Results tagged “fun” from Only in York County

Around lunchtime yesterday, I happened on a flier for the Olde Tyme Carnival and Fireworks at West Manchester Township's Sunset Lane Park, which was taking place from 5:30 to 10 p.m. that night.

Since I knew I'd be home from work by about 6, I made some quick plans to go with my mom and Sarah. Why not, we figured? It's free, after all!

First, I want to say that this drew a HUGE crowd. More, even, than the Dover Fireman's Fair does on some nights. Much like many small-town fairs, it was made up in large part of middle- and high-schoolers looking for someplace to chat and eat, in addition to the usual contingent of parents, grandparents and neighbors.

We didn't get there until close to 7:30 p.m., and we parked several blocks away, along the street. We didn't mind the walk, and it was nice to see so many people come out.

Best thing about the carnival: LOTS of food stands. Mom and I went in for the waffles and ice cream (and Sarah went for ice cream in a dish); Mom also got an old-fashioned cherry vanilla Coke, with the real syrup flavoring, which she enjoyed a lot.

Not-the-best thing about the carnival: We had some trouble finding the games at first, and by the time we found most of them, around 8:20, they had decided to close them down before it got too dark.

That said, we were able to hear a little bit of the band, The Citations, and everyone seemed to enjoy them. And Sarah played one game where you get to catch a pingpong ball in a net for $1, and based on what's on that ball, you win a small, medium or large prize. You guessed it, we got a small. Most expensive bouncy ball ever, but she liked it.

We decided not to fight the crowds for a place to sit to watch the fireworks, and headed home. Less than an hour later, though, we DID get to see fireworks - out our upstairs window, where we had a clear view of all but the lowest sparklers.

Sarah liked that. No crowds, but a great light and sound show. She had some interesting comments, too, for the organizers... she said, "It's really nice that they buy all the fireworks and do that so people can come see it." She also said the band was nice. "They took time out of their day to come there and play music for the people." I was happy to see her so interested in how such an event came together.

I know there are several other town fun fests coming, including Craley Days in early August. If you know of one - please, post a comment. I'd love to tell people more about these events, which are a great way to meet your neighbors.

OK, well, it was $20 in quarters, and no, Jo, I wasn't at the casino.

On Tuesday night, I went to one of the growing number of quarter auctions in York County. Most of them are fundraisers for various causes, and this one, held at the Dover Township community building, was done to help a team from the Dover Dragons Tae Kwon Do studio travel to a national competition.

Man, was it fun! My mom, Sarah and I went. A $3 ticket entitled you to two bidding paddles. The prizes up for bid, donated by local home sales vendors, like those with Creative Memories and Pampered Chef, were considered one, two, three or four-quarter items. If you wanted to bid, you paid that many quarters per paddle. Then, you held your paddles up, and the hostess/emcee drew pingpong balls from a box with numbers to match the paddles. If your number was called but you hadn't bid, they just drew another one.

Here are my lucky paddles: (206 was called several times!)

My mom won, on a bid of $1 total, a great, huge purse from Thirty-One. Mom and I bid a grand total of $1 between us and won a Boyd's Bears rabbit named Ashlynn for Sarah.

Here they are:

And, of course, I love my scrapbooking stuff. I won a Creative Memories circle maker, which costs $20.50, for $1. And, I won a special paper pack and sticker pack that you can't even buy through Creative Memories, also for $1.

Altogether, we figured that the three of us won at least $80-$100 worth of stuff, and we spent a grand total of $40 in quarters, plus about $5 for snacks and $6 for the tickets. Overall, not bad, and considering some of the money benefits a good cause, I'm all for it.

I know there are several other quarter auctions coming. In fact, there's one tonight (May 13), with doors opening at 6 p.m., to benefit Joyful Noise Preschool; it'll be held at 2215 Brandywine Lane, and you can contact Jill Brockington at j.brockington@comcast.net for details. Not sure what the cost is, sorry!

Then, there's one next Thursday (May 21) at Providence Presbyterian Church, 1215 Church Road in Manchester Township. That one benefits Inspiring H.O.P.E., a group that is trying to build a "barrier-free" playground at Cousler Park where children with and without disabilities can play together. Again, doors open at 6 p.m.; admission is $3 and includes two paddles, with additional paddles available for purchase.

And I know Red Lion's fire company has one on the fourth Friday of every month, including May 22. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., and the auction starts at 7 p.m. Cost is $3 and includes one paddle. For details, call 244-8811, ext. 3, or visit redlionfire.org.

I think I've found the next big York County pastime, even bigger than cow-pattie bingo and "I Got It" at the fair. If anyone else has tried quarter auctions, I'd love to hear about it!

From last Friday's Page-A-Day calendar comes a wonderful and demeaning exercise designed to see if you are faster than a digital sheep:

Go here and try it out - it takes less than a minute.

Then come back and tell me what you are. On my first try, I only made "ambling armadillo," but my second one was just slightly better. Rose actually got worse on her second try, because she started trying to tranquilize the sheep before they ran! So don't do that - there's a time penalty.

C'mon, anyone out there have a reaction speed above "snail?"

Yes, I have some good news to report.

Easter dinner was excellent. The car is at the garage today, hopefully putting an end to my scary noise. And we did even more spring cleaning yesterday. I wish I had taken a picture - we gave away a vanload - literally - of my daughter's outgrown toys, stuffed animals, etc., to a woman who does child care. And Hubby and I are tackling our bedroom - holy cow, we had a lot of junk.

Since I didn't take a picture of that, here's something cute, from Let's Be Friends, which was my Page-A-Day calendar Web site from Tuesday:

Stay tuned tomorrow for Easter dinner redux.

In the interest of helping my daughter keep in touch and share her excellent story-writing with our far-flung and sort of huge family, we recently set her up with her own e-mail address.

She's had a lot of fun writing to her grandmas, grandpas, aunts and others.

But... it might be a bit too much fun. I apologize in advance to the said grandmas, grandpas and aunts, if you're reading this blog, because she's gotten a little carried away.

Case in point, the e-mail Hubby got last night at work. All it said was:

SEND      ME    MORE      EMAILS

All-caps, with weird spacing like a ransom note.

I'm a bit afraid.

As my Christmas gift to myself, I get a page-a-day desk calendar each year. Last year's was made up of Scrabble puzzles; this year, I wanted to go with something a little different.

So, in keeping with the half of my job in which I'm the online editor, I picked the "Page-A-Day 2009 Wacky Web Sites calendar: 365 for the weird & wired."

I'm looking forward to trying out a new site each day. Lucky you, readers, you'll get to share in the ones I enjoy.

Today's is pretty fun. This page from Tulane University lists the "special" holidays and commemorative days for each day of the year. Today, for instance, is the "Festival of Sleep Day," and if you remember how I spent part of Christmas Day, you'll know why I like that idea so much! (My birthday, ironically, is Square Dance Day. Won't be celebrating that one!)

January is, among other things, Hot Tea Month (yay!) and also Prune Breakfast Month (boo!!!) Oh, and Diet Month. Don't get me started...

My personal favorite of the reader responses was this one that my sister-in-law Adriane got:

"Early morning cheerfulness can be extremely obnoxious." William Feather (1908 - 1976)

Now THAT's definitely something I can agree with.