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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Friday, October 17, 2008 Holiday light show needs some helpers By Kristi O'Harran, Herald Columnist How many volunteers does it take to screw in a light bulb? Before you smugly answer that overworked question, consider we are talking about a million bulbs. They need volunteers at Warm Beach Camp at the Lights of Christmas. Helpers are needed year 'round to make the holiday light displays come alive in December. Sarah Eschbach, marketing associate at Warm Beach Christian Camps and Conference Center, said they try to test all of the strands of lights before visitors come to stroll the premises, listen to carolers, attend a dinner theater and sip hot chocolate under the stars. "We also seek volunteers to help distribute our informational rack cards around the Puget Sound," Eschbach says. "We call them our 'Brochure Brigade.' " Someone is considered a volunteer whether they come in for a few hours sometime during the year to test lights, or if they come and volunteer each night of the event. Learn "What's Up With The Lights?" at 3 p.m. Sunday at 20800 Marine Drive in Stanwood. "It takes more than 100 volunteers each night taking tickets, driving courtesy carts, busing tables, and hosting different areas of the event," she says. "The benefits? A free night at The Lights." Playing on a political theme, Biringer Farm offers a "bridge to nowhere" with their Halloween fun. Vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has talked about the scuttled Alaskan project to build a bridge to nowhere. Dianna Biringer says they planted pumpkins this season around an old wooden bridge in a farm field. "I was standing out in our pumpkin field and wondered what we would do with the intrusive bridge sitting right in the middle of our patch," says Biringer. "What did it have to do with pumpkins?" Biringer says that after being besieged on every hand by the upcoming election and hearing the new girl on the block making waves (no pun intended) about the bridge to nowhere, it occurred to her that a similar bridge sits right on their Spencer Island farm. Biringer Farm offers a no-frills pumpkin patch at 4625 40th Place NE in Everett. It's open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily through Halloween, weather permitting. Climb to the top of the bridge and see a sea of pumpkins hiding under vines. They also offer a Snohomish County Fall Festival Saturday and Sunday with face painting, trolley rides, hay bales and refreshments. Helpers are needed to keep track of orca whales. Susan Berta and Howard Garrett with the Orca Network invite folks to help keep track of orcas and other whales. If you see a whale, call 866-ORCANET or e-mail info@orcanetwork.org. After spending most of the summer in the San Juan Islands, orca pods have ventured south, including swimming off Whidbey Island. They can be spotted while you ride a ferry, or walk the beach. Sightings are important, Berta says. With the federal listing of "southern resident" orcas as endangered, research projects are underway studying why their population is declining. If you make a reports include the location, time, direction of travel, approximate number of whales, and if there are any adult males with large 5- to 6-foot dorsal fins in the group. Good old Mother Nature. Males get the big dorsal fins. Fun Fact: Who can afford original art these days? At least folks can buy an imitation piece to admire, showing famous images by Vincent Van Gogh and Henri Matisse. The Arlington Arts Council offers a Fall into Art Auction at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Hawthorn Suites in Arlington, More than 40 miniatures of famous artists work will be auctioned, after serving as centerpieces. Or bid on work by artists Kathryn Glowen, Verena Schwippert, Kirk McLean, Marguerite Goff, Kurt McVay, and Coleen Allen. It's an art sale, to benefit art in Arlington. Columnist Kristi O'Harran: 425-339-3451, [URL]oharran@heraldnet.com.[/URL] READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. You must be a registered user and verify your e-mail address to post comments to blogs or articles on HeraldNet. To register, click here. To read other terms and conditions, click here. Log out

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