This weekend

Well, we've cleared 2,500 unique visitors in the 46 hours since the paper was posted online, which is high for the middle of the summer. A large portion of those numbers can probably be attributed to the audience for Vanessa's necessarily lengthy analysis of the OMM v. BOE case (the case materials were in excess of 300 pages).

And that's it for me tooting our horn. This weekend is the second Family Fun Day of the summer. I'm told the event was a regular feature a few years ago and is being revived. If you live in Orange County and don't want to go far for cheap or free family entertainment this summer, your choices are pretty good: Family Fun Day on the second Saturday of the month, back porch music at the Cedar Grove Crossroads on the third Friday and Last Fridays on, well, that's obvious.

This Family Fun Day includes:
• A scavenger hunt around town coordinated by the Alliance for Historic Hillsborough.
• Two walking tours of downtown, one at 10 a.m. and one at 2 p.m.; there's a nominal cost.
• "Native American Day" at the Orange County Historical Museum.
• "Digging Into the Past" at the Burwell School.
• Wine tasting at Hillsborough Wine Company.
• "Pick a Pop" at Matthew's Chocolates.

For the full rundown, click here.

All quiet on the northern front
Week one of election filing season is almost gone, and while our neighbors to the south seem pretty active, we have one candidate for mayor and one candidate for two town board spots (both incumbents). You could look at this and say residents are pretty pleased with how things are going, but I'm going to give it a little more time before we conclude that.

Have a good weekend.

Quick hits

Somehow, it's already the P.M. This is one of those days where I run around the office all afternoon and still don't actually finish stories. Some quick notes:

Athlete of the Week
I just finished our weekly high school athlete feature (picked by the athletic directors — there has been some confusion) for the school year, and ended with what is probably one of my favorites from this year. Teenagers who speak their mind can by fun interviews. I'll just say that this week's featured athlete from Cedar Ridge gave some very unique off-the-cuff responses. She was a delight to speak to, and ended her high school career on a high note.

H1N1
There has been a second confirmed case involving an Orange County resident. Information is limited, but Orange County now has two of the state's 21 confirmed cases. We'll try to have more by next week.

Elections
Again? Yep. Municipal seats are up again this fall, and filing officially starts July 6. Down south, there have already been announcements and rumblings, but I don't hear much about Hillsborough. Two town board members — Frances Dancy and Michael Gering — are up this year, as is Mayor Tom Stevens. Does anybody know of challengers, or will the town stay the course? We're always up for a good rumor or two.
Judging from the turnout at the town budget public hearing last night (zero people), it doesn't seem like there are many rumblings. If there are, let us know.

This weekend
Tonight (rain or shine) is Last Friday, which I'll be hanging around for a little while to get some shots. There is also an alumni basketball game between Hillsborough high school alums and Chapel Hill high school alums benefiting the Central Community Band (Vanessa will be there). Tomorrow morning, there is a K-9 demonstration at Gold Park to raise money for police dog protection (specifically, Hillsborough's own Talon and Sampson). Our interns, Miles and Marnie, will be there for that.
Also, the Friends of the Library will hold their spring book sale Friday to Sunday.
See the calendar here.
Have a good (and hopefully dry) weekend.