Saturday December 6th!

Kids Shopping Adventure: Children will have a chance to get some shopping done in downtown Fayetteville. The merchants of Franklin and Maxwell streets will have discounted items for children to buy — under $10. There will also be arts and crafts. Children must be accompanied by an adult, but the special shopping sections will be children only. Participating merchants are Babywear, Ltd.; Belle Curve; Cape Fear Music Center; Cape Fear Studios; Greg’s; Kindred Hearts; The Livery; Olde Town Gallery; and White Trash and Colorful Accessories. Call Cape Fear Studios at 433-2986 or Greg’s at 483-8355.

Southern Pines Reindeer Fun Run and Parade: The second annual 5k run/walk kicks off at 9 a.m. Registration is at 7:45 a.m. After the race, there will be a party and an Egg Nog Jog for children. At 11 a.m., a Christmas Parade will wind through downtown. Registration for the 5k is $20 for adults and $5 for pets. The Egg Nog Jog is $10 per child. Go to www.reindeerfunrun.com for details.

Old-Timey Christmas Open House: The Sampson County History Museum will have seven historic buildings open for a tour. The tour is from 3 to 5 p.m. The museum is at 313 Lisbon St. in Clinton. Admission is free.

A Civil War Christmas: The Bentonville Battlefield State Historic Site will present its Christmas Living History Program from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visitors can help decorate an 1860s-style Christmas tree, spend time with Confederate soldiers around the campfire, sip cider with historians and tour the circa 1855 Harper House. The program is free.

Christmas celebration: Harmony Hall in White Oak is having an old-time 18th-century celebration with re-enactment groups and crafters, a storyteller, caroling and refreshments. The event is from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The event is free, but donations are welcome. Harmony Hall is at 1615 River Road in White Oak. Call (910) 866-4844 or go to www.harmonyhallnc.com.

Prices are Lowering!!

Target Corp. said Monday it will aggressively cut prices to give consumers bargains during the holiday season, even as weak sales of its apparel and home offerings led third-quarter earnings to fall 24 percent.

The discount retailer also said sales in established stores have been weak so far in November, and if that persists it expects fourth-quarter earnings below analyst expectations.

“The increasing financial challenges and economic uncertainties facing American households continued to pressure our performance during the third quarter,” Chief Executive Gregg Steinhafel said during a conference call with analysts.

He also cited higher write-offs in the company’s credit-card business, where profit fell 83 percent. Target added $104 million during the quarter to a reserve fund to cover future write-offs as customers have trouble paying their bills.

The company has fared worse than its chief rival, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., as consumers cut back on discretionary spending and shop mainly for necessities, since more than 40 percent of Target’s revenue comes from nonessentials such as trendy fashions and housewares.

Last week, Wal-Mart said its third-quarter profit rose 10 percent, ahead of analyst expectations, as sales increased 7 percent.

During the holidays, Target will remain “keenly focused” on offering low prices on national brands and its own products and will match Wal-Mart prices on identical items in local markets, said Kathryn Tesija, Target’s executive vice president of merchandise.

The company will also offer half a dozen “value items” online every day at special prices.

“We have taken a very aggressive point of view this year in terms of our promotional pricing, so we expect to be price leaders on selected items in our circular,” Steinhafel said. “This is not unlike what we’ve done in the past. But given the current environment and recognizing how challenging it is we will be even sharper than we have in prior years.”

The Minneapolis-based retailer said profit for the three months ended Nov. 1 fell to $369 million, or 49 cents per share, from $483 million, or 56 cents per share, last year. That was just above the average of 48 cents per share predicted by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

Revenue rose 2 percent to $15.11 billion from $14.84 billion last year, falling short of the $15.24 billion analysts expected. Sales were helped by new-store expansion, but that was offset by sales in established stores, which fell 3.3 percent during the quarter.

Target said sales at stores open at least one year, a key retail metric known as same-store sales, are expected to fall 6 percent to 9 percent in November. If they keep dropping in the mid single-digit range during the quarter, the company expects earnings of 90 cents to $1 per share. Analysts had been expecting a profit of $1.22 per share, and Target shares fell 49 cents to $32.54 in afternoon trading.

Profit in its credit-card business fell to $35 million from $202 million last year because of Target’s lower investment in the portfolio, a decline in its overall performance because of higher bad-debt expenses and lower interest rates.

The company sold 47 percent of its credit card receivables to JPMorgan Chase in May.

Target said it will stop most share repurchases for now and cut its 2009 expected capital expenditures by $1 billion, mainly due to a lower estimate of 2009 investments in stores that would have opened in 2010 and beyond.

“The current environment and our financial outlook have naturally reduced our appetite for investment in our business,” Chief Financial Officer Doug Scovanner said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Target said it was still evaluating the proposal last month by investor William Ackman, who heads Pershing Square Capital Management, which owns just under 10 percent of Target’s common stock, to spin off a real estate investment trust that would take ownership of the land Target owns under its stores and distribution centers.

The Fighting Camels

Come rain or, well, rain, I’ll be out at the Eakes Complex at Campbell University in Buies Creek at 3 p.m. tomorrow to cheer on the Fighting Camels as they take on Jacksonville in the final of the Atlantic Sun Conference men’s soccer tournament.

I’ve been following this team for seven seasons now. I started watching them when current coach Doug Hess was in his first season with them too.

They went 6-11 that year, 3-5 in the conference. This year, they’re 14-5, 9-0 in the A-Sun and riding a 12-match winning streak. It’s been a fun ride.

Last night they leveled Belmont 7-1. I missed the first half. They were 6-0 up by the time I got there. Randy Capps saw it all. Probably just as well though, because they tend to play better when I’m not there.

Maybe I shouldn’t go tomorrow. But watching football in the rain makes me feel closer to home.

Have  a good weekend.

Jessica

Welcome

Hey Everybody,

Northpoint Apartment has some great low priced apartments which include cable, trash, and internet! You can’t beat that! Come on down and meet all are friendly staff! We’d love to have you lease with us!

Soon to come: Fittness center and landry faulity. We also have a pool and a play ground!

Call today for more information: 910-436-3328

Don’t Forget

Hey community of Fayetteville,

Don’t forget to change your clocks back a hour on saturday night.

Fayetteville…the political stomping grounds

John McCain plans to drum up support among blue-collar workers when he visits Fayetteville on Tuesday as part of a “Joe the Plumber” tour in battleground states.

McCain will be at the at Crown Center with guests that include country music singer Hank Williams Jr. Doors open at 2 p.m. The public should arrive no later than 4:30 p.m.

McCain’s visit comes just over a week after his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, held a rally at the Crown. Obama’s appearance Sunday filled the Crown Coliseum and spurred interest among Democrats in early voting that afternoon.

For the rally, people will need to obtain free tickets. They can be picked up starting today at 2 p.m. at the Republican headquarters at 201 S. McPherson Church Road, upstairs in Suite 204.

Tickets also can be printed online at northcarolina.johnmccain.com.

Fun for the family

The second annual Oktoberfest promises to be more than beer and bratwurst.

“We’re really trying to put together something that will really appeal to the entire family,” said Marlene Shelton, managing director for Cape Fear Regional Theatre, sponsor of the event. “We’re trying to make sure we don’t leave anybody out.”

To that end, the festival will feature face-painting and games including a football and Frisbee toss, cakewalk and dance contests. The event is scheduled Saturday from 4 to 8 p.m. in downtown Festival Park.

The theater inaugurated the event last year as a fundraiser. Cape Fear Regional Theatre stages musicals, comedies and dramas using both professional and local talent.

The $10 admission charge includes five $1 tickets, which can be used to buy food, drinks or to participate in the games. Children 12 and under will be admitted free.

“It’s essentially the price of a movie,” Shelton said.

Four types of beer will be available at Oktoberfest. The steady of hand can test their skills at a beer glass relay, in which participants carry filled cups from one end of a course to the other, then dump the contents in a bucket. First team to fill the bucket wins.

Shelton said the theater went to great lengths to make sure that the festival has something for everyone, not just beer lovers.

“It was important that the kids got a chance to participate in something like this,” she said. “The theater is about everyone in the family.”

Matching the event, Shelton said the CFRT is an all-inclusive theater.

“We have everyone from the kids to the grandmothers on the stage here,” Shelton said.

Providing the music for the festival for the second year will be Fayetteville’s own Bavarian Brass Band.

The band was formed in 1991, disbanded in 1997 and started up again in 2001, said bandleader Bill Howard. Currently, the band plays festivals throughout the area, including a recent appearance at an Oktoberfest in Savannah, Ga.

The group’s repertoire includes polkas, marches, waltzes and the occasional pop or country tune. “Happy stuff,” Howard said.

“People can get up and dance, do polkas and waltzes, things they don’t normally get to do,” Howard said. That can include the “chicken dance,” in which audience members are encouraged to strut and flap their arms, poultry-style.

“You have to see it to believe it,” Howard said.

The band includes about 12 members playing tubas, flugelhorns and other instruments. Howard said the band will be bringing its alpine horns, which are about 12 feet long and are similar to the instruments featured in the Ricola cough drop advertisements.

“We may even have a little contest and let people see if they can make a little sound come out of it,” Howard said.

OKTOBERFEST

When: 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18

Where: Festival Park, downtown Fayetteville

Admission: $10, which includes five $1 tickets for use at the festival

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HERITAGE FESTIVAL

HERITAGE FESTIVAL

When: Sunday, Oct, 5, 1 to 4 p.m. Held rain or shine.

Where: Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N. Eastern Blvd.

Admission: $3-$5 for adults. Free for children 12 and younger.

What’s going on?: Go back in time to 1880. The festival, now in its fifth year, will let children see what it’s like to roll candles from beeswax and spin cotton with their fingers. Plus there will be live bluegrass music from The Parsons, pony rides and hayrides, animals, agricultural demonstrations and more crafts.

Information: Call 486-0221 or go to www.capefearbg.org.

The pool is closed for the season.

We have closed the pool for the season here at Northpoint. We hope to have the fitness center and laundry room open by the end of November. Keep checking back for any new updates!!