It's fall. October is coming, and that means that it's time for Crabtoberfest.
The Freedom Area Recreation Council will have its sixth annual shrimp and crab feast from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. Oct. 4 in the Freedom Optimist Community Hall at 6315 Sykesville Road, Eldersburg.
Salerno's Restaurant & Catering will be doing the cooking. The menu features steamed crabs and steamed shrimp along with pulled pork, sausage, German potato salad and assorted desserts. Beer, wine, iced tea, lemonade and sodas are included with the feast. If you choose, BYOB is also an option.
If you can't eat for four hours straight, there will be plenty to keep you busy. DJ Jim Brown will provide music for the dance floor. "People get up and they dance and have a good time," said Katie Bernstein, of the recreation council. You can also play the money wheel or buy chances in the 50/50 raffle.
All the money is going to a community cause. "It is one of our big fundraisers each year," Bernstein said. "It provides us with money to keep the fields maintained, and it supports all of the Freedom Area Recreation Council programs."
The sports fields maintained by the program include those used by Freedom Soccer, Freedom Lacrosse, Sykesville Raiders Football, Freedom Rugby, Sykesville Baseball, Freedom Field Hockey and Freedom Softball.
Tickets for Crabtoberfest are $44 in advance or $49 at the door. Bernstein said that it is best to order tickets before Monday, Sept. 29, so they can give an accurate count to Salerno's for the food.
You can order tickets online at https://farc.sportssignupapp.com/MySportsStore. If you don't have Internet access, you may call the Freedom Area Recreation Council at 410-549-6296.
Civil rights series
The Eldersburg branch of the Carroll County Public Library will be presenting programs about the history of civil rights in the United States next month.
The programs, for ages 11 to adult, will include three speakers and four films from the Created Equal film series.
At 1 p.m. Oct. 4, Dr. Peter Levy, a professor of history at York College of Pennsylvania, will discuss Martin Luther King Jr. and the Baltimore Riots of 1968. This lecture looks at the eruption of violence in the wake of King's assassination on April 4, 1968.
At 6:30 p.m. Oct. 7, the library will show "Slavery by Another Name." This 90-minute film looks at the history of unpaid convict labor that persisted until World War II.
At 1 p.m. Oct. 11, Betty Robinson will talk about Freedom Summer 1964: The Front Line Assault on the Segregated South. Robinson participated in the Freedom Summer of 1964 with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
At 2 p.m. Oct. 11, following Robinson's presentation, the library will show the film "Freedom Riders." This two-hour film looks at the Freedom Rides of 1961, where white and black volunteers were subject to violence as they rode buses into the Deep South.
At 7 p.m. Oct. 14, "The Loving Story," a film about a mixed-race married couple arrested in Virginia in 1958, will be shown. The 77-minute film looks at the events around the arrest of Mildred and Richard Loving.
At 1 p.m. Oct. 18, Dr. Jeffrey Lamar Coleman will present Pride and Protest: Poetry of the American Civil Rights Movement. Dr. Coleman will look at the response of writers to events from 1955 through 1975, and place the poems in a historical contest. He will also have copies of his book, "Words of Protest, Words of Freedom," available for sale and signing.
At 1 p.m. Oct. 24, the library will present "The Abolitionists." The film shows the life and struggles of the men and women who battled in the 1800s to bring an end to slavery in the United States. Using re-enactments of the antislavery movement, this presentation includes all three episodes of this series, for a total run time of three hours.
Advance registration is not required for these programs.
The library branch is at 6400 W. Hemlock Drive, Eldersburg. For more information, call there at 410-386-4460.
Nancy McKenzie covers Berrett, Eldersburg, Flohrville, Gaither, Gist, Johnsville, Louisville, Marriottsville and Sykesville. Contact her at 410-848-2260 or mckenzietimes@comcast.net.
