Things to do: June 2009 Archives

If you're looking for a way to get out of cooking dinner tomorrow, I've got a suggestion for you - check out the "Founders Day Free Fun Fest" in Dover.

The event celebrates the 31st anniversary of the Dover Women of Today Group, and it runs 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at 84 Reservoir Road in Dover, right beside the borough water tower.

The Dover mayor will give a proclamation, "Dover Doug" and the Bee from Old Country Buffet will be there, and there will be games, door prizes, face painting, a cake walk and FOOD - and it's all free. Free food - can't beat that! (There will also be Bricker's Fries and Mr. Softee ice cream, but those you have to purchase.)

There's also a silent auction, with proceeds to benefit the organization's community projects.

Take your kids, grab some free dinner and have fun - it sounds like a great time! If you have questions, call Brenda at 515-4424 or Cheryl at 292-4095.

The best part is how I found out about this event - in a true "Only in York County" moment, I sold some scrapbooking stuff online the other day, and the women who came to pick it up were Brenda and Cheryl from the group, who were happy to invite me to their event.

Pretty cool! I'm hoping to check it out.

Something else to check out, if you're not interested in events in the Hanover or Springettsbury areas, is the New Freedom Lions Club Carnival!

Heard about this from one of our freelance writers, Lori Badders. She reports the carnival starts Monday and runs through next Saturday (July 4!) at the New Freedom Playground. (Detailed entertainment schedule here.)

There's live music, rides, midway attractions, games and more in the evenings.

Lori reminds everyone to check out the New Freedom Lioness Club's popular apple dumplings. "Get one with a scoop of ice cream while you listen to the music," she suggests. I second that - they're always a sell-out. Lioness Betty Neary, the club's secretary, always keeps us posted on these events and she just raves about how great the dumpling fundraiser is for the club.

Here are some of the Lionesses hard at work making the dumplings for the '06 fundraiser:

And here's a great shot by photographer Bil Bowden of Brianna Irons, then 7, of Farmington Hills, Mich., on the merry-go-round at the Lions' carnival in 2005:

You'll have to let me know how it is if you go. I would love to get down, but it's not likely given the work week!

Sorry for the sparse posting this week - if you're a reader of our print edition, you've probably noticed it looks a little different, and I'm spending a little more time than usual working on it to make sure it looks as nice as can be.

But I wanted to take a minute and invite you all to some fun stuff going on this weekend, including some places my family expects to be out and about.

First up is Codorus Summer Blast at Codorus State Park outside Hanover. It started today and continues tomorrow and Sunday. We're planning to head out and spend the day at the park tomorrow (weather permitting), not only to check out the event but also to find the two letterboxes hidden at that park. Multi-tasking, yay!

(Interesting side note: You know where I found out about this event? On a placemat in McDonald's. Yep!)

Second event, courtesy of my friend Nina and delivered via text message this week, is a note about a quarter auction at the Springetts Fire Hall next to Home
Depot on Saturday, to benefit York's Habitat for Humanity. Doors open at 6 p.m., cost is $3 at the door.

Habitat, which is also holding a 5K run/walk tomorrow starting at 8:30 a.m. on Allen Lane in Dover, is a great organization, and quarter auctions are a ton of fun, so I'd really encourage you to head out if you're free!

Of course, if you've been following the ol' blog here for a while, you'll remember our family's quest last summer for all 30 "letterboxes" in the "Catch the Activity Bug" summer library program.

Yes, we found all 30, and WOW, was it a great way to spend the summer.

This year, the program continues again, with the kids being asked to make rubbings from 30 "creativity stations" instead of collecting ink stamps. (If you've got kids in your life - I really encourage you to take part; visit goyork.org and your library for details.)

So far, we've found our first three - one Wednesday at Farquhar Park in York, where we also found tons of ducks and geese, a beautiful heron and what we think might have been a baby hawk or vulture - and two Saturday at our favorite place, Pinchot State Park.

Here's a shot that Hubby took of Sarah and I on "Pinchot's Rocks," a formation along one of the trails.

And here's Hubby's own blog post about our adventures so far. I was so happy; I think it was the first time I made HIS blog!

We're looking forward to many more hikes this summer. In fact, by the time you read this, we might have found even more!

While Joan recuperates from a nasty stomach bug (And doesn't everyone know at least one friend or family member who has "the bug" right now?), I took car-lover Sarah out to partake in a York County tradition and see the street rods this morning.

She had herself a checklist of cars she wanted to find and have me photograph -- red, purple, black, multicolored, etc. Finding a white car actually turned out to be one of the toughest tasks. Not too many all-white rods, I guess. Tough to keep 'em clean?

We eventually did find everything on the list, so the mission was a success.

Now, Sarah, who is still in "school mode" despite that fact that her last day was this past Friday and she's now a rising fourth-grader, wants to put together a poster about the street rods, using today's photos and information she plans to research about street rods on the Internet. She's a smart cookie!

P.S. -- I just noticed that sign outside the York Fairgrounds (top photo) reads "STEET ROD NAT'SEAST" ... Only in York County, indeed.