On the evening of Dec. 3, children on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe can be transformed to the magical journey made famous in author Chris Van Allsburg’s book “The Polar Express”.

Children and their families begin their journey of make-believe from either the South Tahoe Recreation Center or the Forever Dance Studios (behind Safeway at Round Hill).

Conductors will escort passengers aboard the “Polar Express” buses where they take a journey to a fantastical wonderland (The Red Hut) where singing and dancing chefs will board to serve hot chocolate and candy canes.

Carols will be sung in anticipation of your arrival at the Festival of Trees & Lights at MontBleu in Stateline and the “North Pole.”

A reading of the “Polar Express”, musical entertainment from the “Belles of Christmas”, a kid-friendly dinner buffet, a pajama contest, and a surprise from Santa awaits all passengers.

Tickets are going fast — $25 for adults and $20 for kids. For more information or tickets call the Barton Foundation at (530) 543.5614 or go to www.festivaloftreeslaketahoe.com.

The parent club at Zephyr Cove Elementary School recently contributed some new technology — a Starboard — to the second-grade class.

It became fully operational and interactive this month.

Susan Desrosiers uses new technology to teach Trinity Kirvida-McGowan and Logan Chapman. Photo/Provided

“(We) watched a few PowerPoint presentations about Veterans Day, we then looked at photos from the Vietnam Memorial. We read the book ‘The Wall ‘and saw photos of the real thing.,” teacher Susan Desrosiers said. “The kids are astonished by the touch screen. MyHomework Club students used the board to take Reading Counts quizzes and I had a line. The third-grade students wanted to come back to second grade to use it and were upset they didn’t have it in class last year. It is a wonderful educational tool.”

This holiday season will bring the first “Light Up Lake Tahoe” to the South Shore, when businesses around town will be aglow with exterior holiday lighting.

Lights will be provided at no charge to interested businesses.

Lights are to be installed in time for the Dec. 4 kick-off, and kept on through the holiday/winter season. The lights will be removed by volunteers and stored for next year’s “Light Up Lake Tahoe.”

More than a dozen local businesses have agreed to participate, and the project has received initial funding from local organizations. While participation is free, businesses are being encouraged to make donations of any amount. All donations are tax-deductible, and sponsors will be recognized on banners and promotional materials. Proceeds benefit Tahoe Turning Point, a private, nonprofit agency that provides group care and residential treatment for young men ages 12 to 18.

Lighting and fund-raising efforts are planned to continue past the Dec. 4 kick-off and throughout the holiday/winter season.

“Light Up Lake Tahoe” is an effort of Leadership Lake Tahoe participants Jaime Aust, Anthony Davis, Lisa Ramsey-Simpson, Georgette Riley and Dustin Wunderlich.

For more information, contact Jaime Aust at Jaime_aust@hotmail.com or (530) 543.5614.

For information on sponsorship opportunities, contact Dustin Wunderlich at dustin.wunderlich@gmail.com.

For information on Tahoe Turning Point, visit www.tahoeturningpoint.org.

Thanksgiving is going to be even more special for one South Lake Tahoe couple this year.

It will be their first holiday in their own home — one they own.

Through a state grant the city dispenses the couple qualified for $140,000. This supplemented the $130,000 conventional loan they had secured.

The Goralskis moved into the house in the state streets area on Nov. 19.

Since 1995, South Lake Tahoe residents have received $4.1 million through the State HOME Program. The Goralskis are the city’s 54th recipient.

“Most community members qualify for one or more of our housing programs,” said Nancy Kerry, with the city’s Housing Department, told Lake Tahoe News. “In this city because our average income is so low most people do qualify, if not for the first time home buyer, we have a moderate income program.”

Bell ringers at Valhalla. Photo/Kathryn Reed

The annual holiday fair at Valhalla near Camp Richardson on the

Artisans display their work. Photo/Kathryn Reed

South Shore of Lake Tahoe is all about showing off what local artists, crafts people, soap makers, photographers, authors have been busy working on.

The three-day event concludes Nov. 22. The Grand Hall will be open from 10am-4pm. The event is free. A shuttle will take people from the overflow lot on Highway 89 to the front door.

Like years past, holiday music is provided by various groups. It ranges from adult bell ringers to children singing.

Southwest Airlines it making it easy to get to Tahoe. But there is less than two weeks left to save big on a Lake Tahoe ski vacation, when traveling Nov. 4 to Feb. 10.

“With an El Nino winter predicted, Southwest’s timing of a Lake Tahoe ski package is absolutely ideal,” Executive Director Bill Hoffman of the Incline Village Crystal Bay Visitors Bureau said in a press release. “Whether you’re coming from Southern California or across the country, this is a fantastic and inexpensive way to experience Tahoe’s ski product.”

Lake Tahoe News previewed what’s new at nine of the resorts around Lake Tahoe this past week. Those stories and the Events page will keep you up to date and informed throughout the winter.

The Southwest Airlines Vacations Ski Destinations Special has every second person flying free into the Reno-Tahoe International Airport, a 45-minute drive from North Lake Tahoe and the largest concentration of ski resorts in the U.S., as well as staying and skiing free when you book a special ski lodging package.

The South Shore is about an hour away from the Reno airport.

Even your skis fly free for first and second checked bags. Weight and size limits apply. The package does have some restrictions, with blackout dates. Check out www.southwest.com.

The historic Virginia & Truckee Railway will stoke its boilers, blow the whistles and highball this holiday season (Nov. 27-Dec. 19) for a series of theme rides over four weekends during Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Historians in Victorian dress, cowboy regalia and other period attire will represent “living legends” of the area, riding along with passengers on the V&T’s seasonal round-trip trains and answering questions about the area and taking photos with travelers.

Theme rides include an Early Bird Shopper’s Special, Family and Friends train, Locals Special, Comstock Night Train, December Danish Run, and Christmas on the Comstock train.

The holiday trains will be the last to run the 12.8 mile route until re-opening next year with special event trains and a full schedule in May 2010.

Classic steam and authentic diesel engines take passengers on 60- and 90-minute rides (one-way or round-trip) with scenic vistas of the “old West” countryside, historic cemeteries, abandoned mine shafts, two tunnels and occasional sightings of wild mustangs, all with the nostalgic sounds of steel wheels to track and the steam whistle cutting the crisp air.

The reconstructed V&T opened along 12.8 miles of its original 16-mile route to great fanfare in August after 70 years.

For more details, go to www.VisitCarsonCity.com.

By Kathryn Reed

A line of parents and children streamed out of Bijou Community School and down the hall – all in an attempt to not get the flu.

Barton Community Hospital staff dispensed the nasal vaccination for the H1N1 flu for free to ages 2-9 on Thursday.

“I figured we might as well give it a shot. He goes to preschool and is around lots of other kids,” said Jeff Michalak after his 3-year-old son, Alex, was vaccinated. “If it can prevent him from getting sick, I might as well do it.”

Alex Michalak, 3, isn't thrilled to receive the H1N1 vaccine. Photo/Kathryn Reed

Alex wrinkled his nose and clearly did not like it when nurse Marla Handsaker-Turk put the small device in his nostril.

She and the other nurses doling out vaccines did their best to calm the youngsters, though a few were in tears even without a needle involved.

The event went from 4-8pm, but the line started forming at 2pm.

Barton received its first batch of the swine flu vaccine on Nov. 10. That allotment was doled out to health care workers.

The 600 doses for the children arrived Monday.

Barton expects to get more, but doesn’t know when. The nasal vaccine is a two-part process, so all the kids who were at Bijou Thursday will repeat the process – most likely in December.

The 30 Barton employees were also using the flu clinic as a training drill – which authorities said went according to plan.

El Dorado Community Foundation handed out $60,000 Thursday night to a slew of South Lake Tahoe organizations.

It was a record amount of money given out at the event at Inn by the Lake.

However, not all of the requests could be met. Fifty local groups applied for $210,437.85.

In the Foundation’s request for proposals it said, “We are seeking proposals from any group whose program supports or enhances youth in our community.”

Recipients are:

• South Tahoe Middle School $1,000, Resource Field Trip to San Francisco for disabled students
• South Tahoe Middle School $1,300, University of Reno Field Trip 7th Grade Science
• South Tahoe Middle School $900, Freedom Writers Travel Expenses
• South Tahoe Middle School $1,000, Field Trip to Discovery Kingdom Vallejo 8th Grade
• South Tahoe Middle School $2,500, 6th Grade Field Trip to UC Davis/UC Berkeley/King Tut
• South Tahoe Middle School $1,700, Club Live Tolerance Projects/Field Trip
• South Tahoe Middle School $800, Tolerance Field Trip Los Angeles
• South Tahoe Middle School $1,750, PTA After School and Lunch Enrichment Program
• Lake Tahoe Unified School District $1,200, 3 Wheeled Bike Purchase Physical Education for disabled students
• Lake Tahoe Unified School District $2,960, Science Study PTA Presidents Roundtable
• Sierra House $1,500,  Field Trip to Marine Science Institute Redwood City, King Tut San Francisco
• Sierra Tahoe Childrens Theatre $485, Summer Theatre Arts
• Lake Tahoe Community College $2,500, Foundation Scholarships
• Tahoe Valley Elementary School $2,000,  Parent Teacher Organization Tahoe Valley Arts, Recreation and Theatre
• Tahoe Valley Elementary School $2,500, Sutter’s Fort Environmental Living Program
• Tahoe Valley Elementary School $1,250, AVID program support
• South Lake Tahoe Children’s Choral Society $1,250, choir supplies
• South Tahoe High School Challenge Day $1,500, Friday Night Live Anti bully project
• South Tahoe High School Gang Intervention $1,000, A Team
• Bijou Community School Two Way Bilingual Bicultural $4,527, Two Way Immersion Program
• Bijou Community School $1,500, PTA School Supplies
• Bijou Community School $2,000, Library Funding
• Bijou Community School $3,400, Charter Education Program
• Lake Tahoe Shinning Stars $1,000, Dance Scholarships
• Kiwanis Of Tahoe $2,000, Great Winter Coat Give-Away
• Bring Arts to Schools $2,800
• Soroptimist International of Tahoe $1,000, Sierra Youth Literacy
• Soroptimist International of Tahoe $500, Sierra Writing Festival
• Tahoe Youth and Family Services Drug Store Project at South Tahoe Middle School $1,000
• El Dorado County Library South Lake Tahoe Teen Group $1,585, After School workshops
• Boys and Girls Club of South Lake Tahoe $3,000, Academic Enrichment
• Tahoe Arts Project $5,000, Performing Arts Series
• CASA El Dorado $1,000, Child and Youth Enrichment
• Sports Connection $1,500, Youth Sports
• Circle of Hope $2,000, Young Girl Intervention
• H.E.R.O. Scholarship $3,000, Fund Scholarships

David C. Antonucci of Tahoma has written a book chronicling the 1960 Winter Olympic Games at Squaw Valley. Historical photographs are by official Olympic photographer Bill Briner.

“Snowball’s Chance – The Story of the 1960 Olympic Winter Games” contains what the author says is the only complete account of the preparations, pageantry, ceremonies, competitions and epilogues of the historic VIII Olympic Winter Games at Squaw Valley and Lake Tahoe.

The paperback costs $15.99. To find locations where to buy it, go to www.TahoeFacts.com.