from astrophysics to the biology of the eye and brain. Funded through a generous grant from ZEISS, the show is narrated by astronomer and science communicator, Neil deGrasse Tyson

Sunstruck
2025-06-16 14:00 - 15:00 | ME
Travel back to the beginning of time and experience the birth of the Sun. Discover how it came to support life, how it threatens life as we know it, and how its energy will one day fade away.

Coffee and Crosswords
2025-06-17 09:00 - 09:30, 2025-06-24 09:00 - 09:30 | ME
Calling all puzzle fans! Start your Tuesdays off right with the New York Times Mini Crossword (and share your time, if you’re the competitive type) online or on our Portland campus. Sudoku fans also welcome! Coffee, while not provided virtually, is highly encouraged.

Natural Selection
2025-06-18 13:00 - 14:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
A show about the dynamics of evolution. We follow Charles Darwin on his voyages around the world aboard the HMS Beagle. Discover the wondrous natural processes that shape and re-shape the myriad life forms on our planet.

From Earth to the Universe
2025-06-18 14:00 - 15:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
The night sky, both beautiful and mysterious, has been the subject of campfire stories, ancient myths and awe for as long as there have been people. A desire to comprehend the Universe may well be humanity’s oldest shared intellectual experience. Yet only recently have we truly begun to grasp our place in the vast cosmos. To learn about this journey of celestial discovery, from the theories of the ancient Greek astronomers to today’s grandest telescopes, we invite you to experience From Earth to the Universe.

Rusty Rocket's Last Blast
2025-06-19 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-06-20 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-06-21 13:00 - 14:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
Join Rusty Rocket and his merry band of rocket rookies as they explore the solar system. This show combines humor, animation and the latest planet images to give you and your family a fun and informative solar system tour.

Solstice at Stonehenge
2025-06-20 19:00 - 20:00 | ME
Join planetarium Stonehenge scholar Lawrence Price as he shares a personal and historical perspective of the greatest monument to the annual movements of the Sun. This event is by donation.

Tilt
2025-06-23 11:00 - 12:00, 2025-06-24 11:00 - 12:00, 2025-06-25 11:00 - 12:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
Siblings Annie and Max go on an adventure to learn how the seasons work. It’s up to them to make things right when the seasons go crazy, but it will take something extraordinary and a little bit of help. They discover that sometimes, we just need a new angle on the world. Show length: 25 minutes

Destination Solar System
2025-06-23 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-06-24 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-06-25 13:00 - 14:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
A brand new and exciting show that takes audiences to see the beautiful worlds of our solar system.
We accelerate forward into time to the end of this century and hitch a ride on a planet-hopping space craft.
A fun program for the entire family!

Forward to the Moon
2025-06-23 14:00 - 15:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
Kari Byron from Crash Test World and MythBusters launches us on a journey beyond the Earth towards a sustainable future in space.
NASA’s 21st-century Artemis program, named after the Greek moon Goddess and twin of Apollo, is the next step in our mission to explore the universe.

A St. Jean-Baptiste Day Celebration
2025-06-24 18:00 - 21:00 | ME
The Franco-American Collection at the University of Southern Maine and the Franco Center invite you to a celebration of St. Jean-Baptiste Day!
Join us at the Franco Center, 46 Cedar St. in Lewiston, on June 24, 2025 at 6 p.m. for the event. Ticket prices include dinner. This program is made possible by the generous sponsorship of Champoux Insurance, the Québec Delegation in Boston, and TV5MONDE.
This collaboration between the USM Franco-American Collection and Franco Center promises to be an exciting tribute to St. Jean-Baptiste celebrations of days gone by. St. Jean-Baptiste, the patron saint of Québec, inspired large-scale parades, parties, and special religious masses in Lewiston between the late 19th century and the mid 20th century. According to the Sun Journal in 1940, the St. Jean-Baptiste celebration was so large, they needed two separate parades to include all the floats and participants. Traditionally, a local boy with curly, blond hair would be selected to portray St. Jean-Baptiste in the parade–and don’t worry, we’ll have pictures to prove it! If you are one of these St. Jean-Baptistes, we hope you are able to join us this June 24th to be recognized at the event.
The doors will open at 5 p.m., along with the cash bar and conversation in French and English. At 6 pm, dinner will begin. Music, featuring Robert Sylvain and Steve Muise, will begin at 6:30 p.m. and Don and Cindy Roy will take the stage at 8 p.m. accompanied by Cindy Larock who will lead contra dancing until 9 p.m. The dinner menu will include Franco-American foods, featuring Pâté chinois, pea soup, and sugar pie for dessert. There will also be a vegetarian version of Pâté chinois, and a green salad and rolls. Water, lemonade and coffee drinks are free with your ticket, and sodas and bar drinks available for purchase.
Ticket prices:

Adults: $22
Seniors: $18
Children 12 and under: $12

About the musicians:
Two friends, fiddler Steve Muise and singer Robert Sylvain play music rooted in the traditions of their shared Acadian heritage. Both from musical families, they inherited a treasure trove of catchy maritime fiddle tunes and old French-language folksongs which they bring together with modern sensibilities and original material that speaks to the continuing influence of Franco-American culture in New England. The result is a rhythmically unstoppable, lyrically fantastic blend of musical history and innovation that invites audiences from all backgrounds to revel in authentic Acadian joie de vivre.
Deux amis, le violoneur Steve Muise et le chanteur Robert Sylvain, continuent la musique de leurs ancêtres. Ils représentent une génération d’Acadiens du Maine qui veut honorer nos traditions, le même espoir trouver l’esprit nouveau d’Acadie aux Nouvelle Angleterre. Ils jouent les airs tordus, les complaintes anciennes, et les chansons folklorique et originelles, en Français, Anglais et Franglais. Ils ont joué sur la scène principale du CMA 2014 à Madawaska avec la groupe Boréal Tordu, qui a représenté les Franco-Américains dans le compilation “Des voix s’élèvants” organisé par Zachary Richard pour Le Centre de la francophonie des Amériques.
Don Roy‘s music is deeply rooted in the Franco-American tradition. From an early age, he absorbed the music that was played and enjoyed by his family. Don’s grandparents immigrated to southern Maine during the first half of the twentieth century, as did many other Quebecois families, in order to find work in local industries. Here, they formed a close-knit community that was bound by shared language, experience, faith, and music. Don evinced an interest in music at an early age; his uncle Norman Mathieu began teaching him the guitar at age six, and soon Don was playing along with other musicians at his family’s house parties.
Don met his future wife and musical partner Cindy LaBrecque in 1980; they were married in 1981. Cindy is also a musician who grew up immersed in the melodies and rhythms of Franco-American music; her grandparents came to Maine from Prince Edward Island. She has been a highly skilled stepdancer in the Franco-American tradition since her early years. Although she–like Don–began to play music on the guitar, she quickly turned to piano. Her accompaniment is fluid and rhythmic and provides a perfect foil to Don’s virtuosic fiddling.
In 1988, Don gathered Cindy and other family members and friends to form the Maine French Fiddlers. This band took the distinctive Franco-American sound to a national audience. It was featured in a number of notable venues, including the Maine Festival, the National Folk Festival, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Wolf Trap. The band appeared on “Prairie Home Companion” radio shows that were broadcast from Portland, Maine, and Mansfield, Massachusetts. Don led the Maine French Fiddlers on two successful “French Connections” tours through New England and Louisiana.
Dancing will be called and led by Cindy Larock. Cindy is a Dance instructor/caller, specializing in contras-for-beginners (both New England and French Canadian), Quebecois step dancing, ballroom (waltz, polka, tango), swing (classic East Coast) and Cajun (jitterbug, two-step and waltz). Also serves as an enthusiastic matchmaker for any number of folk music/dance artists and venues.
For more information or to reserve your seat, contact the Franco Center at 207-689-2000 or www.francocenter.org/shows. If you have questions about disability access or need to request disability accommodations, please contact the Franco Center. Requests should be made as soon as possible to allow sufficient time for the accommodation process.
