I apologize if we took you unaware this week with our Wednesday distribution. It's something we do every year on Thanksgiving week for the obvious reason that our readership will be otherwise occupied on Thursday. We are also otherwise occupied on Thanksgiving, or wish to be, so we not only publish a day early, we also relegate our feature space to displaying some of the entries to our annual photo contest -- all the better to make an early deadline.
The theme of this year's contest was "My Madison Ride," and enough of you came up with imaginative entries to justify our faith in your interpretive powers. In third place came Amy Wencel with her photo "Dory," of a home-built Northeaster. Second was Jen Mulder with "Duckmobile," which could also have been labeled "Duck Mob." And, ta-da, the first-place winner was Paula A. White with her only-too-true Madison scene "Biking through the Snow." Congrats to all. More photos than appear in the paper can be found at TheDailyPage.com/photocontest.
This is supposed to be a big shopping weekend, and I'm sure it will be. Last week's Isthmus contained an invitation to the Downtown Holiday Open House on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 29-30, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the Capitol Square and State Street. Part of the action is the Shop for Good Teen Gift Drive, a United Way activity. Pick up a gift for a boy or girl between 13 and 17 and drop it off at one of three downtown collection centers. Find the insert from last week's Isthmus or go to visitdowntownmadison.com for particulars.
Looking for more feel-good things to do for the holidays? Refer to the Wish List in last week's Giving supplement for plenty of charitable notions.
