Preakness parties gallop across state lines

Even non-Marylanders are breaking out the fancy hats and black-eyed Susans

For example, when Penn State shifts its weight, everyone in Happy Valley jumps. When graduation weekend moved this year to the first weekend in May, the State College Young Professionals knew they would have to rethink their annual Kentucky Derby party. The service organization was left scrambling to come up with a theme for its annual benefit for PAWS, an animal-welfare organization.

As event organizer Kristen Connolly tells it, the sports bar that had been booked for the party happens to be decorated in the Pittsburgh Steelers colors of yellow and black. Someone noticed that those coincidentally are two of the three colors on Maryland's state flag.

"'Preakness for PAWS sounded good," Connolly said. "We started thinking, and things just started falling into place."

And, before you could say, "Pimlico," another Preakness party was born.

Baltimore Sun reporter Richard Gorelick contributed to this article.

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