Washington Hospitality and Visitors Association president Jay Brown welcomed on Monday more than a dozen new members to the association which now represents 34 businesses from the town and county.

At its first meeting of the new membership year in Town Hall, members discussed a new brochure which features businesses in the town and county.

The brochure will be available later this month and will be distributed locally and through visitor centers and other outlets around the region.

Designed by WHVA and printed by WHVA and the town, the newly updated brochure includes a map, descriptions of members' businesses and other information promoting the area to potential visitors.

At the meeting, members also continued planning for the WHVA-sponsored Christmas in Little Washington celebration on Dec. 7 which will include a parade, visit by Santa, artisans' market, food, magic show and choral concert.

Finally, members were briefed on WHVA's continuing role in the County's tourism development committee and agreed to provide financial support to the Rappahannock Association for Arts in the Community and Headwaters for its upcoming programs.

The next WHVA meeting will be in October. Information is available at www.thefirstwashington.com or by calling 675-2040.

Birthday wishes go out to Fanning Baumgardner. Today is his special day, Aug. 7. We also wish Clarissa Leggett a happy birthday on her day, Aug. 12 and Chelsea Smoot who celebrates her day on Aug. 22.

Yogi and Karen Bear of Washington are very proud of their grandson, Alex Bear, who will be a fourth grader this year at Frances Hazel Reid Elementary School in Leesburg. Alex entered the Google Logo contest, "Doodle 4 Google" through his school. The students were to design a new logo using the word Google and the theme, "What if . . ." Alex decided on "what if we lived in an underwater world".

The contest was open to all schools in the United States, grades K-12, ages 5-18. There were 16,000 entries. The top prize for the national winner was $10,000. Alex made it to the top 400. He is one of two finalists in the state of Virginia and the only finalist in Northern Virginia.

Alex is the son of Eric and Robin Bear and the brother of Josh Bear.

One can see the winning entry by going on the Internet and typing Google logo contest winners and then click on Doodle 4 Google.

Karen and Julie would like to wish their parents, Rick and Susan Grigsby, a happy 30th anniversary on Aug. 5.

A reminder for all of you night sky observers. This is the month when we can take a peek into the summer Milky Way and the heart of our galaxy.

The Perseid meteor shower peaks on the night of Aug. 12. After the first-quarter moon sets, around 2 a.m., meteors should be more easily visible until dawn. You may see dozens of meteors per hour.

In case some of you did not receive the paper last week which carried the 2008 Rappahannock Guide, stop by the office and pick up a complimentary copy.