Pastimes

Saturday, August 23

Book Signing Party
A Local Authors Book Signing Party will be held at John M. Porter Memorial Library from 2 to 5 p.m. Authors from Virginia and Maryland will attend, bringing along their newest books. Refreshments will be served. The library is located at 2001 Parkway Blvd in North Stafford.

Basket Bingo
The Stafford County Employee United Way Committee will hold a Longaberger basket and Pampered Chef bingo party at 6 p.m. on August 23 in the Rowser Building located at 1739 Jefferson Davis Highway.
All proceeds will directly benefit the Rappahannock Area United Way.
Employees raised $1,300 for United Way at the bingo event held in June 2007.
Advance tickets are $20, or $25 at the door the night of the event. Everyone, including children, must purchase a ticket to enter the auditorium. Doors will open at 5 p.m. There will be drawings for door prizes and specials, and several raffles will also be held. Refreshments will be available.
For more information or to purchase advance tickets, call Judy Barnes at (540) 658-8702 or Denise Gibson at (540) 658-4532.

Safety and Fun Fair
The Occoquan Merchants Association is sponsoring a Back to School Safety and Fun Fair on Aug. 23, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Historic Occoquan.
Features include police and fire safety tips, free fingerprinting, health screening (blood pressure) nutritional bag lunch information, games, face painting, prizes, horse-drawn carriage rides live entertainment and coupon books.
The entrance fee is a donation of a new school supply item (one per family) to benefit the Hilda Barg Homeless Prevention Center.

Musical Open House
Bang Music and Olde Virginia Gourmet will host an open house from 7 to 9 p.m. The evening will consist of music, wine tasting, beer tasting and assorted h’ourderves. Featured educators and performers will be Ejuana Andrews, Kareem Darwish, Dominic Crofoot, Joe Kane, Doug Manring, David Jensen, Bruce Middle and Lou Durham. The event will be located at Bang Music at 261 Garrisonville Road, Suite 107. For more information, visit bangmusicstore.com or call (540) 659-9176.
Saturday, Aug. 23 and Sunday, Aug. 24

Winery event
Autumn Hill Vineyards will hold its 6th Annual Harvest Prevue and Perspective Open House from noon to 5 p.m. on Aug. 23 and Aug. 24. Admission is $7 and includes a souvenir wine glass and snacks. The event will go on rain or shine. Picnics are welcome, and no reservations are needed.
Under a tent in the vineyard, visitors can learn about growing quality grapes in Virginia, and the decision-making process about when to harvest. This session takes place from 2 to 3 p.m. Visitors can taste the Autumn Hill wines and have a Cabernet Sauvignon Barrel Tasting. For more information, visit autumnhillwine.com or call (434) 985-6100.
Autumn Hill Vineyards is located 15 miles north of Charlottesville in Stanardsville.

Saturday, Aug. 30 & Sunday, Aug. 31

Labor Day Events
Wintergreen Resort, located in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, will be offering activities for its guests over Labor Day weekend. The events include swimming, hiking, golf, tennis, an arts & craft fair, hayrides, dance lessons, chairlift rides and movies under the stars. Wintergreen will present the International Wine Festival on Aug. 30 from 12:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. The International Music Festival takes place on Aug. 31 from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. Music festival performers include Ban Caribe, Jose Conde, and Belez Brasil. For more information on Wintergreen’s Labor Day weekend, call (434) 325-8180 or visit wintergreenresort.com.
Thursday, September 4

Quilting for Comfort
A support group that makes quilts for injured military personnel is having its fall session begin at 6:30 p.m. at Stafford Baptist Church, located at 2202 Jefferson Davis Hwy, about a quarter-mile north of Stafford Courthouse. The group is titled Comfort for Combat. The classes are free. Participants learn the art of quilt making while making quilts for wounded soldiers. For more details, call the church office at (540) 659-7517.
Begins Sunday, Sept. 7

Church Event
Forty days pursuing answers to life’s biggest questions: We all have important questions and they deserve honest answers. Join in as the church pursues life’s biggest questions.
Rock Hill Baptist Church is located at 12 Van Horn Lane in Stafford. (540) 752-0336 or visit
rockhillbaptistchurch.org.

Saturday, September 13

Memory Walk
The Alzheimer’s Association will host its 19th annual Fredericksburg Memory Walk. The event will kick off at 10 a.m. at Hurkamp Park near downtown Fredericksburg. Walkers will have the option of following either a one- or a three-mile route. The Fredericksburg event is one of some 600 Memory Walks taking place across the country this fall. For more information and to register, call (540) 370-0835.

Sunday, September 14

Fall Festival
St. William of York Catholic Church’s will hold its 12th Annual International Fall Festival from 1:30 pm to 7 p.m. This year’s theme is “Thanking the Military.” The church is located at 3130 Jefferson Davis Hwy. off U.S. 1.
There will be games and rides for children including a climbing wall; face painting, paintball, snow cones and cotton candy. There will be food available from around the world, desserts and a pie-tasting contest. There will be entertainment — singing and dancing — and a bingo tent. Beer will be available in a controlled area and IDs will be required to enter.
There will also be a white elephant sale, a blood drive and a raffle with a grand prize of $10,000, a first prize of $3,000, a second prize of $1,000 and a fourth prize of $500. For more information about the festival, contact Frank Santana at (540) 446-1869.

Saturday, September 20

Concert fund-raiser
Children’s Miracle Network presents Jukebox Heroes featuring the Mahoney Brothers, at Massaponax High School Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. There will be one show only, at $10 per ticket. For more information call (540) 898-2324 or (703) 704-1779.

Eighteenth-Century Life
Members of The Children of the First People (Cherokee/Sioux), and members of the local Patawomeck tribe, will discuss how much work it took to keep Indian families fed in the 18th-century. They will show artifacts and pelts and will regale visitors with stories. Take part in Native Indian dancing, and watch flint napping, arrowhead making and other cultural demonstrations. Visitors will make crafts and go on a scavenger hunt. The event takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at George Washington’s Ferry Farm, 268 Kings Highway (Rt. 3), in Stafford County. Call (540) 370-0732.

Saturday, September 27

Craft Show
Area 11 Special Olympics will hold its 3rd Annual Fall Craft Show on September 27 at Riverbend High School in Spotsylvania. Crafters and vendors are needed. Registration form can be obtained at area11sova.org. Contact Candy Thompson at (540) 972-0122.

Sunday, September 28

Taste of Stafford
The Stafford Lions Club and The Clubhouse restaurant will present Taste of Stafford from 1 to 4p.m. at the Harbour Inn in Aquia Harbour. The event will feature more than 10 Stafford restaurants. A cash bar and door prizes will be featured. Advance tickets are $10, $12 at the door. For more information visit aquia-eve-lions.org.

Saturday, September 13

Welcome Coffee
The General Officers’ Wives of the National Guard Bureau are hosting a welcome coffee for members and prospective members of the National Guard Bureau Officers’ Wives’ Club on Sept. 13 from 10 a.m. to noon.
The club provides support to National Guard Bureau soldiers and their families through an active outreach program and by raising funds to provide college scholarships to dependents. The club organizes social activities and provides an opportunity to meet members of the National Guard family (both Army and Air) stationed in the Military District of Washington.
Eligibility for club membership is assignment or attachment to the National Guard Bureau as an officer’s spouse (male or female), a female officer or as a civilian (GS-12 or above). Current club members will receive their invitation to the welcome coffee in the mail and should share their invitation with prospective eligible club members.
For more information contact Angela Fontenot at (703) 722-2323 or Pam Moore at (703) 425-3395 or e-mail NGBOWC@yahoo.com.

— Submitted