The New Year in the Midstate

In this area of Pennsylvania, the newscasters call us the Mid-State. Also Southcentral Pennsylvania. Mind you, it's a two hour drive north to the geographic center of the state from the Harrisburg area. (Just in case you're wondering what's at the center, it's Penn State. It was put there for that reason.)

Anyway. When the news is on, it covers Gettysburg and Carlisle to our west, Lancaster to our east, and York to our south. There's not much between us and Penn State. (The people there would dispute that, and, of course, all the cows.)

While the rest of the world watched the big pretty, shiny ball drop in New York City, we here in the Mid-State watched ALL KINDS of things drop (or sometimes rise, as the case may be):

Harrisburg: a Strawberry (in 2004 it was a Strawberry Cow)
Dillsburg: a giant Pickle
Lebanon: a 7 1/2 foot bologna (come on- what else would they use?)
Hershey: a 300 pound Hershey Kiss (this one went up)
York: a White Rose* (down into a giant vase)
Lancaster: a Red Rose* (this goes up)
Falmouth: a stuffed goat. They have goat races in the summer, ya see?


There are more, but that's a sampling. Every year more small towns in Pennsylvania are dropping and raising objects.
(*see English history if you're wondering about these flowers)



Of course the news is now all about the Orange Bowl game on Tuesday night. Penn State vs. Florida State. Some sportswriters have dubbed it the "Geezer Bowl" because JoePa and Bobby Bowden are old guys. JoePa just celebrated his 79th birthday (and was voted Coach of the Year!).

The local reporters who are down in Florida for the game have also been doing some stories on the fans from Pennsylvania who went down for the game. "You can tell which ones are Penn State fans ~ they're the pale ones." Ha ha ha.


You can always tell JoePa in the crowd of people on the sidelines:










He rolls up the cuffs of his pants.

I expect everyone to root for Penn State. Didn't have to mention that, did I?