The Oak Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce and the Thirtieth Anniversary Apple Festival Committee
are busy finishing up last minute details for this year's event.

The Saturday schedule on October 11 begins with a Baking Contest starting at 8 a.m. followed
by Opening Ceremonies at 10 a.m. which will include the introduction of the 2008 Apple Royalty
and the winner of the "Dorothy Heiks Award".

The Baby Contest will feature children dressed for the theme of the "Little Apple Bakers".  Another event is the Kiddie Tractor Pull sponsored by the Oak Harbor FFA club.  The Fulton County Blue Grass Band will be performing on stage at both 12:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.  The Kiddie Parade, "Under the Apple Tree", will be followed by the Grand Parade with the theme "Let's Celebrate" in honor of the Apple Fest's 30th birthday.
The talent show is scheduled for 6 p.m.

Sunday's events will begin with a Car Show, the Kid's Activity Tent and the famous "Apple Run"
for both youth and adults. Local talent will be featured with performances by the Shorin Ryu Martial Arts Academy, Class "A" Studio of Dance and the VIP Express Cloggers. Benton-Carroll-Salem school choirs will be highlighted in the afternoon.

New this year will be a Memorabilia display of past Apple Festival items near the log cabin.
The Portage Fire Station will again be hosting bingo and offering smokehouse demonstrations for
the children.

The festival would not be complete without the Boy Scouts Apple Butter Stir and Sale, children's rides, food and craft vendors and the craft show at the Community Markets VFW Hall.

To enter any event or for more information, call the Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce at 419-898-0479.

The weekend of September 26-28 Orchestra Hall Theatre in Lakeside will present Brideshead Revisited, starring Matthew Goode and Emma Thompson.  Immediately following the Friday night 8 p.m. showing there will be a community film discussion led by Lakeside's Vespers Coordinator Rev. Robert Butcher.

Based on Evelyn Waugh's 1945 classic British novel, Brideshead Revisited is a story of forbidden love, guilt, religion and the loss of innocence set in England prior to World War II.  The film tells the story of Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode), a young painter studying history at Oxford.  Ryder, who is stationed at Brideshead Castle during the war, remembers his involvement with the owners of the estate, the aristocratic Flyte family and in particular brother Sebastian (Ben Whishaw) and sister Julia (Hayley Atwell).  

Tickets are $5 for adults, and for children 12 and under the cost is $3.

Agriculture remains a large part of the fabric that makes up Ohio, and harvest time brings that truth home. Seasonal festivals are brimming with fall goodness, featuring bushels of squash and apples along with rows of golden pumpkins. These autumn festivals are full of homespun pastimes that remind us of quieter days gone by.

An early fall favorite takes place at Malabar Farm State Park in Richland County. Ohio Heritage Days, September 27-28 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, is one of the state's largest outdoor craft and history festivals. It features more than 70 craftspeople in period clothing, demonstrating the arts of spinning, weaving, woodworking, broom making, molasses boiling and more. For more information, call (419) 892-2784.

Playmakers Civic Theatre will open its 62nd season with the musical "Seussical the Musical".
The music from "Seussical" is by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens; book by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty; Co-conceived by Lynn  Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty and Eric Idle and based on the works of Dr.Seuss, the story is based on the adventures of Horton the elephant hearing a "Who" in the jungle of Nool.
"Seussical" incorporates elements from at least 15 of his books, as well as many of his best-loved and most familiar characters. Many of these characters never met one another before. But they all meet in the musical.
The production will run November 7-9, 13-16 and 20-23 at the theatre at 604 W. Sixth Street in Port Clinton. For more information, call Virginia Wise 419-332-2879 or Bob Bell 419-332-6652.