Notre Dame de Lourdes School will close at the end of the school year after educating area students for 60 years.

Students from the Catholic school in Saco will attend St. James School in Biddeford. Church officials said the merger is necessary because of increasing costs, declining enrollment and a desire to keep tuition costs affordable.

Notre Dame currently has 59 students while St. James educates 156 students.

In a February letter to parishioners in the Good Shepherd Parish, Msgr. Rene Mathieu and Daniel Bastarche, chairman of the Good Shepherd Parish Catholic Education Board, said the board recommended the merger with a “heavy heart.”

After a review of parish business, “it quickly became clear that our enrollment numbers and income have continued to decline while expenses have continued to rise. Our schools are in survival mode, that is, looking for ways to increase enrollment and cut costs while maintaining educational quality,” Mathieu and Bastarche wrote.

The Catholic Education Board unanimously supports the plan and believes it will allow for long-term investment in the future of the Catholic community, according to the letter. The board plans to bring teachers’ salaries to scale, replace outdated computer and science laboratory equipment and explore transportation options.

 “The board views the challenges as an opportunity to carry on the evangelizing mission of the Good  Shepherd Parish in new and exciting ways,” Mathieu and Bastarche wrote.

Storm drain work begins Monday on Lincoln Street

Work to install a new storm drain on Lincoln Street in Biddeford is expected to begin May 2.

The project will separate combined storm water and sanitary wastewater from a one-pipe system to a two-pipe system. The project is required as part of the city’s combined sewer overflow master plan with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

Work will be done the entire length of Lincoln Street from Main Street to Elm Street. The project is expected to take two to three months.

Cities receive funds to build pedestrian bridge over river

 The Maine Department of Transportation’s Quality Communities Program has awarded Biddeford and Saco money to fund a pedestrian bridge across the Saco River.

The money will be used to fund the engineering and preparation of construction bid documents for a pedestrian bridge between downtown areas.

Biddeford City Planner Greg Tansley said the bridge will create “a key connection between the planned and existing river walks in both cities as part of their redeveloping mill districts and between Biddeford’s downtown and the Saco Transportation Center on Saco Island.”

Construction of the first phase of the Biddeford RiverWalk is scheduled to begin this summer pending permits. Tansley said the RiverWalk can be an economic catalyst for ongoing mill district and downtown redevelopment. It also will improve access to public transportation, he said.

Tansley said the cities hope the engineering and preparation of bid documents will begin by late summer or early fall.

La Kermesse announces location for June 24 festival

 La Kermesse Franco-Americaine announced the annual festival will be held at Mechanics Park in downtown Biddeford.

The festival will begin at 4 p.m. Friday, June 24, and run through Sunday, June 26. A parade will be held Friday night from Main Street in Biddeford to Beach Street in Saco. Fireworks will be held on Saturday night. Food vendors and a small tent will be located in the park.

Applications are now being accepted for the annual La Kermesse Idol show. Auditions will begin at 6:30 p.m. June 22 for participants 16 and older. Official rules are available at www.lakermessefestival.com.

The festival also is looking for businesses interested in advertising in the program. Ads start at $50 and proceeds are used to keep the cost of the festival down. The deadline to advertise is May 13.

For more information, call Jessica at 294-2953.