Press Release For 05/97

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Midtown Garden Tour

Historic Harrisburg’s seventh annual House and Garden Tour breaks into bloom on Saturday, May 31, from 11 a.m.-5 p.m., featuring more than a dozen Midtown residences and shops.

This year’s tour focusing on "Creative City Living" will emphasize the unique experience of renovating and living in an urban historic district. Outstanding examples of innovative interior restoration as well as inspired outdoor living spaces highlighted by dramatic courtyards and fountains will be featured.

The tour is presented by the Historic Harrisburg Association, a community organization dedicated to the preservation, restoration and enjoyment of historic neighborhoods and landmarks. Tickets are $12 in advance; $15 on the day of the tour. For ticket information, call 236-4646.

Bike Derby Ready to Roll

The Fourth Annual Bike Safety Derby kicks into high gear on Saturday, May 17, at 9 a.m. at the Capital City Mall parking lot.

The Derby features "Demon Drive" and "Crazy Crossroads," 30-minute courses designed to teach children how to safely maneuver their bikes. Then, parents and children will learn about road hazards, traffic rules, and the proper use of helmets, in addition to a special course for tricycles. Highlights of the event include visits from the Crash Test Dummies, McGruff the Crime Dog and Traumaroo.

The free event is sponsored by Holy Spirit Health System, Kiwanis Club of Cumberland County, The American Trauma Society, PA Division, and Lower Allen Township Police. Registration is required by May 10. For more information, call 763-2780.

Community Health Events Offered

Holy Spirit Hospital sponsers several community events this month.

On Wednedsay, May 7, from 2-6 p.m., the Hospital sponsors free blood pressure screenings and 30-minute depression and anxiety screenings. Also available will be cholesterol and glucose screenings for a nominal fee. Testing is done by certified laboratory technologists. For more information, call 763-2923.

Then, on May 8, the Hospital continues its Spring Health Promotion Lecture Series with a free lecture "Master Those Migraines—Put and End to Endless Headaches," with Dr. Albert William Heck. Registration required at 763-3060.

Join in Great Strides

The Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Historic Hummelstown team up to host the Ninth Annual 6.2-mile Great Strides Walk to Cure Cystic Fibrosis.

Registration begins in Schaffner Park at 1 p.m. The walk begins at 2 p.m. Kick-off festivities include the Harrisburg Heat’s "Hotshots" Cheerleaders, WHTM-TV27’s Alicia Richards, "You’re the Star" DJ and Karaoke’s Heidi Linn, and Hummelstown’s Mayor Alexander.

The walk takes approximately one-and-a-half hours and will conclude back at the Park. For more information, call the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation at 671-4000.

Harrisburg Again a Tree City

Harrisburg recently became the first city in the midstate to receive the Tree City USA Award for 10 consecutive years.

To become a Tree City USA, a community must meet multiple national standards as well as receive the endorsement of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Bureau of Forestry. The Mayor’s Parks Improvement Program, which has seen to the upgrading and beautification of more than 20 parks and recreational sites, coupled with multiple neighborhood and business development projects, has resulted in the planting of many additional trees.

The Tree City USA Program is sponsored by the National Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the US Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters.

30th Annual Shurfine Markets Greater Harrisburg Artfest

More than 250 nationally-known juried fine artists and craftsmen from across the United States and Canada will attend this year’s Shurfine Markets Greater Harrisburg Artfest, to be held in Riverfront Park on May 24-26.

Entertainers will perform throughout Riverfront Park with additional stages at various locations. A new feature of Artfest will be "Cultural Avenue," a tented area featuring area performing arts groups, non-profit organizations and visual art groups. Here, the public will see displays, experience demonstrations and find out alll that is offered in Central PA in the way of the Arts. A Children’s Activity Center is also included, featuring the Susquehanna Art Museum, and other hands-on children’s activities.

This event has been named one of the top 100 art events in the nation by Sunshine Artist Magazine. This year’s festival will also include the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts, which will sponsor "Stars on the Plaza," a showcase of the many Central PA cultural arts groups that will be utilizing the Whitaker Center when its doors open in mid-1999.

Hours for this year’s festival are Satruday, May 24, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sunday, May 25, from noon-6 p.m.; and Monday, May 26, from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Hersheypark Film Offers A Ride Through Time

Your ticket to the magic of Hershey awaits you in Hersheypark: Sweet Memories, a one-hour documentary of a small picnic grove that grew into a world-famous attraction in Hershey—a town built on chocolate.

Hersheypark: Sweet Memories, a production of WITF-TV in Harrisburg, is a vintage tour of the park’s transformation, beginning with the opening in 1907 and told through archival film footage, historic photographs, home movies and first-hand accounts of those charmed by the carousel’s painted ponies and thrilled by the Comet roller coaster’s wooden dips and climbs.

The script for Hersheypark was based on a book by amusement park historian Charles J. Jacques, Jr., Hersheypark: The Sweetness of Success.

The VHS home-video version of Hersheypark: Sweet Memories will be distributed in stereo and close-captioned for the hearing impaired. The program will air on WITF-TV starting in May.

"We’re Open Mondays in May!"
SAYS the State Museum

In response to overwhelming request, The State Museum of Pennsylvania will open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the first three Mondays in May; May 5, May 12, May 19. Normally, The State Museum is closed on Mondays.

General admission to the museum is free, and it is located on Third & North Streets, in downtown Harrisburg. For 24 hour information on museum hours and events, call 787-4978. Parking on the weekends is also free.