Thumbs up to parents who make the effort to get their children up and moving by signing them up to play in the indoor flag football program this winter at the Boys & Girls Club of Jamestown. The program is open to boys and girls in grades 2 through 12. They will play about an hour a week during weekday evenings starting Jan. 15. The fee is $30 plus the $15 cost of a youth membership. Teens attending Jamestown Public School can join the Boys & Girls Club for $5.
Contact the club for registration information.
Ditto on the thumbs up to parents who encourage their children to attend Camp December next weekend at the YMCA's Camp Onyahsa in Dewittville. The overnight camp is for kids ages 7 to 13 and is designed to show them that outdoor activities are as fun in the winter as in summer. There will also be activities indoors in the heated lodges. The camp runs from 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 8, to 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Call the YMCA for details.
With this holiday season so full of customs we reverently observe - from the baking of special cookies for our families to the color of vestments worn by priests and ministers in various denominations - we give a big thumbs up to the exuberance with which we all celebrate the diversity of ethnic heritage in our area.
The Briefly column in Friday's Post-Journal had a couple of typical examples. It lead off with an announcement that members of the Ladies Erene Society at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church are offering their annual Christmas bazaar, bake sale and lunch from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. today at the church in Jamestown. You are all invited, of course. A lunch featuring Balkan food will be served beginning at 11:30 a.m. The cost is $7.50.
A look at the last names of the people involved in planning and carrying out of preparations for the lunch and bazaar leaves no doubt it's an all-American salute to our Greek heritage: Anderson, Voulgaris, O'Kelley, Cummings, Kianos, Dimitry, Lampropolis, Constantine, Frederick, and Duro.
Next up was an announcement about the herring breakfast at the Lakewood American Legion from 8 a.m. to noon on Sunday. That traditional Swedish breakfast of rounds today's Julmarknad - a holiday salute to the Scandinavian heritage we all enjoy celebrating.
The Julmarknad - Swedish Market Day - is centered at Jamestown Community College where you will find tables laden with handcrafts from 9 a.m. to noon, and then Julbord, a Swedish Christmas smorgasbord. The handcraft market at the Hamilton Collegiate Center is free. A $5 donation is requested for the lunch.
That's just the beginning. The Scandinavian Studies Program is offering its monthly Culture Day at JCC today and we note Ecklof Bakery, Peterson Farm, Wegmans, Immanuel Lutheran Church and Fenton History Center all have special Swedish-centered food and entertainment events planned for today as well.
By the way, while you are at JCC, stop across Curtis Street are the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History. Admission is free for the day between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. They have the wonderful gifts for children there.