ODDLY ENOUGH

ODDLY ENOUGH

Chairs in Canonsburg signaled forthcoming July 4th parade

CANONSBURG, Pa.

The chairs were out early, so the parade couldn’t have been far behind.

The (Washington) Observer-Reporter said residents in Canonsburg, about 15 miles south of Pittsburgh, began placing chairs along the borough’s main drag at 6 a.m. Thursday to save their seats for the popular Fourth of July parade.

The borough council had to restrict the seat-saving ritual to two days before the parade after some residents cluttered the street up to two weeks in advance with chairs.

Council at first banned the chair-placing until 6 a.m. the day of the parade, but was criticized because some residents festively decorate their seats and say the seat-saving ritual was also part of the holiday.

This is the third year the 48-hour rule has been in place for the parade, billed as the second-largest, next to Philadelphia’s, in Pennsylvania.

Teenager spits cherry pit the longest but doesn’t win contest

EAU CLAIRE, Mich.

A 15-year-old Michigan girl said there was nothing special about the way she spit a cherry pit Saturday.

“I just took a deep breath and pushed hard,” said Megan Ankrapp, whose pit landed at 49 feet, 1/4 inch – longest of the day at the 42nd annual contest in southwestern Michigan.

“I was shocked,” she added.

Megan, who is from Buchanan, won the women’s category but didn’t participate in the overall championship round because her earlier spits were too short to qualify.

The championship spit-off was claimed by Kevin Bartz of Niles with a winning distance of 48 feet, 8 inches.

He was followed by 2014 champ Brian Krause at 48 feet.

“Here I was, all excited to finally beat the Krause family and I look up and say, ‘Wait a minute. One of the girls beat me,’” said Bartz, 48. “It’s not quite as exciting.”

A member of the Krause family has won 26 events since farm owner Herb Teichman began the contest in 1974, partly to celebrate the region’s tart cherry harvest.

Brian Krause holds the record spit of 93 feet, 61/2 inches, set in 2003.

The event takes place at Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm in Eau Claire, 110 miles east of Chicago.

Associated Press