Print Edition Highlights - May 17, 2012

PickleFest
By Erica Smithson

Photo by Mark Ryder
Sitting to standing, strategies varied from single bites or double-fisted, as contestants competed in the Pickle Eating Contest on Saturday.

Pickle Fest showcases area’s innovative artisans

Photo by Curt Werner
The weather was perfect for a stroll through Pickle Fest on Saturday, May 12.

____One of the highlights of PickleFest, Dillsburg’s yearly street fair on Greenbrier Lane, is the ability of the event’s vendors to take the pickle out of the jar and do something new and innovative with it.
____An annual favorite is a chicken-broth-based pickle soup, and past years have featured fried pickles and pickle-flavored ice cream. All of these creations use the same goodness of a cucumber plucked straight from dill-flavored brine, but the presentation is varied and innovative. Several of the fair’s vendors present their wares in the same fashion: They take a familiar idea – the luxury of bath soap and candles, plants found in nature, or even long flowing locks of hair – and turn it into something wonderful and truly unique.
____Chrissy Cutright, owner of Chrissy’s Candle Creations, sold her line of soy candles, homemade soaps and natural skin-care products (lotions and lip balms) for the second year at the festival. She operates the business from her home in the Berkshire Hills development of Dillsburg. The soy candles are a nod toward environmental consciousness. Soy wax is made from a renewable source and not from petroleum, and candles made from soy wax emit less soot. Soy is also grown by farmers and all of its uses provide them with support.
____Cutright’s reason for starting a natural line of products was the ability to take better care of her skin. Commercialized soaps are often irritating to those with sensitive skin or conditions such as psoriasis and eczema. Natural products made from vegetable-based oils (such as olive or coconut) do not contain harmful chemicals. One of the key byproducts of soap, glycerin, is left in when it is handmade. This clear liquid absorbs water from the air and helps keep skin soft. It is typically too expensive to be left in for commonly sold products, so it is more often found in higher-end beauty creams and lotions.

Photo by Curt Werner
Nearly 200 runners pounded the pavement in the 2012 5K Pickle Chase and 1 mile Fun Run, benefiting Miranda’s Smile, which provides assistance to teenage cancer patients.

See the May 17, 2012 edition of the Dillsburg Banner for details.

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Fire Company celebrates 50 years of history, growth
By Erica Smithson

____The Monaghan Township Volunteer Fire Company will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a banquet at their fire house on Saturday. They will honor all current and former members of the company, as well as members of the former Ladies’ Auxiliary.
____The idea for a fire company in Monaghan Township came in the early 1960s when several men from the township wanted to improve their municipality’s fire protection and they joined the Lisburn Community Fire Company. The Lisburn company agreed to station on of its trucks at the Monaghan Township building.
____In the 1950s and 1960s, Monaghan Township was mostly a farming community with some small businesses. Most of the time, the only fires that occurred were in farm buildings or in grass or bushes. These fires were usually quelled by the neighbors who only needed a bucket to extinguish them.

See the May 17, 2012 edition of the Dillsburg Banner for details.

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Disaster response planned in Monaghan Twp.
By Carolyn Hoffman

____Monaghan Township supervisors heard from a representative of the Northern Emergency Task Force at the May 14 session. So far four local municipalities have joined the regional group, and organizers are hoping to boost that number.
____The concern of Monaghan, as well as other local governments, is if the regional group would take over from ongoing local efforts. The answer is no, as explained by Bill Turner, representing the fledgling organization.
____The regional group sees itself as providing additional support and logistical help to local efforts during emergencies. For disasters too large for a local group to manage on its own, the regional group can offer additional trained volunteers and help arrange for additional equipment. They want to expand the capabilities of local emergency response but will only activate when local groups request their aid. Even in those situations, the regional group would not command the disaster response, but rather support the efforts of the local groups.
____The group also hopes municipalities will support them with a $500 annual donation, but Turner said the group would be happy to have municipalities’ support and membership in the organization regardless.

See the May 17, 2012 edition of the Dillsburg Banner for details.

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Franklintown Carnival


Photos by Mark Ryder
The crowd provides their own ring-side seats to watch the entertainment during the Franklintown Carnival on Saturday night.

What is your favorite event or what do you like best about the
Franklintown Carnival?

Photos by Curt Werner
No fine for texting and swinging at the Franklintown Carnival.

See the May 17, 2012 edition of the Dillsburg Banner for details.

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Lady Bears improve to 17-3
By Joe Guty

____Striving forward with the same teamwork that brought them to a 17-3 regular season record, the Northern High School softball team faces Lower Dauphin on Wednesday, May 16, in the opening game of the Mid-Penn Conference Tournament.
____The Mid-Penn Colonial Division champion Lady Polar Bears meet the Falcons (19-1 and Keystone Division champs) at Heishman Complex in Newville in a twice-postponed game. In the other semifinal contest, Susquenita (Capital Division) was slated to play Central Dauphin (Commonwealth Division). Sunny weather – and dry fields permitting – the championship contest is slated for Wednesday, May 16.
____"This team is truly a team," said head coach Nyle Monismith."They have come together quite well. We stress fundamentals all of the time and their attitude has developed into team togetherness."

See the May 17, 2012 edition of the Dillsburg Banner for details.

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Districts on the line
By Joe Guty

____It's post-season and the Northern High School track and field squads will have several athletes competing in the 2012 PIAA District III Class AAA Track and Field Championships this Friday, May 18, and Saturday, May 19, at Shippensburg University.
____Senior Bobby Smutsky leads the Polar Bears as the top seed in the 200-meter dash (21.86), seventh seed in the 100-meter dash (10.99) and fifth seed in the javelin throw (187-07). Along with senior teammates David Steele and Jeff Berwager and junior Ryan Cummings, he will also anchor the 4x400 meter relay team, which is seeded 15th (3:28.96). Junior David Cuckovic is seeded 14th in the 110-meter high hurdles (15.38).
____Representing the girls' team, sophomore Brittany Roberts is competing in the shot put and discus. Roberts is seeded fourth in the shot put (37-07) and ninth in the discus (114-01). Freshman Kennedy Shank is seeded third in the pole vault (11-06).

See the May 17, 2012 edition of the Dillsburg Banner for details.

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