Music, singing and a table filled with breads, cheeses and wines awaited Elderhostel participants and program helpers at Katahdin Hall dining room of Eastern Maine Technical College for their Wednesday night activity.

Elderhostel, a non-profit organization, is an educational adventure for adults 60 years of age or older who are looking for something different. For a low cost, the program offers room and board, and short-term academic programs sponsored by educational institutions around the world.

Ranging in age from 62 to 82, the 20 participants of the weeklong EMTC Elderhostel came from as far as California.

The participants are so diverse, said Karen Keim, the program coordinator.

“They come from such different backgrounds” and have “enormous curiosity and energy,” she said.

This year’s Elderhostel offered three classes, 1 1/2 hours daily, on the art of bread making; architectural drafting: floor plans, rendering, elevation; and woodworking.

The group, which arrived July 26, spent afternoons and evenings shopping; taking a historical tour of Bangor; visiting the Hudson Museum at the Maine Center for the Arts, a paper mill, Acadia National Park, the Bangor Historical Museum; and enjoying a lobster dinner, among other activities.

Elsie Jackson of Florida, a first-time Elderhostel participant, came to the Bangor Elderhostel program because she wanted a summer activity that was not too expensive, and would take her to a cooler climate.

“I just love it,” she said of the program. “I am enjoying it immensely.”

Sitting across from Jackson at the wine and cheese party was veteran Elderhostel participant Virginia Tulenko of California.

She traveled all the way to Maine because she has always wanted to come here, and she has a brother living here, she said.

Talking about past Elderhostel experiences, her eyes grow bright and a smile comes to her face. An expert on the Elderhostel program after attending several throughout the United States, Tulenko enjoyed the Bangor program particularly for the bread-baking class and choice of extracurricular activities.

Agreeing with Tulenko on the bread-baking class, Jackson added that she found the fellowship Elderhostel participants have with each other special.

This year’s participants are “great people to teach,” said Richard Crouch, culinary arts teacher at EMTC and instructor of the bread-baking classes for the college-sponsored Elderhostel program.

Tulenko said she finds that the professors who teach at Elderhostels are humorous and knowledgeable. Crouch was no exception. “He really knows his bread,” she said.

Said Crouch, “These people are lovely.”