IT WOULDN'T be summer without a trip to the Howard County Fair.
The fair, in its 53rd year, marks the unofficial end of summer for Howard County students and their parents.
The fair is open for business from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday through Aug. 22, ending two days before school begins.
F. Grant Hill, president of Howard County Fair Association Inc., calls the event "one of the finest and most unique fairs in the state."
"Our fair features agricultural and commercial exhibits, musical entertainment, old-fashioned contests, midway rides and grand parades," he said. "We have plenty of good, family-oriented food and fun."
Featured daily will be the Puppetone Rockers Stage Show -- starring "King of Karaoke," Shirl Udich -- and the Cider Mill petting farm.
The Windy Ridge Blue Grass Band will entertain at 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday and at 3 p.m. Sunday.
Watch the cow-milking contest at 3 p.m., and listen to the Baltimore Ravens Marching Band.
The Howard County Fair Farm Queen Contest takes place at 4: 30 p.m. Sunday. At 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., the Zion Mountain Boys, a bluegrass/gospel group, will perform.
If you sing, dance, play an instrument, or do stand-up comedy, the Amateur Variety Show Contest from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Aug. 20 might be for you.
Cash prizes totaling $300 will be awarded in age-group categories.
Information: chairwoman Mary Streaker, at 410-823-4037.
Who says all the exciting races in Maryland take place at Pimlico and Laurel?
On Aug. 22, the Howard County 4-H Clover Colossal International Worm Race will be run at the 4-H Indoor Exhibit Building to determine the fastest worm in the county.
In case of a dead heat, if the contestants are capable of further motion, the race will be run again.
Post time is 4 p.m.
Don't miss the many 4-H exhibits at the fair, the animal judging, and the household arts demonstrations and displays.
Rides, entertainment and food will be available.
Expect the french fries from the Glenelg High Boosters Club stand to be as scrumptious as ever.
Admission to the fair is $3 for adults and $2 for people age 62 and older. Children younger than age 12 are admitted free.
Tuesday is Senior Citizen Day, with free admission for seniors from 9 a.m. to noon.
Plenty of free parking is available at the fairgrounds off Route 144 west of Route 32, in West Friendship.
The Howard County Fair is definitely the August place to be.
4-H news
Katherine Robinson, correspondent for Dayton 4-H Club, reports that members enjoyed Dale Bennett's presentation on the 4-H livestock sale at the club's June meeting.
Bennett, a 4-H club father working on organization and promotion of the sale next week, described the event to the group, to help them prepare to market and sell their animals.
Steers, lambs, hogs, meat goats, capons, broilers and meat rabbits have been carefully raised, fed and groomed by young 4-H members over the past six months or more to be sold for slaughter.
The sale will be held Wednesday in the Livestock Show Pavilion at the fairgrounds, beginning at 6: 30 p.m.
Sale proceeds will help fund next year's 4-H projects and pay feed expenses for members' animals.
Older 4-H members have used proceeds from the sale of their animals to finance college educations.
Information about the sale: Bennett, at 410-489-7328.
Creating homes
They might not have known much about building homes and creating gardens before they arrived in Morgantown, W.Va., but by the time they returned home, the 10 members of the Catholic Youth Ministry of St. Louis Roman Catholic Church had built the shell of one house and landscaped three others.
From June 21 to 26, Stephen Berger, J. T. Burke, Nicole Chopyk, Jimmy DiPietro, Katie Douglass, David Mecchi, Mike Mellott, Jenny O'Keefe, Elizabeth Schemm and Mary Wiles volunteered with the Mon County Habitat for Humanity organization, sleeping on the floor of a middle school and cooking their own meals.
The young people were accompanied by adult volunteers Ken Currie, Rusty Russell and Patrick Sprankle, St. Louis youth ministry director, who also slept on the floor and supervised the cooking.
Katie, who will be a sophomore at Atholton High School this year, said she would volunteer again next summer, despite the Spartan conditions and lack of home-cooked meals.
"Sleeping on the floor made it more of a humbling experience," she said, adding that a few days of discomfort was a small price to pay "when you think about others who have to sleep on floors every night."
The most moving part of the experience, Katie said, was when she and the other volunteers met the single mother who would be moving into the house.
Katie wondered how this head of household would have time to complete the required number of house-construction hours required of house recipients, while working at her 12-hour-a-day job.
On Aug. 22, St. Louis Catholic Youth Ministry volunteers will help renovate a home in Baltimore that has been purchased by the Youth Ministry Committee of the Archdiocese of Baltimore and Sandtown Habitat for Humanity.
Tom Thrasher, a social studies teacher at Glenwood Middle School, led another group of teen-age volunteers to Camp Hope -- a work camp inspired by former President Jimmy Carter -- from July 27 to Aug. 1.
Camp Hope operates out of Frostburg State University, using the dormitories to house volunteers.
Eleven young men represented Glenelg United Methodist Church at the camp. They were John Alascio, Josh Brackins, Michael and Jonathan Gibson, Brian and Steven Musgrove, Jim Pope, Jeremy Shry, Ryan Smith, Matt Thrasher and Brooks Trimper.
Adult volunteers John Gibson, Rick Pope and Hob Shry accompanied them.
For six days, the group repaired houses and trailers in the Frostburg, Cumberland and Mount Savage areas for senior citizens who could not afford to have the work done
professionally.
At one home, the volunteers installed new gutters, painted and caulked the exterior, knocked down a cement porch and built a deck to replace it. The homeowner made beef stew, chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter fudge for the work crew.
When the work was completed, she told the group members she would miss them -- not only for the help they had given her, but also because she loved having their company.
For five summers, John Alascio, who will be a senior at River Hill High School, has spent a week at Camp Hope.
"Spending a week out of my summer to better the lives of the elderly is the least I can do," he said. "It makes me feel good that I can help, because some of the people we helped had no one else to whom they could turn for assistance."
Brian Musgrove, a Glenelg High graduate who will study mechanical engineering at York College this fall, was a first-time volunteer.
His week at Camp Hope left an indelible impression.
"The whole experience has really made me appreciate what my parents have given me," Musgrove said. "As young people, we often take so much that we have for granted."
Unsung hero winner
Each year, the National Pike District of the Boy Scouts of America invites nominations of a person in each unit whose outstanding contributions generally go unrecognized.
Ann Travis is this year's recipient of Clarksville Troop 737's Unsung Hero Award.
Ann has been a Scout parent for seven years, serving as the troop's hospitality chairwoman.
She organized the refreshments at all of the troop's quarterly Courts of Honor, as well as the Eagle Courts of Honor -- which generally require a dinner.
Last year, she organized an adult brunch at the Fort Meade Officers Club, attended by at least 30 adults from the troop.
Deacon is leaving
Last weekend, Leo E. Patalinghug, a deacon at St. Louis Roman Catholic Church in Clarksville, said goodbye at the 4 p.m. Mass by playing and singing a song he had written, "Let Me Die to Live in Thee."
The ballad, was Patalinghug's way of thanking the members of the parish for their support during his year at the parish. He received a standing ovation.
After a short vacation, he will return to the North American College in Rome to complete his studies for the priesthood. He will be ordained a priest in May at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore.
"In the relatively short period of time that he has been with us, Deacon Leo has been involved in a broad variety of parish activities and he has endeared himself to so many parishioners," Monsignor Joseph De Luca, pastor of St. Louis, wrote in the churchbulletin. "Although it is sad to say goodbye, we can all look forward to his return next year as a priest."
Pub Date: 8/13/98