West County: Odenton community celebrates Halloween all week long

Adults and children alike celebrated Halloween all week long in Odenton. Starting off the festivities was the Macedonia United Methodist Church hosting their Harvest Festival. Children arrived in non-scary costumes for an afternoon of fun, food and games.

Upon arrival, each child had his or her picture taken as a souvenir of the day, then decorated trick-or-treat bags before hunting for candy gently hidden in the graveyard beside the church.

Games included blindfolded musical chairs. A twist on this game is that not only did the players have to find and sit in the chairs when the music ended, the chairs kept moving, making the task more difficult.

Another popular game was scooping cotton balls from a bowl in their laps to the empty bowl held on their head. It's not as easy as it sounds, but the children enjoyed their attempts.

Children were not the only ones celebrating last weekend. Sarah Damiani's Jazzercise group showed up for class all dressed up for Halloween. The lights were dimmed leading off the class to a choreographed dance to Michael Jackson's "Thriller."

Unlike the children who love to receive candy for Halloween, Sarah's class received an extensive workout.

The Knights of Columbus held their annual children's Halloween party last Saturday with more than 30 children attending. There were many unique costumes including a Rubix Cube, a jar of peanut butter, and lots of kitty cats.

Children munched and crunched on fresh veggies, Tater Tots and hot dogs. For those with a strong stomach, fresh creamy ''spiders'' were served for dessert.

Awards were given for the best costumes by age category.

Following a Halloween party, Arundel Baptist Church held its first "Trunk or Treat" in the church parking lot. Cars, trucks, vans, along with their drivers, were all decorated. Erin Coates, dressed as a scarecrow, sat in the back of her decorated pickup truck with uniquely designed pumpkins. Sandy Vogel, playing Noah, showed off all her stuffed animals in her ''animal hospital.''

Marcie Shenton had children guess the contents of a variety of objects placed in bowls. Dipping her hand into one bowl, Kaylyn Thompson, 7, rolled her eyes and said "eww" to the feel of cold, wet, spaghetti noodles.

Donna Bonolis of Glen Burnie, a member of Arundel Baptist Church, brought her 19-month-old grandson, Derrick Groff, dressed as a little red devil, to the event.

More than 75 children attend the Trunk or Treat and also enjoyed the hayride and mini haunted garage.

Arundel High School placed 13 musicians on the 2009-10 All-County Orchestra, after auditions Oct. 13 at South River High School in Edgewater.

Senior bass violinist Nathaniel Atnafu earned All-County honors for his fourth consecutive year. Violinists Min Lee and Shane Hill and cellist Sonya Johnson, all juniors, earned their third All-County selection. Senior trombonist Chris Greco earned his second selection to the orchestra as did sophomore violist Olivia Ryan and sophomore violinist Erin Dickerson.

Six Arundel musicians earned their first All-County Orchestra selection: senior trombonists Sam Boone and Joshua Church, junior French hornist Amanda McHarg, freshman violinist Alison White, freshman cellist Patrick Grandinetti, and freshman bass violinist Timothy Stargel.

Rehearsals will be held at South River High School and will lead up to the All-County Orchestra concert, also scheduled at South River, at 7 p.m. Dec. 12.

Two string musicians from the Arundel High School orchestra were selected to perform with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as part of the BSO's annual "Side-by-Side" Program. For the second consecutive year, senior bass violinist Nathaniel Atnafu and junior violinist Min Lee earned positions in the program, designed for talented young musicians from Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Harford counties' public schools.

Rehearsals will be held at Annapolis High leading up to a performance at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 3.

Four Arundel High School vocalists earned spots in the 2009-10 All-County Chorus. Vocalists' auditions were Oct. 12 at Northeast High School.

Congratulations go to seniors Tabitha Brown, Alto I, and Kendra Walker, Soprano II; and sophomores Kara Hancock, Alto I, and Olivia Piasecki, Soprano II.

All rehearsals will be held at Northeast High School and will culminate with the All-County Chorus concert, also slated at 7 p.m. Nov. 7 at Northeast High School.

Arundel High's Wildcat Marching Band will perform at halftime in the final regular season football game on Friday when Arundel hosts Southern. The Wildcats are led on the field by senior drum major Katy Protin and will perform "A Rhapsody in Rhythm," a tribute to composer George Gershwin and featuring the classic "Rhapsody in Blue."

The Greater Odenton Improvement Association will host its annual Citizen of the Year dinner meeting and election of officers at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 21 at the Odenton Volunteer Fire Company. Tickets are $20 per person. All GOIA members and local residents are welcome to attend. The program will feature a meal, slide presentations, a guest speaker, the election of officers for 2010, and the annual presentation of Odenton's Citizen of the Year Award. Tickets may be reserved by calling GOIA Treasurer Bruce McPherson at 410-456-2500 or by mail to: GOIA, PO Box 141, Odenton MD 21113.

Ark and Dove School of Music, located 8424 Piney Orchard Parkway in Odenton, is holding a music facility concert at 7 p.m. Saturday in the sanctuary. Featured will be solo and collaborative performances. For more information, call 410-674-5664.

The next meeting of the Western District Police-Community Relations Council will be at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 11 in the meeting room at the Western District Station at 8273 Telegraph Road in Odenton.

Special guest will be O'Brien (Obie) Atkinson, president of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 70, which represents police officers in Anne Arundel County. He will discuss what happened in the current county budget.

Last Monday, the Girl Scout troops in Odenton, Crofton and Gambrills celebrated the birthday of Juliette Gordon-Low, founder of the Girl Scouts, at Wheels Skate Center in Odenton. In keeping with the founder's love of sports and crafts, the Girl Scouts of Community 37 have an annual Skate Night during the week of her birthday. Each troop decorates T-shirts as a craft project to honor Gordon-Low.

Due to the popularity of this event, and the size of the participation, the community is forced to split the evening into two skate sessions and in each session the T-shirts are awarded a first, second and third place award. During the Daisy and Brownie session Brownie Troop 2280 won first place with their tie-dyed themed shirts. Brownie Troop 1107 won second place and Brownie Troop 752 won third place.

During the junior and senior session, Junior Troop 1319 won first place with their ''Go Green''-themed shirts. Junior Troop 714 won second place with their recycle patchwork-themed shirts and Junior Troop 5000 won third place with their tie-dyed and fringe-themed shirts. Congratulations to all of the girls who won. It was not an easy decision for the judges because every troop put a great deal of hard work into their projects.

The O'Malley Sr. Center in Odenton has recently started a book discussion group based on the principles of the Great Books Foundation. The books to be discussed are both historical fiction and recent/current bestsellers.

The book ''Still Alice,'' by Lisa Genova, will be discussed at 9 a.m. Nov. 16, in the Arts Room of the Annex. If interested, call the Senior Center to sign up at 410-222-6227. Registration is free, but a senior center electronic ID card is required.

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