If you think Friday the 13th is ugly, look at some of the sweaters that are about!

— Dick’s Bar and Grill is celebrating this Friday by making it lucky — this from the home of the Lucky Dog house beer. Tonight’s Lucky dart tournament, with of course a luck of the draw format that is double elimination, starts at 7:30 p.m. and you can still see a bartender for entry if you hurry. That $10 entry fee also gets you a drink token, and selected snacks from Dick’s menu, which I must say can be highly creative. There also are cash prizes for best shooting,  random drawings and the gift basket giveaways that are always popular during the holidays. The game of the night is 301.

— For the second straight year, ugly sweater contests are all the rage. The season started with an informal one at Kozy Korner in North Hudson on Dec. 7, which later saw the natty attire flood into the downtown. On Saturday, Dec. 14, there is another obtuse sweater night, with the participants going the Old School Hudson party route by starting at Pudge’s Bar and working northward up Second Street. It is was started by some people who prompt me to evoke Charlie Brown and his infamous sweater with the bending line at the bottom; with that reference, I’ll get back to the subject and introduce to you someone I’ll simply refer to as The Little Redhaired Girl and her friends, who are the organizers and invite you to join in. You may even see a Christmas Tree themed sweater complete with lights, ala Linus. (Please note that the organizers of this informal pub crawl did not authorize my use of the Peanuts references and are not responsible for who might show up in what).

— All these contests remind me of the beanbag toss tournaments held at, and filling up, the parking lot at Guv’s Place in Houlton, and the fact that someone actually complained about the one last fall to the St. Joseph Town Board! I never thought someone could be so namby pamby, but it goes to show that it’s never too early to be a Grinch. Look for more such tourneys in the new year, possibly as early as spring, since ice on the boards make the bags slide off. They’ll simply have to be stored overwinter by patrons, although one noted that she has some mice that gnaw holes in her bags. All this extra time will help the selling of custom beanbags by Wayne, who has his poster on the bulletin board at Guv’s, although they are a bit pricey.