Features

Holden Beach amps up its annual fall Festival by the Sea from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 29, at the Holden Beach Pavilion under the bridge on Jordan Boulevard.

The two-day weekend event launches with a parade down the Holden Beach Causeway from about 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday. It’s the only day of the year people can walk across the Holden Beach bridge as traffic shuts down for the annual parade.

It’s that time of year again to shell out festive fall food and fun in Ocean Isle Beach.

The 37th North Carolina Oyster Festival is revving up for Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 21 and 22, at 8 E. Second St.

This year’s festival features a variety of new vendors in both the food and crafts/merchandise areas, events director Robyn Beliveau with the Brunswick County Chamber of Commerce promises.

The annual Brunswick Plantation Arts and Crafts Fair from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21, at Brunswick House, 382 Brunswick Drive, showcases local artisans and crafters selling handmade baskets, quilts, knitted shawls, scarves, capes, sewn items of silk and brocade, birdhouses, pottery, wood-turned items, jewelry, unique handmade gifts, crocheted items, prints, photos, watercolors, bags and more. There will also be a bake sale for local charities and a food booth. Admission is free.

This was an entirely new definition of “dog tired.”

Slumped in my exam room was a mussy-haired, middle-aged mother of three with a dynamic Dachshund dancing around her legs. She looked pleadingly at me through eyes yellowed and sunken from overuse: “I need your help. I haven’t slept for two nights due to this.”

Her eyes trailed downward, landing squarely on the beaming brown fur baby at her feet. I was confused.

By Linda Arnold

‘The more you lie, the easier it gets — and the better you get at it.’)

We’re taught from an early age, “Honesty is always the best policy.”

You may recall the book “The Last Lecture,” by Carnegie Mellon University professor Randy Pausch,” written after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The lecture was a message for his kids about what really matters in life.

“Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and filet gumbo
 ‘cause tonight, I’m gonna meet ma cher amio …”

                                 — Hank Williams, 1952

The “sleepy fishing village” of Little River, S.C., just across the border from Brunswick County raises the roof this weekend with its 13th Annual Little River ShrimpFest, expected to draw thousands for its two-day event.

Hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15 on the historic Little River Waterfront at 4460 Mineola Ave.

The festival showcases fresh local seafood served by Little River’s waterfront restaurants, plus favorite festival foods from an array of vendors.

Local poet “Uncle Mike” Dailey brings his rhythm-and-rhyme poetic stories of odd things he’s learned on the web to Hickmans Crossroads Library at 3 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19.

The Ocean Ridge resident has been writing poetry for most of his adult life and so far has published three collections of his poetry, with another three or more collections in the works.