Fairs

  The following appropriations for area fairs and festivals were included in the 2013-2014 budget bill that state lawmakers approved this week, according to the enrolled final version of the legislation posted on the Legislature's website:   Berkeley County Apollo Theater-Summer Program, $1,710 Belle Boyd House, $1,710 Berkeley County Youth Fair, $15,818 General Adam Stephen Memorial Foundation, $15,840 ...

Three county fairs are under way in the Tri-State area and will continue through Saturday. Here is a schedule of upcoming highlights for the fairs in Franklin and Fulton counties in Pennsylvania, and the Jefferson County Fair in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia: Franklin County, Pa. The Franklin County Fair is held at the Chambersburg Rod and Gun Club off Pa. 995 in Williamson, Pa. Today's events include: 4 p.m....

A $11.4 billion spending plan for fiscal 2011-12 adopted by the West Virginia Legislature Friday includes $2.8 million for 415 fairs, festivals and other cultural causes. The fesitvals and fairs include the following in the Eastern Panhandle: Belle Boyd House, $1,900 General Adam Stephen Memorial Foundation, $17,600 Heritage Craft Center of the Eastern Panhandle, $6,650 Historic Middleway Conservancy, $950 Jefferson County Black History Preservation Society, $4,750 Jefferson County Historical Landmark Commission, $7,600 Norman Dillon Farm Museum, $9,500 Old Opera House Theater Company, $14,250 Contemporary American Theater Festival, $94,763 African-American Cultural Heritage Festival, $4,750 Apollo Theater (summer program)

Country music fans will get two treats next week when singer-songwriter Michael Peterson will headline the Franklin County Fair in Pennsylvania and PovertyNeck Hillbillies performs during the Jefferson County Fair in West Virginia. Peterson's Tuesday night performance at the Chambersburg (Pa.) Rod & Gun Club Farm will be an acoustic setting, for a more intimate evening. He'll play a few of his hits, cover some other artists' country songs and treat the audience to new songs, said Peterson, 48, of Nashville, Tenn.

MARTINSBURG, W.VA. - American west painter William Robinson Leigh and 19th century magazine illustrator David Hunter Strother happen to be among Berkeley County's most famous native sons. So maybe it shouldn't be a surprise that art will be the focus of a series of Saturday street fairs planned in downtown Martinsburg in the coming months, beginning Easter weekend. "We're trying to get people to fall in love with the city again, through art," said Bonnie Rockie, president of ArtBerkeley, Inc., a nonprofit organization formed last year to enhance the arts community in the county and surrounding region.

The husband-and-wife team Dr. Raymond and Louise Ediger have been honored for supporting the University of Maryland Cooperative Extension for decades. Maryland's Tau Chapter of Epsilon Sigma Phi, the national Extension honorary society, has presented the Frederick couple with its Friend of Extension Award. "Ray and Louise Ediger have made amazing contributions to University of Maryland Cooperative Extension outreach efforts and to building leadership in youth and adults," said Dr. Cheng-i Wei, dean of the University of Maryland College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Last week, two outdoor events were playing out in Washington County, just as they have played out before, and just as they are played out each year all across the nation. But this universal routine does not mean they're not special. In Maugansville, youths were competing in the Maryland State Little League tournament, where Conococheague lost its opener and then went on a five-game tear to capture the championship and earn a trip to Bristol, Conn., for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament.

Shows must go on By LAURA ERNDE laurae@herald-mail.com Tri-State area farmers are taking steps to prevent foot-and-mouth disease, but so far they aren't letting the scare cancel traditional summer fairs and livestock shows. continued Even though the virus that devastated England's livestock has not been seen in the United States since 1929, some local farmers are worried enough to limit visitors and make sure people who come to their farms aren't carrying the disease.

photo: JOE CROCETTA / staff photographer enlarge By CLYDE FORD / Staff Writer Local farmers and mechanics spend thousands of dollars and weeks of labor on their tractors and trucks - all for about a dozen seconds of thrills. "It's just a hobby - an expensive hobby," said David Bush, 23, of Charles Town, W.Va. Bush and others competed in a tractor and truck pull Saturday night in front of an estimated crowd of 5,000 at the Mason-Dixon Dragway hosted by the Washington County Tractor Pull Association.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Franklin County Dairy Princess Sarah Signore and about half of her 38 predecessors will be on hand Saturday night when the 40th dairy princess is crowned at the Kauffman Community Center. Although dairy is the leading agricultural commodity in Franklin County, with 44,000 cows on about 500 commercial dairy farms producing 800 million pounds of milk per year, there is only one person vying for the crown this year, Stephanie Hykes of Greencastle, Pa. "This is something we're getting concerned about, finding young ladies to represent the diary industry," said Joyce Nowell, a Franklin County Dairy Promotion Committee member.

St. Mary Catholic School in Hagerstown held its middle school social studies fair recently.  The judges for the event were Bridget Bartholomew, principal at St. Maria Goretti High School, and Ida DeGraw and Ryan Hellum, social studies teachers at St. Maria Goretti High School. Winners were: Sixth grade: first place - Sarah Sardina and Emily Saylor; second place - Emma Ortiz and Ellen Judge; and third place - Elizabeth Fisher and Meghan Scott. Seventh grade: first place - Emma Shearer; second place - Jared Semler; and third place - Isabelle Snyder and Katherine Alexander.

High school athletes are like foot soldiers. They register and enlist to join a team. They go through basic training (preseason practice) to learn a level of discipline, focus and routine. They are taught strategies and the teamwork needed to be successful in individual and group battles. And just like soldiers, high school athletes need a commanding officer. In the military, it's a general. In sports, like softball and baseball, it's a coach - sometimes called a field general.

Traders pulled primitive carts full of wares across fields in the cool morning air. Servants used long sticks to stir stew in sturdy black pots, and a town crier announced an auction to take place after noon. The wistful tunes of a fife sailed in the breeze as young girls in bonnets frolicked Saturday morning near a 1756 stone fort. It was the 19th year of the Friends of Fort Frederick State Park's 18th Century Market Fair, where re-enactors and vendors known as sutlers gather from across the United States to remember and celebrate colonial life.

Music played, stories told, historical items sold: A lot happens at the 18th Century Market Fair at Fort Frederick, but one man knows about it more than anyone. Chris Holmgren of Dickerson, Md., is a longtime volunteer and artisan featured at the fair. He does more than his share to keep the past alive. The Friends of Fort Frederick took over the Market Fair after its initial 11-year run, and Holmgren has been there since the host change.  “We didn't want to see it end,” he said.

Stephen Vanmeter of Greencastle, Pa., who will finish school at Hagerstown Community College this spring, went to the Mega Job Fair on campus Friday to look for a full-time job in the information technology field that he could work while pursuing his bachelor's degree. “I'm looking for anything around the area of PC, hardware, software, troubleshooting,” said Vanmeter, 26. “I was visiting First Data because they have a lot of IT jobs there.” More than 550 people showed up for the job fair at HCC's Athletic, Recreation, and Community Center.

  The following appropriations for area fairs and festivals were included in the 2013-2014 budget bill that state lawmakers approved this week, according to the enrolled final version of the legislation posted on the Legislature's website:   Berkeley County Apollo Theater-Summer Program, $1,710 Belle Boyd House, $1,710 Berkeley County Youth Fair, $15,818 General Adam Stephen Memorial Foundation, $15,840 ...

Eighty-five vendors lined the hallways of Chambersburg Mall on Thursday for the third annual Here to Help job fair. About a thousand people stopped at an information table to pick up fliers designed for job seekers, according to Pennsylvania state Sen. Richard Alloway II, R-Franklin/Adams/York. Alloway sponsored the event in cooperation with PA CareerLink of Franklin County and the Franklin County Area Development Corp. “The turnout has been tremendous,” Alloway said.

State Sen. Richard Alloway II, in partnership with PA CareerLink Franklin County and the Franklin County Area Development Corp., will host the third annual “Here To Help” Job Fair on Thursday. The job fair will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Chambersburg Mall, 3055 Black Gap Road north of Chambersburg, Pa. The mall can be accessed from exit 20 off Interstate 81 in Pennsylvania. The event will feature businesses from a variety of employment sectors and representatives from human- services organizations that offer assistance to unemployed individuals.

Richard Andrews III said he has a job at a local graphics company, but it's hard to get enough hours to make a decent living. Andrews, who is an Army veteran, and dozens of others with military experience were at the National Guard Armory off Roxbury Road on Tuesday to attend Hiring Our Heroes-Hagerstown, one of four job fairs scheduled to be held in Maryland this year to help veterans and their spouses find work. With 36 prospective employers ranging from Walmart to Lockheed Martin, Andrews said he was pleasantly surprised by the event.

University System of Maryland at Hagerstown senior Samantha Sines is expecting to graduate this spring so she's looking for a job. In preparation for job interviews, Sines participated last month in mock interviews with business people who gave her feedback about how she was answering questions, what she was wearing, and about her resume, she said. On Monday, Sines put what she'd learned to work as she interviewed for elementary school teaching positions with public school systems in Washington and Frederick counties.