This year Harlan County will be celebrating the 57^th Annual Poke Sallet Festival. This festival will offer a good opportunity to bring children, grandchildren, other relatives and your friends back to Harlan for a visit. It will provide a fun experience for all of us who choose to participate.

If you have the time and a computer, I invite you to visit the Poke Sallet Festival site on the Internet. Just type in www.harlanfestivals.com. This site features a daily schedule, entry deadlines, and an events listing. Also, you can visit our site http://ces.ca.uky.edu/harlan. On our home page, you can see Ice Cream Social, 4-H Kids Fun Day & Poke Sallet Arts & Crafts Contests on the right side of page. Just click on your choice. Remember, there are a lot of free activities that you and your family can participate in without having to leave Harlan County. We, also, invite our friends in neighboring counties to visit Harlan County during the Festival.

Today, the Harlan County Extension is sponsoring an “Ice Cream Social” at the Harlan County Extension Depot from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. There will be free ice cream, toppings and drinks. Also, there will be entertainment and displays. It is all FREE!!

On Wednesday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., there will be all kinds of activities for children at the 4-H Kids Fun day at Huff Park. Lots of organizations and volunteers will be providing “fun things” for children to do. A free t-shirt will be given to the first 1000 people. Educational displays, games, inflatables and many other activities will be featured. Concessions (food & drinks) will be sold by Harlan County 4-H and Teen Councils.

I would like to invite everyone to visit the Harlan County Extension Depot, where we will be hosting several contests on Friday and Saturday. The contests include quilting, scrapbooking and basket-making on Friday and Your Best Poke Recipe and other food (Best Appetizer, Best Dessert, and Best Candy) on Saturday. There are categories under each contest. (Call us for details (573-4464). We would love to have your entry in any of these contests. Poke Sallet Festival ribbons will be awarded.

Also, we will be featuring several demonstrations on Friday and Saturday, such as framing a picture, making a pillowcase, loom knitting a ruffle scarf, etc. Poke Sallet cups and other favors will be given away daily. For more information, call us at 573-4464.