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The Brunswick Main Street Association is planning both a silent and live auction event on Sunday at Brunswick City Park Building, 655 E. Potomac St.

The fifth annual event is the group's largest fundraiser, according to Diane Ellis, secretary of the association's board. Money raised helps the group's projects to revitalize downtown Brunswick. She said last year's auction raised about $8,000 for the group, and the goal is to raise a similar amount this year.

"It's a very popular event," she said. "People like it because they can get some really incredible deals at the auction."

John Rickard of Rickard's Auctions in Lovettsville, Va., will conduct the auction and Rick Weldon, former Maryland state delegate, will serve as master of ceremonies, Ellis said.

[Weldon's] always entertaining," she said. "He does a great job at promoting the items and getting the bids up."

The auction has items range from antique furniture to Orioles tickets or gift certificates to local restaurants. Trips, such as vacations in Myrtle Beach and Deep Creek Lake, or whitewater rafting excursions will also be up for auction.

Other items have local and historic flavor. One such item is a historical tour of the City of Brunswick with William W. Wenner, a former Frederick County Circuit Court judge who was born in Brunswick in 1930, and delivered groceries for his father as a child. He'll highlight what the city was like in the 1930s and 1940s when he was growing up.

Doors open at noon for potential bidders to look at items, and the live auction begins at 2 p.m. Anyone wishing to bid must register at the door, show identification and receive a bid number. Only checks or cash are accepted for winning bids. Lunch items will be available for purchase. For further information or to donate items, contact Abbie Ricketts at 301-834-9207 or Diane Ellis at 301-834-7904.

Artists honored

with state awards

Nine Frederick County artists were celebrated at an event last week at the Cultural Arts Center of Frederick County.

The Frederick Arts Council, as part of its Member Soiree, recognized artists who received Individual Artist Awards through the State of Maryland. The council's Member Soiree is a quarterly event open to arts council members. Membership is open to individuals, families, organizations and small businesses.

The Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards are grants for Maryland artists given through an anonymous, competitive process to encourage and sustain their pursuit of artistic excellence. The awards are available in various artistic disciplines each year, and range from $1,000 to $3,000 per artist.

The awards recognize and promote the best of local artists, said Shuan Butcher, director of the Frederick Arts Council.

"This program is highly competitive," Butcher said in a press release. "It is great to see these artists achieve this recognition and I hope more local artists will consider applying to this program."

Frederick County artists that received the Individual Artist Award in 2009 include: Stephen Antosca and Tatiana Sarbinska in the category of music composition; David Salner and Askold Skalsky in poetry. In the visual arts category, Stephen Dobbin and Sarah Hempel Irani were recognized in sculpture and Margaret Hluch in crafts. James Matthews was awarded the prize in the fiction category; and Jonah Knight in solo musical performance.

Spelling bee registration open

Competitive spellers have until Saturday to register for the 2010 Frederick County Spelling Bee. Early bird registration ended on Feb. 28, and Alessandro Quintanilla, a fifth-grader at Tuscarora Elementary School, won the early bird registration prize.

Sponsored by The Gazette and Frederick County Public Libraries, this year's competition is the third annual event.

The first two of the competition's qualifying bees will be held at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., on Saturday at the C. Burr Artz Library in downtown Frederick.

The next qualifying bees will be held at the Urbana Regional Library on March 20 and Thurmont Regional Library on March 21.

Specific eligibility requirements are available at all library branches and at www.fcpl.org/spelling.

The championship bee featuring 40 finalists to be held at 2 p.m., May 2, at The Weinberg Center for the Arts in Frederick.

Frederick student inducted

into honor society

Megan Kelly of Frederick, who attends Dominican College in New York, was inducted into Psi Chi, the national honor society for psychology.

Psi Chi was founded in 1929 for the purposes of encouraging, stimulating and maintaining excellence in scholarship, and advancing the science of psychology. Membership is open to graduate and undergraduate students who study psychology, and hold a grade point average that is in the top 35 percent of their class.

Weinberg Center celebrates

St. Patrick's Day with dinners

The Weinberg Center invites residents to take part in the Second Annual St. Patrick's Day celebration of Life, Luck, and Laughter at Volt restaurant, at 228 N. Market St., on Tuesday.

The event, which will be hosted by the Weinberg Center for the Arts Board of Directors, will benefit the Weinberg's capital campaign.

Residents can choose from a three-course dinner with wine pairings, seated at 6:30 p.m. for $150 per attendee or a six-course formal dining experience complete with wine pairings, seated at 6 p.m. for $225 per attendee.

For $500, diners can experience the restaurant's popular and exclusive Table 21experience, with wine pairing and a photo with chef Bryan Voltaggio, who will also autograph menus. The first seating is at 5:30 p.m., with a second at 9 p.m. There are only eight tickets per seating.

Local businessman and community activist Marvin Ausherman and John Healey, executive theater manager of the Weinberg, will serve as bartenders in the Volt lounge during an open bar from 5:30 to 6:15 p.m. All tips will be donated to the Weinberg Center for the Arts.

For more information visit www.weinbergcenter.org; for reservations call Julie South at Volt, 301-576-3085, ext. 205.

Students named to dean's list

Three area students were named to the dean's list at Washington College in Chestertown. Kendra A. Fox and Jenna B. Schmaljohn of Middletown and S. Sophia Braunstein of Myersville received the honor. Students at Washington College must achieve a grade-point average of 3.4 or higher.

Boy Scouts give trip presentation to Lions Club

Five father-son teams from Boy Scout Troop 476 in Middletown showed slides from their August trip to Camp Philmont, in Cimarron, N.M., to the Middletown Lions Club, who chartered Troop 476 in 1952.

Middletown residents Al and Steve Caho, Sprague and Alex Cook, Ken and Nick Jacobson, Randy and Parker Johnson and Winston and Winston Mann made the trip.

Camp Philmont has been used by Boy Scout groups since 1939, and has hundreds of miles of backpacking trails. The Scouts carried 51-pound packs of supplies along the trail, camping at various locations along the way.

Send items for Valley Voice to reporter Tripp Laino at tlaino@ gazette.net. Call 301-846-2130.