Halloween Parade

The procession of 5-year-olds with orange and black wings tied to their tiny shoulders floated from classroom to classroom, leaving a scattering of candy in their wake.It was a parade, but not a Halloween parade. It was more of a nature parade.Assuming the 13 monarch butterflies they raised from infancy have alighted by now on Mexican fir trees 2,000 miles south, the kindergartners of William Winchester Elementary marked the occasion in much the same way children in Mexico welcome the migratory butterflies.

Pizza! Pizza! Pizza! Belle Grove Elementary School, 4502 Belle Grove Road, will sponsor Pizza Fun and Games Night from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Friday in the cafeteria. Whole cheese pizzas will be sold for $4 apiece or three for $10. The event includes games, a bake table and a craft table. Come and enjoy a family night out.*Belle Grove Elementary School news: Plan to stop by for Burger King Night from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. today at the Burger King on Nursery Road.Children will receive a treat bag. Help support the PTA at Burger King Night.

The Mount Airy Jaycees chapter -- which is behind some of the town's most popular events, including the Halloween parade, the "mammoth" yard sales and the beautiful baby contest -- is marking 20 years of service.The Jaycees (from Junior Chamber of Commerce) promotes "leadership training through community development," said Dave Bohrer, president of the Mount Airy Jaycees, which has about 35 members.Some people join the organization to learn business management skills through participation in its projects.

COULD IT BE that all the hullabaloo over a live portrayal of the passion of Jesus in a Westminster Halloween parade last week was more about some people's discomfiture with the injection of religion into a secular festival?Surely, it could not be the obviously artificial blood of Jesus upon the cross that disturbed the tender sensibilities of the small crowd that witnessed the annual American Legion parade down Main Street.For the surfeit of gore and mutilation and other assorted horrors has become an accepted part of the usual Halloween pageantry.

Downtown Westminster Promotions Committee is sponsoring a series of Ladies Nights Out to be held the first Thursday of each month. From 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday, women can eat dinner at one of several restaurants in the area, then shop at stores along Main Street or browse the library. Shops, the library and Carroll Arts Center will participate with different specials each month. Information: 410-848-7116 or at 410-751-9800. Unitarian Universalists to hold folk performances Cedarhurst Unitarian Universalist Congregation will hold a coffeehouse Saturday at the church in Finksburg.

SINCE THEY met in elementary school, 10 boys in Mount Airy's Ravenwood Estates neighborhood have been friends. The response to a recent accident shows how close they are. "I've got the house in the neighborhood where everybody gathers," said Tom Clark Sr., of his sons Tom Jr., 12, and Jimmy, 11, and their eight close friends. "They've grown up together and we always see them riding their bikes around here." The Clark family and the boys' friends have become closer than ever since Tom was involved in an accident Sept.

ASHLEY ROSS, Ashley Chase and Torres Snowden have step-danced together since they were little kids. They say they have always loved the sound, the rhythms, and the moves of this percussive dance form. When their middle and high school friends complained about having little to do, the trio stomped, clapped and called out step moves over and over until everyone caught on. They not only caught on, they loved it. Now, as many as 12 middle and high school students make up the dance group called Steppers in Motion.

WITH THE TITLE "The Rock-Knockin' Native Americans," it's no surprise that pupils at Charles Carroll Elementary School were completely mesmerized by a recent school program featuring "Billy B."The "B" stands for Brennan, and Billy B. is a professional performer who demonstrates how Native Americans used natural resources and their ingenuity to survive.Pupils learned how Native Americans used cattails, saplings and bark to build wigwams, flint to make tools, and bent saplings to trap turkeys.

Sandy rained on Havre de Grace's annual Halloween parade, but even a superstorm could not curtail trick-or-treating in the battered waterfront town. The Harford County city of 13,000 on the banks of the Susquehanna River postponed its annual Halloween parade and rescheduled it for Sunday because of the storm. But city officials gave the door-to-door quest for candy on Wednesday the go-ahead. "We are 95 percent back to normal," said Mayor Wayne H. Dougherty. "There is still the kid who loves Halloween in me, and I wanted the kids to enjoy the night.

A COUNTY TOWN IS symbolized by a surge of growth with houses being built, residents moving to the area and people from surrounding towns shopping there. That sounds like Mount Airy today, where residents complain the small-town atmosphere is all but disappearing. But it isn't. This was the Mount Airy of more than 100 years ago, when the railroad hauled five passenger trains a day to town, local mills were the big employers and new houses dotted the landscape. The history of this Southwest Carroll community is on display at Mount Airy Museum, which is housed in a small corner of the old Town Hall building on Main Street.