OCC

SHOEBOXES

It’s National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, and I hope everyone has taken the time to pack a shoebox for a child. Some children will only ever receive one shoebox during their childhood. There are three drop off locations in our area this year. Big Woods Bible Church in Lock Haven is taking shoeboxes today from 6-8 p.m. Different hours are planned for drop off times between now and on Monday. Call Sarah at 570-893-8274 to learn the drop off times there.

Trinity Reformed Church in Hublersburg is also a drop off location. The contact there is Betty Bailey, who can be reached at 814-777-1600. Trinity Reformed Church usually has the tractor trailers that all of the locally packed boxes get put into and then transported to the processing centers before being shipped overseas.

Park Forest Baptist in State College is another drop off location in the Centre County area. The contact is Babette Manning, who can be reached at 814- 571-5049.

Monday is the last day that the drop off centers will be receiving the shoeboxes.

CRAFT SHOWS

The Wildcat Winter Craft Show will be held tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Central Mountain Middle School. Many craft vendors will be set up throughout the halls and the gym of the school.

Bald Eagle Area High School’s Fall Craft and Gift Fair is also being held tomorrow starting at 9 a.m.

Your chance to get some great gifts for those on your Christmas list (and yourself, too).

YOUNG

PATRONS

Centre County Young Patrons of Husbandry (Y.P. of H.) will meet on Saturday, Dec. 7, at 6 p.m., at Sunset West Restaurant in Pleasant Gap for a Dutch treat Christmas dinner and party. We will be signing Christmas cards for shut-in Centre County Grange members.

Please bring a wrapped gift for a “Yankee Swap” game. All Grangers are encouraged to come for a night of fun, food and fellowship!! RSVP to Ben or Maryann Haagen at 814-383-4428 or by texting 814-883-1469.

CHRISTMAS DANCE

There will be a Christmas Dinner/Dance on Sunday afternoon, Dec. 8, from 2-5 p.m., at Lambert Hall, 303 Forge Road, Bellefonte. Zupe will be providing the music and Townside Cafe will cater the meal. Call/text 717-543-8348 for more information.

FIRE NEWS

Centre Hall Fire Company’s first Friday Bingo will be on Dec. 6. Doors open at 5:30; early birds games at 6:30 and regular Bingo starts at 7 p.m. Rip tickets and food available.

Millheim Fire Company has their cash and gun raffle tickets for sale. The raffle date is April 12, 2025. Tickets are $10 each of 3/$20.

COUNTRY JAM

Country Jam will be held at the Howard fire hall on Sunday, Nov. 24, from 2-6 p.m. Hosted by the Back Porch String Band, Country Jam is held the fourth Sunday of each month, except in December. It’s an afternoon of free music, snacks and fellowship. If you have an instrument, bring it along and play with the bands that are there, or you can come just to listen to the hand-clappin,’ toe-tapping tunes!

The Back Porch String Band lost two of their musical talents recently. Jim Masden and Bob DeArment both have passed away and will certainly be missed.

FREE

CLOTHING

The Light of the World Clothing Bank at St. John’s United Church of Christ, 145 W. Linn St., Bellefonte, will be open on Friday, Dec. 6, from 2:30-5 p.m. and on Saturday, Dec. 7, from 9 a.m. until noon. Clothing (for all seasons) for everyone from babies to adults, towels, blankets, sheets, some beautiful handmade afghans, shoes, purses and more are available. Everything is free! For more info contact Cathy, the clothing bank coordinator, at 814-355-9072 or 814-355-4983.

CHRISTMAS AT CURTIN

Announcing an entire weekend of Christmas at The Curtin with festivities beginning on Saturday, Dec. 7, at 10 a.m., and concluding on Sunday evening at 7 p.m.

For holiday photos, plan your visit for Saturday, Dec. 7, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., or on Sunday, Dec. 8, from noon to 4 p.m. Santa Claus has confirmed that he will be there. No registration or sign up is needed for holiday photos. Photographers will be available to assist, and guests can take photos with their own camera/phone. The holiday photos are free, but donations are requested.

The weekend festivities conclude with a 1970s-themed evening reception on Sunday from 5 to 7 p.m. Celebrate with family and friends and enjoy light snacks and holiday desserts, Happy Valley wines (one glass free, $5 additional glasses), mulled cider, music, a holiday sing along, a special reading of “Bertie’s Christmas Eve” and take a lantern tour of the mansion using battery operated lanterns.

“Two parlors and two large Christmas trees and two centuries of history all in one place provide various settings for popup photos and memory-making opportunities,” said Sue Hannegan, president of the Roland Curtin Foundation, the volunteer-run nonprofit charged with restoration and preservation of the property. “Our evening reception is a chance to see the mansion as Victorians did — without electricity. There’s something magical about eating by candlelight.”

Tickets for the evening reception are $30 per person. Limited tickets are available due to the size of the parlors. Tickets can be purchased online at curtinvillage.com. Visit the “donate/tickets” page. Please write in Christmas at the Curtin in the reference ID section. You may also pay by Venmo or PayPal. If you want to pay cash at the door, be sure to RSVP first by emailing your reservation to curtinvillage@gmail.com.

The Curtin Mansion is located at 251 Curtin Road, Howard, Pa.

All proceeds benefit the nonprofit Roland Curtin Foundation and its efforts to save the expansive and historic iron furnace industrial site and its associated residential village and ironmaster’s mansion built in 1831.

Tax-deductible donations are always appreciated and accepted online at curtinvillage.com.

For more information, visit curtinvillage.com or their Facebook page, Eagle Iron Works and Curtin Village.

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Howard Happenings is written and compiled by Tammy Coakley who can be reached by email at tammysue0115@gmail.com or by telephone at 814-625-2684.