Voting Begins for Gettysburg's Greatest

It's time to vote for your favorites in Celebrate Gettysburg's Gettysburg's Greatest Awards. This is your chance to vote for the establishments and services you think are the best in Adams County.

You can complete the paper ballot in our March/April issue (found on page 11) or you can fill out an online ballot at ballot.celebrategettysburg.com. Don't miss your opportunity to vote; the deadline for all ballot submissions is May 1. We'll publish the results in our July/August issue.

Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a Day of Service

While many of you may be off from work today for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, are you planning on using today as a day of service?

This year, the YWCA Gettysburg & Adams County is using today, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as a day of service. You can drop off items at the YWCA at 909 Fairfield Rd., Gettysburg, to fulfill wish lists for local nonprofits. This initiative is sponsored by the United Way of Adams County. You can view wish list requests on the YWCA's website.

Also this week, the Adams County chapter of Project Linus is meeting on Friday, January 20, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Fairfield Mennonite Church, 201 W. Main St., Fairfield. Project Linus members make blankets for children ages 0-18 who are seriously ill, traumatized or otherwise in need. Blankets are donated to Gettysburg Hospital and other agencies in the Adams County area. For more information, contact Priscilla Storrs at 717-642-6771.

Learn more about the MLK Day of Service.

This Pumpkin's Not Meant for Pie: Martin Grenchik's Giant Pumpkin Harvest

Every year, dozens of pumpkin growers from across Ohio and Pennsylvania travel to Salem, Ohio, to compete in the Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Growers (OVGPG) Weigh-Off, one of OVGPG’s most popular events. The competitors aren’t just big—they’re behemoths, most weighing in at more than 800 hundred pounds. In fact, this year’s winner, grown by Dave and Carol Stelts, tipped the scales at 1,807.5 pounds.

Adams County pumpkin grower Martin Grenchik, 16, of Fairfield, was one of the contestants in this year’s OVGPG Weigh-Off. His giant pumpkin weighed in at approximately 1,018 pounds. Grenchik has grown ‘Atlantic Giant’ pumpkins before, but this year’s specimen was the largest the teenager has grown. Grenchik esimates he spent approximately 15 to 20 hours a week, from April to September, cultivating his pumpkin patch.

The process began in early spring when Grenchik obtained 3 cubic yards of alpaca fertilizer provided by Helen and Larry Hornbake, owners of Alpacas of Gettysburg and the Gettysburg Rental Center, for his 600-square-foot pumpkin patch. In April, Grenchik started the seeds indoors, and a few weeks later, in early May, he transferred the plants to the fertilized garden. (Each plant, he says, will normally grow one main vine with several side shoots coming off the main vine on which several pumpkins can grow.) Since pumpkins do best with minimal rain and sun exposure, the 2011 growing season in Adams County proved to be challenging. With record rainfalls recorded in the area, Grenchik protected his pumpkin by covering it with sheets and a large tarp.

Grenchik estimates that during the pumpkin’s most active period of growth, it put on about 48 pounds in a 24-hour period. In September, the pumpkin was harvested by Grenchik and a team of men. “It was a nerve-wracking experience,” Grenchik says of the process. The pumpkin was harvested by Grenchik and a team of men who carefully cut the pumpkin from the vine, lifted into onto a tarp with a special lifting strap, transferred it onto a tractor and eventually transported it to Salem for the big day.

MORE INFORMATION

Don Langevin
How-to-Grow World Class Giant Pumpkins

Annedawn Publishing
Norton, MA 02766508-222-9069

RECOMMENDED WEBSITES

BigPumpkins.com

Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Growers

Dedication Day, Remembrance Day Activities

On Saturday, November 19, Gettysburg commemorates the 148th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address during Dedication Day. This year, Remembrance Day (the Saturday closest to Dedication Day) is also held on November 19. Here's a list of highlights for Dedication Day commemorations:

148th Anniversary of the Gettysburg Address — Soldiers' National Cemetery, 97 Taneytown Rd., Gettysburg: The Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania, Gettysburg National Military Park and the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College are sponsoring the annual observation with a wreath-laying ceremony, followed by brief memorial services. The wreath laying begins at 9:30 a.m. Stephen Lang offers the keynote address, while Jim Getty (Gettysburg's resident Abraham Lincoln) will recite the Gettysburg Address. A U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services naturalization ceremony is also part of the event.

Graveside Salute to the U.S. Colored Troops — Soldiers' National Cemetery, 97 Taneytown Rd., Gettysburg: A commemoration of the sacrifices of the U.S. Colored Troops during the American Civil War will take place immediately following the Gettysburg Address commemoration ceremony. Millicent Sparks, who portrays the famed escaped slave and abolitionist Harriet Tubman, is the featured speaker.

Remembrance Day Parade and Ceremonies — Downtown Gettysburg: Sponsored by the Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War, this annual event is held in conjunction with the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. The parade begins at 1 p.m.

Ninth Annual Remembrance Illumination — Soldiers' National Cemetery, 97 Taneytown Rd., Gettysburg: This luminary ceremony commemorates the soldiers who lost their lives in 1863 and to all those who made sacrifices at Gettysburg. The ceremony begins at 5:30 p.m.

On Sunday, November 20, a headstone dedication for Sadie Shriver will take place at the Evergreen Cemetery, 799 Baltimore St., Gettysburg. Sadie Shriver was 7 years old when she witnessed the Battle of Gettysburg. She died in 1874and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery, but her gravesite was never marked with a headstone.

On November 20, 2011, 137 years after her death, a headstone will be placed on Sadie's grave to commemorate the life of Sadie Shriver. Meet at the Shriver House, 309 Baltimore St., at 10 a.m. to join a procession to Evergreen Cemetery. The ceremony begins at 10:30 a.m.

Remembering Our Veterans

In the November/December issue of Celebrate Gettysburg, writer Jen Esposito and photographer Casey Martin share the stories of military families from the Adams County area in "A Legacy of Service."

This Veterans Day weekend we take time to honor those individuals in our communities that have made personal sacrifices in service to the United States. They may be members of your family, coworkers, neighbors, church members or your golfing partners.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that in 2010, there were approximately 995,135 veterans living in Pennsylvania.

The men and women who answered the call to serve our country have made tremendous sacrifices. They've left behind loved ones—not knowing when, or if, they will return home. And those who come home are often faced with trying to assimilate back into the patterns of everyday living.

On this Veterans Day weekend, we should take time to not only thank those who have served but also remember those who gave their lives to protect our freedom.

Seventh Annual Gettysburg Wine and Music Festival set for Sept. 10-11

The flavors of hundreds of Pennsylvania wines will be available for wine enthusiasts this weekend at the Seventh Annual Gettysburg Wine and Music Festival. The event will take place Saturday, September 10 through Sunday, September 11 from noon to 6 p.m. each day at the Gateway Gettysburg complex at the intersections of Routes 15 and 30, Gettysburg.

Tickets for the event are available by calling the Gettysburg Adams Chamber of Commerce office at 717-334-8151 or visit www.gettysburgwineandmusicfestival.com.

Gettysburg Wine and Fruit Trail and Uncork York Wine Trail

If you want to learn more about how local wineries in Adams and York County produce their fines wines, take a field trip along the Gettysburg Wine and Fruit Trail and the UnCork York Wine Trail.

The Gettysburg Wine and Fruit Trail is an approximately 20-mile corridor located north and west of Gettysburg that is home to farm markets, nurseries, orchards and wineries. Trail maps are available at participating businesses and online at www.gettysburgwineandfruittrail.com.

The UnCork York Wine Trial contains 14 family-owned wineries spread across an approximately 200-mile area encompassing York and Lancaster counties, in addition to Harrisburg and Gettysburg. Brochures and trail maps are available at participating businesses and online at http://www.uncorkyork.com/.

9/11 Memorial Stair Climb

With the 10th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Gettysburg Fire Department is hosting a 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb. The event will take place Sunday, September 11, from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Gettysburg Warrior Football Stadium, 37 Lefever St.

Participants will walk the stairs at the stadium, taking the same number of steps as those contained in the stairways comprising the 110 stories of the World Trade Center towers in New York City. Registration for the walk begins at 11:30 a.m. The walk begins at noon. To register to become an active participant in the event, go to: http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=989641

All proceeds from the event benefit the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.