The annual Halloween Parade and Bean supper will be held uptown this Thursday. The parade starts at 6:30 p.m. with the costume contest following. The Arcanum Business Association will begin serving bean supper at 4:30 p.m. on West George Street. Come enjoy and have a great evening. Free Halloween photos of your child in his/her costume are available through Fall In October Photography at 106 N. Main Street during the Halloween parade that same evening. As mentioned last week, trick-or-treat will be on Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m.
Fall in October Photography & Design is starting up Art Classes for Kids again next month. The first session will begin November 12th; classes are from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. for once a week for 4 weeks. Time slots are available for Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, so schedule your child as soon as possible. For more info contact Brittany Bankert at 937/867-3467 or info@fallnoctober.com.
The Stelvideo Grange is selling the 2013 Entertainment Books, they are on sale for $30 for discounts at many fine dining restaurants with endless coupons to Old Navy, Payless Shoes, movie theatres, golf, Reds tickets, Rent-A-Car, hotels, Kroger’s, plus many more including local Darke County businesses. Entertainment books make a great Christmas gift. They will have them for on sale until Nov. 6. For an Entertainment Book contact Lynne Hinshaw at 937-621-4900 or any Grange member. Funds raised through this project will be used to send youth to camp and assist with their community service projects. Stelvideo Grange also has an on-line Sally Foster Fundraiser at www.sallyfoster.com (support a fundraiser — support a group — fill in with Stelvideo Grange Arcanum Ohio.) You place your own orders, pay on-line and it’s shipped straight to you. There is a $3.95 shipping fee but if your order is over $50 then shipping is free. The grange receives 40% of sales on this project.
Upcoming projects of the grange include collecting for FISH for our Thanksgiving Project and making Christmas Cards for the residents at the Brethren Retirement Community. Seventy-five percent of their fundraisers are returned to the community in Community Services. (FISH, Adopt-A-Family at Christmas, Groceries for a Family, Christmas Cards/they help the residents do their Christmas Cards at BRC. The other 25% is saved back for Youth Camps (winter in January and summer in July). They are also helping a local cancer patient who is a teenager as one of their community service projects this year.
Raymond and Janet Ritz celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary yesterday at Grace United Methodist Church in Ithaca with an open house hosted by their children. Raymond (Junior) and Janet (Busch) were married on October 26, 1962 in St. Paris, Ohio at the Lutheran church. Junior and Janet were residents of rural Arcanum for many years. If you would like to send them a card, please send to P.O. Box 18, Hollansburg, Ohio 45332. They are the parents of Treva Riffle, David Ritz, Joyce VanTassell, and Kathy Daughtery and have 11 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Congratulations Junior and Janet, may you have many more!
The Arcanum Fire Company is seeking financial contributions from the citizens of the area to continue improvement and maintenance of the Arcanum Fire Department. The Arcanum Fire Company is designed as a not-for profit group that raises funds to make essential purchases that allow the Fire Department to grow and operate more efficiently and safely. For a donation to the Arcanum Fire Company, you can earn a portrait session with Tim of Timothy Clopp Photography. Tim is an active member of the Arcanum Fire Department. For a $20 donation you can receive an inside background portrait and free 8x10, the dates for this will be Oct. 28 and Nov. 2. For a $50 donation you can receive a full outdoor family session and a free 11x14 of choice, dates will be established with scheduling of a photo appointment. Please call Tim at 937-459-6859 to schedule your appointment.
Donations can be brought on the day of your pictures or sent to the Arcanum Fire Company, P.O. BOX 58, Arcanum, Ohio 45304. If you are not interested in a photo opportunity, donations are always welcomed for any amount. “Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter.” ~ Carol Bishop Hipps “Halloween was confusing. All my life my parents said, ‘Never take candy from strangers.’ And then they dressed me up and said, ‘Go beg for it.’ I didn’t know what to do! I’d knock on people’s doors and go, ‘Trick or treat. No, thank you?’ “~ Rita Rudner
Vickie Rhodehamel is a volunteer citizen columnist, who serves Daily Advocate readers weekly with her Arcanum community column. She can be reached by calling 937-692-6188, by e-mail at krhodehamel@woh.rr.com. Viewpoints expressed in these opinion pieces are the work of the author. The Daily Advocate does not endorse these viewpoints or the independent activities of the author.