Ice

The Hagerstown Ice and Sports Complex invites boys and girls ages 4 to 9 to the ice rink Saturday at 10:30 a.m. for a Try Hockey for Free clinic to experience ice hockey for the first time and learn the basics of the sport in a fun, safe environment. Please arrive by 10 a.m. The event is part of Come Play Hockey Month. The program, designed to provide youth hockey associations a national platform to introduce children to the sport, is a joint effort between USA Hockey, the National Hockey League and NHL member clubs.

If the wind had been involved at the Hagerstown City Championship on Monday, high school golfers would have experienced what it is like to play European golf in nasty weather. As it was, cold and rain nipped at golfers through nine holes at Fountain Head Country Club. By the time everyone had found a warm, dry spot, North Hagerstown had easily won the city crown with a 162 team total. St. Maria Goretti came in second with a 180 and South Hagerstown had a 209 in the match played on the front nine at Fountain Head to a par 36. North's Aaron Staley took medalist honors with an even-par 36. Niklas Steiner led Goretti with a 38 and Dylan Bickford had a 48 for South.

Name of business: Sweet Pea Dessert Owners: Corry Eagler and Arelis Torres Address: 10 W. Baltimore St., Greencastle, Pa. Opened: Oct. 7, 2011 Products and services: Baked goods, including cupcakes, brownies and cookies, as well as cake pops, chocolate candies, custom-order cakes and Pennsylvania State University Creamery ice cream. Cupcake bar open on Fridays and Saturdays, where patrons can customize cupcakes with a variety of fillings, frostings and toppings.

The Top Five Wind Down Friday The Rhythm Kings with Kim Tantillo will perform. 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 17, at The Maryland Theatre, 21 S. Potomac St., downtown Hagerstown. $5; $2, ages 12 and younger. A luminaria ceremony by the American Cancer Society will be held. Luminaria will be sold for $10 each from 6 to 9 p.m. Go to www.mdtheatre.org . 'Annie' wraps up A musical about Little Orphan Annie, a spunky girl adopted by a business tycoon. 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 17, and Saturday, Aug. 18. Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater, 44 N. Potomac St., downtown Hagerstown.

 The Potomac Valley Audubon Society has scheduled a field trip to the Ice Mountain Preserve in Hampshire County, W.Va., at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 25. The hike will last about two hours. It will be led by Clark Dixon. Anyone with an interest is welcome to participate, including families with children. However, space is limited to 15 people, so registration is required. People can register at www.potomacaudubon.org, or contact Kelly Wolf at 304-229-6229 or kheldreth@hotmail.com . Participants may meet at 8:30 a.m. at Food Lion parking lot in Inwood, W.Va.

By the end of Wednesday night, production was expected to be over at the Unilever ice cream plant on Frederick Street and the 391 employees who will lose their jobs were dealing with the shutdown with “mixed emotions,” according to a plant worker who is also a United Steelworkers union official. “I'm glad it's over so I can move on with my life,” Teal Beard, who has had the prospect of the plant closure hanging over his head for three years, said Wednesday. Beard, who has worked 21 years at the plant doing stocking and forklift work in a freezer unit, said he did not have any plans beyond taking some time off and enjoying the rest of the summer.

The "Ice Age" franchise has always annoyed certain viewers with its historical inaccuracy.  The main characters of the films are prehistoric mammals, and it really bothers some people that they interact with humans and dinosaurs, who were from different eras. Now comes "Continental Drift," an installment that sees millions of years' worth of plate tectonics happen very rapidly. If you find the gag to be insulting to your intelligence, you aren't a good candidate for "Ice Age. "  The rest of us are OK with this kind of gag because this is an animated film with talking animals and our suspension of disbelief is already stretched wide enough to cover one of the new continents.

St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Big Pool will hold a homemade ice cream festival   Saturday, July 14, at 6 p.m. Tickets cost $5 per person.  In addition to ice cream, hot dogs, steamers and a cake walk will be available.  Teacher to lead library program Dream big at the Leonard P. Snyder Memorial Library in Clear Spring.  Science teacher Jeff Byard will lead science experiments at the library from July 10...

John Herbst remembers the early Ringgold Ruritan Strawberry Festivals more than 50 years ago. A charter member of the club, Herbst, 89, and his wife Betty, 90, used to take their children with them to the old schoolhouse to make homemade strawberry ice cream. Right up through last year, Herbst dipped ice cream at the fundraiser. This year, he decided to pass on the scoop. “I finished it. My son does it now,” he said. The elder Herbsts owned and operated Smithsburg's Misty Meadow Farms.