My fondness for Fridays has been documented in this space before (the day, not the restaurant, although of the major Americana chains, T.G.I.'s is probably my favorite). There is just something magical about Fridays. When you leave work to go home on Friday, there is a sense of infinite possibilities. The second you change out of your work clothes, the second you take that first sip at happy hour, the second you sit down on the couch; whatever that moment is that lets you know the weekend is finally here, it's a glorious thing. I had never realized that Central Pennsylvania has not one, not two, not three but four First Friday celebrations to help you shake off the work week at the beginning of each month. First Friday is a great thing. It's a chance to grab a bite with friends, have a few cocktails, look at some art and celebrate the downtown experience. This weekend would be the perfect chance to check out First Friday in Carlisle, New Cumberland, Lancaster or Lebanon. I know that some of those are a bit out of our normal coverage area, but I find it interesting that so many communities in this general area have embraced the concept of First Friday. After doing a little bit of research about each of the events, it seems like the four can be divided into pairs pretty easily. The events in Carlisle and New Cumberland are family-oriented community events with live music, children’s activities and other similar attractions. The events in Lancaster and Lebanon are more traditional First Friday celebrations, which is to say that they are basically gallery and restaurant walks. Between those four events and the Harrisburg Gallery Walk on Sunday, this is the perfect weekend to do something artsy. Saturday, you can check out art of a completely different kind at the PA National Quilt Extravaganza. I hate to stereotype, but I get this picture in my head of hundreds of friendly, white-haired old women making quilts together in the Farm Show Complex. If you are looking to get your kids out of the house, the Quilters Convention might not be the best idea. Instead, you could take them to the Children’s Story Time and Discovery Walk at Wildwood Lake or the Family Explor-a-Story at the Madeline Olewine Memorial Library. If you did go to a First Friday, plan on going to to the Gallery Walk Sunday and want to make it a really artsy weekend, you could go to the first event in the Florestan Recital Project at Dickinson College. If you just want to go to a bar (believe me, I’m not judging) there’s a bluegrass tribute to Modest Mouse at Appalachian Brewing Company. As I mentioned, Sunday is the Gallery Walk. It’s also the first day of the first ever Harrisburg Restaurant Week, which is something I’ll be talking about more next week. If anyone goes to the Gallery Walk or any of the participating restaurants, come on back and post a comment. I’m going to try to do both, but I feel like I might make it to the Gallery Walk and hit Restaurant Week Monday or Tuesday night. Have fun kids.

It is absolutely amazing how quickly this summer is going. It feels like just last week I was cursing under my breath while I shuffled across the Walnut Street Bridge in sub-zero wind chills on my way to work. Now it’s August. Unbelievable. If, like me, you feel like you’ve spent too much time in the air conditioning this summer, this weekend is the perfect opportunity to catch up on some summer stuff. With that in mind, the Live, Collective Soul and Blues Traveler concert will probably be a good time, but I really don’t understand why it’s inside. Seems like it might have been a good fit for the Star Pavilion or Stadium. It’s still a concert that is worth seeing without a doubt, but imagine how enormous it would have been in 1995 (local boys Live coming off of "Throwing Copper," Collective Soul coming off of “Collective Soul,” and Blues Traveler coming off of “Four”). Also on Friday is First Friday in New Cumberland. It features DJ group Thing With Two Heads, extended hours for downtown stores, food, art, demonstrations and Irish music and dance (that’s two Irish dance events in two weeks, odd). If the free sausage at Oxford Hall Celtic Shop doesn’t fill you, I suggest dinner at Molly Brannigans (someone explain to me why there is no apostrophe there). This is completely unrelated, but if you or your children are into the Twilight Saga books, you probably know that the fourth and final book Breaking Dawn comes out at midnight on Friday night. What you may not have known is that Barnes and Noble is having a release party. If you weren’t into my Irish suggestions for Friday, you might be interested in a Caribbean Saturday. You could do the Reggae Festival in Reservoir Park in the afternoon, have dinner and drinks at Spice in the early evening, then hit the City Islanders game against Bermuda at night (I know that’s not really Caribbean, but close enough).  BYOB Blues Festival (I’m intrigued), The Lost, The Found & the Dearly Departed also takes place Saturday at the Harrisburg Postal Employees Picnic Grounds. In addition to the music, you can take a dish of your own to share and enjoy pork BBQ, fried catfish, chicken, fresh cut fries and more. If you’re into the food but couldn’t really care less about the blues, there is a chili cook-off in Duncannon and a lobster and corn boil in Millerstown. Sunday there is a John Phillip Sousa concert at the Carlisle Theater, and American roots band Red Molly continues the Italian Lake Concert Series. As for me, on Friday night, hopefully I’ll be playing in the second round of the Harrisburg Open. Saturday I’ll be going to the footy game and maybe grabbing something to eat downtown. Other than that, it’s all up in the air. Have fun kids.

By Mike Shaffer For Linglestown Gazette KOONS PARK (July 15) – Linglestown spotted Susquehanna with eight runs in the first two innings before fighting back to drop an 11-7 decision to Susquehanna. The loss eliminates Linglestown from the Future Stars Tournament. J.T. Fredericks led the Linglestown all-stars with three singles and a walk. Tonight Susquehanna battled New Cumberland for the tournament championship. This weekend both the Linglestown under-10 and under-9 all-star teams will compete in the Palmyra Tournament. The under-10s will play Saturday at 1 and 6 pm, and the under-9s will be in action at 8 am and 1 pm.

By Mike Shaffer For Linglestown Gazette KOONS PARK (July 13) – Linglestown dropped its first game of the Future Stars Tournament to New Cumberland 12-8. New Cumberland got out of the blocks fast by scoring four runs in the first inning. In the bottom of the inning, Linglestown fought back to cut New Cumberland’s lead to one. Brayden Parr and J.T. Fredericks led off with base hits, Tori Lesko and William Zeigler each drew walks and Austin Barowski doubled. In the second inning, Linglestown scored five times to take the lead with Tori Lesko and Jason Wenrich each contributing key hits. Linglestown’s bats went cold after the second inning as New Cumberland shut them down for the remaining four innings. In the 2nd game Sunday Susquehanna defeated East Penn 9 - 2. The third game between Susquehanna and Linglestown was postponed until Monday at 7:30 due to the thunderstorms engulfed Linglestown. Monday evening action will see Susquehanna and New Cumberland square off at 5:45 pm, and Palmyra and East Penn will do battle in the other 5:45 pm game. Linglestown will play Susquehanna immediately following the conclusion of the early games.