Linglestown Life church is sponsoring a scarecrow contest that young and old are invited to enter. Here’s what you need to do: Pick up a scarecrow frame at Linglestown Life weekdays 8 am–4 pm, or on Saturday, Sept. 13 from 8 am–noon, and then decorate the scarecrow using your own materials and return it to the church sometime between Sept. 21-24. Residents are invited to cast votes for a favorite scarecrow at Linglestown Life on Saturday, Oct. 4 from 8 am–4 pm. Prizes donated by participating businesses will be awarded in several age categories. Prior to the casting your vote, you can get a look at all the creations by visiting the Fall Festival that will be held Friday–Saturday, Sept. 26–28, at the following Linglestown merchants: Olivia’s Tea Room and Kelli Wyland Photography The Chocolate Cafe Linglestown Flowers & Gifts St. Thomas Roasters First Impressions Boutique, Gifts & Day Spa Hunters Valley Winery For more details, contact Linglestown Life at 545-5200 or send an e-mail to the church.

After a whopping 10-day break from pushing the mower, I cut my grass for the 20th time this season Friday. If you're a new Gazette reader and have no idea why I'm reporting on my personal lawn care, watch the video. A note on my lawn: This is the first time in recent memory that it's green at this time of year. Entry deadline was April 30, 2008.

After counting and recounting the balls in that enormous container and going through all the submissions, we’ve determined the winner of the Spotoball Guessing Contest that took place at the Harrisburg Street Festival. Alright, drum roll please. (Seriously? That’s all you’ve got?) And the winner is… 13 year-old Miranda B. of Harrisburg! Hopefully Miranda and her friends will enjoy the four passes to Hersheypark. She was gracious enough to say she would take some pictures to share when she uses the tickets. Miranda’s guess of 1,872 balls was off by only nine. There were, in fact, 1,863 balls in the eight-foot tall container, and if you don’t believe me, YOU come count them. Thanks to everyone who participated. Remember to keep checking www.spotobe.com/artcontest to vote for the winner of the Art Contest. The finalists will be posted in the coming weeks.

We’ve got a lot of Spotoballs. Seriously, when we stage our Friday afternoon battles here in the office, it is complete and utter chaos. That’s using one box. We’ve got a lot of boxes. Trust me, we’ve got plenty of Spotoballs. This weekend, if you can figure out how many, you could win four passes to Hersheypark. Simple enough right? Spotobe’s pals at the Harrisburg Downtown Improvement District have graciously offered us space at the Harrisburg Street Festival, which takes place this Saturday between noon and 6:00pm on the streets surrounding the intersection of 3rd and Walnut. We’ve responded by putting together two pretty fantastic and completely free community contests (and we’re modest too!). The first is pretty simple. We’ve built an eight-foot tall container and filled it with Spotoballs. We’ll be taking guesses at exactly how many it took all throughout the event and the closest guess wins four passes to Hersheypark and a pair of passes to Hershey’s Really Big 3D Show. The second is a community art contest, and the winners will be getting some quality, quality prizes. Basically, we are going to provide you with some paint, some brushes and a blank coaster, and let you go to town. Fun stuff. From there, our distinguished panel of judges which includes me (no jokes necessary please), Wendy Sweigert from the Susquehanna Museum of Art, Jason Piper from the Arthouse Lounge and Sara Bozich from the Patriot-News, will narrow down the field and select finalists. Those finalists will then be posted on the site for voting, and the coaster that receives the most votes wins the prizes. If you’re under 17, you could win some free art instruction and a custom art kit from Blick Art Supplies in Camp Hill. If you are over 17, you could win more than $200 worth of restaurant gift certificates from Café Fresco, Carley’s, Blue Bistro & Wine Bar, Hilton Harrisburg and Alfred’s Victorian. The finalists will also be displayed at the Harrisburg Welcome Center on 2nd Street. Dori and I will both be there, so stop by and say what’s up, and participate in both of these great events. It should be a really fun afternoon, and if you don’t think you can win the art contest, paint anyway. First of all, painting is fun. Second of all, since it all comes down to online voting, all you have to do to have a shot is be a finalist and then rock the vote. It’s just like American Idol except it’s not unspeakably lame (sorry Idolites, Idolaters, whatever). Anyway, we’re very excited and we hope to see you Saturday.

Saturday events … Linglestown Church of God is holding its annual drive-thru chicken BBQ and flea market on Saturday, May 31. The church is located across from Linglestown Fire Co. … A multi-family yard sale will be held at 1420 Adams Avenue in Linglestown on Saturday, May 31 starting at 6 am. BB notes … The memorial for Pennsylvania’s Iraq war dead (pictured) that was in the Linglestown American Legion’s Memorial Day parade is looking for a home. The plight of the memorial’s creator is the subject of a story in today’s The Patriot-News by Allison Garvey. … Attention entrants in the Grass Mowing Contest – the count is up to 11. … Gazette congratulations go out to Walter Peppelman, a senior at CD High School, who was selected to receive the John R. Baumgardner $1,000 scholarship awarded by the West Hanover Elementary PTA. He will attend Harvard University majoring in economics. Walter got several mentions in the Gazette last winter for his accomplishments as a CD Rams wrestler. … The Ronald McDonald House of Hershey is an organization worthy of your support. CLICK HERE to view a WHP TV-21 report on how Ronald McDonald House helps families, and HERE to learn how recycling magazines and other types of glossy paper can help Ronald McDonald House raise operating funds. __________ Photo credit: Gazette reader Bill Landefeld