Fall Festival

Savage United Methodist Church, 9050 Baltimore Ave., will hold its Fall Festival on Saturday, Nov. 12 from noon to 5 p.m. A bake sale and craft sale will be part of the festival, and food includes homemade soups, sandwiches, cole slaw and potato salad. For information, call 301-725-7630, or go to http://www.umcsavage.org.

Savage United Methodist Church, 9050 Baltimore Ave., will hold its Fall Festival on Saturday, Nov. 12 from noon to 5 p.m. A bake sale and craft sale will be part of the festival, and food includes homemade soups, sandwiches, cole slaw and potato salad. For information, call 301-725-7630, or go to http://www.umcsavage.org.

Trinity School in Ellicott City will hold its Fall Festival from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. The event is one of the largest yearly fund-raisers for the independent Roman Catholic school. The festival, which will include hayrides, pumpkin decorating, raffles, haircuts and a silent auction, will be held on the school's 49-acre campus, 4985 Ilchester Road. Information: 410-744-1524.

With the weather leapfrogging fall's cheerful chill to winter's blustery bite, the warmest person at the Howard County Conservancy's fall festival Saturday was iron man Allen Dyer. The light from a brilliant fire illuminated the Ellicott City blacksmith, who pumped a huge bellows that fed the dancing flames. Then he spun a thin metal bar in his hands as he heated it until it glowed red. A rapt audience watched Dyer as he transformed the iron into a curved workshop tool, hammering, heating and hammering again until, satisfied, he dipped it into a bucket of water.

UNION BRIDGE will hold its annual Fall Festival from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 16 on the grounds of Lehigh Portland Cement Co. About a dozen crafters will showcase their work, and Bear Branch Nature Center will have a reptile display. Jesse McCarley will perform magic tricks. For the first time, the Carroll County Volunteer Firemen's Association will demonstrate its Carroll County Family Safety House, which was dedicated last month, said Karen Kotarski, a member of the Union Bridge fire company and a Town Council member.

The Days End Farm Horse Rescue will have its third annual fall festival from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday.Pony rides, a petting zoo, riding demonstrations, a costume contest, horses in costume, pumpkin decorating, games and food will be featured. Admission is $2 for adults, $1 for children under 12 or $5 for a family.Days End, a nonprofit organization, rescues abused and neglected horses and restores them to health before adopting them out to caring families.The farm is at 15856 Frederick Road, Lisbon.

Ellicott City's Waverly Elementary School has planned a fun day to raise funds from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.It's the fifth annual fall festival, featuring children's games, pumpkin decorating, scarecrow making and creating children's crafts.Ten local craft people will sell their wares and the PTA will sell large pots of chrysanthemums for $3.50 apiece.Children may join a sock hop, complete with laser show, dance contest and bubbles with Creative DJs. Or they can watch Columbia Gymnastics students demonstrate their skills.

Fall festival time continues in the Pasadena area with several great opportunities for shopping, food and family fun.The parish of St. Jane Frances de Chantel in Riviera Beach will hold its first Fabulous Fall Festival for three days through Sunday. The festival will be open from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. today, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. tomorrow and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, rain or shine."This is the first time in 30 years that we have attempted to have a carnival," said Kathy Dungan, event coordinator.

From best-dressed pets to delectable desserts, contests to be featured Saturday and Sunday at the eighth annual Mount Airy Fall Festival will offer a variety of ways to win prizes and enjoy the competitions.The Best Baby Photo Contest, sponsored by the Mount Airy Area Jaycees, offers proud parents and other relatives the opportunity to enter their favorite photographs of youngsters ages 3 and under.Patrons who gather in the downtown business district on Main Street for the Fall Festival will cast penny votes for the baby photo of their choice during both days of the rain or shine event.

By the end of this month, as many as 7,000 schoolchildren will have taken hayrides through the pumpkin patch at Foster's Farm for an elementary lesson in farming.Surrounded by the rolling pastures, grainfields and woods of the Worthington Valley in northern Baltimore County, they can pick a fuzzy soybean pod and peel it open, jump in a pile of straw and choose a pumpkin to take home. Weekends, they can come back with their parents and stuff a scarecrow."I was picking up a piece of corn that was on the ground," said Edward Parham, 12, a seventh-grader at Pikesville Middle School who came with his class last week.

Fall Festival The Chesapeake Christian Center holds its annual Fall Festival beginning at 10 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 30, at 206 Weston Woods in Pasadena. Children's activities include face-painting, games and free candy. There will be musical entertainment and food. Information: 410-255-3168. Celebration St. Paul's Lutheran Church holds its annual "Bless the Years Celebration" Oct. 15-16 at 308 Oak Manor Drive in Glen Burnie. The event helps people recognize and celebrate each year added to their lives as a gift from God and to respond with renewed commitment and service.

Nature storytime Thursday , 11 a.m., Eden Mill Nature Center, 1617 Eden Mill Road, Pylesville. Enjoy a children's story and craft related to a theme about nature. Preregistration is required; call 410-836-3050. Email edenmillnaturecenter@gmail.org for more information. Wilderness survival Saturday , 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Patapsco Valley State Park, McKeldin area, 11676Marriottsville Road, Marriottsville, Howard County. Join a park naturalist for discussion and examples of wilderness survival techniques.

Conference The Rev. Kay Albury and the women of Asbury Town Neck United Methodist Church will sponsor a three-day women's conference, "Women of Purpose: A Vessel God Can Use. " The church is at 429 Asbury Drive in Severna Park. Event features several speakers and includes workshops. Conference days and times are 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29; 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30; and 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Oct. 31. Cost is $50, which includes registration, four meals, gift bags with conference materials and a T-shirt.

While the Pocono Mountain region is a popular vacation destination year-round, it is particularly beguiling in autumn, when cool weather brings crackling leaves, hay mazes, craft fairs and cozy fireplaces in country inns. "Fall is huge," said Gillian Moore of the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau. The geology of the sprawling 2,400-square-mile Poconos region in northeastern Pennsylvania means the blaze of fall foliage peaks at different times in three distinct zones, so there's more time to savor the reds and oranges.

There's little argument that fall if one of the most beautiful seasons of the year. And spending some of it among the mountains of western Maryland is a sure bet even if all you do is take in the views. So if you're looking for a change of scenery from your office cube, this week's Autumn Glory Festival in Garrett County is more than worth the trip. The 43rd annual fest offers dozens of activities all taking place at a host of venues near Deep Creek Lake. There's a Haunted Mountain Coaster at Wisp.

There is just no getting around it. "The Avenue" isn't what it used to be, with its boarded-up storefronts, pawn shops and empty office buildings."The Avenue" in this case is Highlandtown's Eastern Avenue in Southeast Baltimore. It was once the community's bustling Main Street - but like many a city neighborhood, it has deteriorated."It's a combination of all the shopping malls, like the one in White Marsh, and people leaving the city," says Kenneth Strong, the executive director for Southeast Development Inc., explaining the shuttered businesses.

Fall festival Visit the fall festival at Chesapeake Christian Center, 206 Weston Woods Drive in Pasadena, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 31 for music, family activities, hay rides, pumpkin- and face-painting, horseshoes and more. A variety of foods and refreshments will be for sale. Information: 410-255-3168.