The Fincastle Preschool Fall Festival will be held Saturday, November 6 from 6 8 p.m. at the

Family Life Center of Fincastle United Methodist Church.

Address: 137 S. Church St.,

Phone: 473-1428

Admission: $2 Adults and $1 children (2 and under are free). Does not include hotdog dinner, auction is optional.

Entertainment and Games for Kids. Live Music from David Austin and Friends.

Enjoy Hot dog Dinner and Bake Sale. Join in the Silent Auction.

The Cloverdale Church of Brethren annual Arts and Crafts show will be held Nov. 6 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The show will consist of numerous arts and crafts items and silent auction as well as White Elephant and food for breakfast and lunch.

The church is located on Read Mountain Road in Cloverdale.

In the spirit of Halloween, the Botetourt Paranormal Investigation has stepped up with a Botetourt Ghost Story contest.

Sean Russell from Botetourt Paranormal Investigation is looking for best true ghost stories from Botetourt County. Here is the scoop from Russell.

"Log onto the site www.botetourtparanormalinvestigation.com and enter your best true (or reasonably true....lol....kinda subjective) Botetourt County ghost story and/or picture through our online contact form. The investigative group will judge for best, and the winner will get to go on an investigation with our group, right here in beautiful Botetourt County. Plus we'll load the winning story for folks to read and the best picture.

Russell finished with, "You know us, always up to promote and educate folks on the paranormal side of things. Also, if you would please remind people our investigations are free, the homeowner/business owner gets to participate with us, and we absolutely LOVE to hear people's stories and see their pics."

Deadline for submissions is Nov. 15.

Two Botetourt County residents garnered awards at the 36 annual Virginia Aviation conference held August 17-20 in Virginia Beach.

Jackie Shuck of Troutville is Exceutive Director of the Roanoke Regional Airport.

Jacqueline Shuck was named "Manager of the Year," for her service as the Executive Director of the Roanoke Regional Airport.

Ray Conlon, the Chief Inspector for Austin Electrical Construction of Buchanan, was named "Person of the Year."

He was commended for his significant work to ensure the safety of airports. He spends significant time maintaining lighting on the runways and taxi areas, weather reporting systems, ILS and approach path, noted the Virginia Aviation conference. He was also praised for the personal time, resources and contributions he puts into the betterment of the aviation community.

The Botetourt Parks and Recreation Dept is proud to resume our Recipe Swap Club. This event is free to the public and lots of fun for all who attend. For more information on meeting dates and times, please call our office at 473-8326. We hope that you will join us for this wonderful social event where we "Meet, Greet & Eat"!!!

In the coming months the fun themes continue:

n November- Thanksgiving fare

n December- Christmas Cookie Swap

n January- Superbowl Snackers

n February- Valentine's Day Favs

n March- St. Patty's Irish foods

n April- April Showers...rainy day foods

n May- War Time dishes

n June- International foods

Eagle Scouts discuss summer projects

Eagle Scouts Cory Wright and Dustin Bogle, both members of Boy Scout Troop 211 in Daleville, gave presentations last month on "how they spent their summer vacations."

Cory Wright spent his summer working at a fish hatchery in a south central Alaskan bay near Prince William Sound. The closest real city, Cordova, was two hours by sea plane and 8 hours by boat. Cory said the mountains of Roanoke are only hills compared to those in Alaska; and moss, rather than grass, covers the ground. Free time was spent fishing and hiking; sighting black bears and American bald eagles. Cory said he was surprised that the fish bit at almost any lure offered, and he experienced 20 hour daylight and 4 hour dark periods while there.

Dustin Bogle spent his summer at Parris Island, S.C., as a recruit for the U.S. Marine Corps. Dustin shared with the group what training and Marine Corps life was like for him as he learned teamwork and basic training skills that will carry him through his Marine Corps schools and into his assignments.

Both Scouts talked about the skills they had learned within the troop and how that knowledge transferred to their summer adventures. Skills learned in hiking, backpacking, orienteering, first aid and more helped them transition into a new and vastly different environment than they were used to, so they were able to take maximum advantage of the opportunities they had this summer.

Where will scouting take you? You can find out by joining your local scout troop as a scout or volunteer and celebrate the 100th year of Boy Scouting in America. Troop 211 meets at St. Marks United Methodist Church in Daleville every Tuesday evening at 7pm.

For more information, contact Blue Ridge Mountains Council, Boy Scouts of America at 265-0656.