Flu Season is Coming. City Offering Free Shots

Today is Wednesday, Oct. 2. Here are five things to know today in Peabody.

1. The city will be offering free flu clinics for residents, starting next week, and vaccine will also likewise be available in the city's schools. Parents should look for consent forms to come home in their child's backpack. Turn the forms back in to the school by Oct. 4.
2. Hank Phillippi Ryan will be at Barnes & Noble Saturday (1 p.m.) for a book signing on her newest thriller "The Wrong Girl," which was just released Sept. 10.
3. The annual college fair hosted by the Guidance Department at PVMHS is coming up Oct. 10 and will include 140 representatives from universities, colleges, technical and vocational schools, the Armed Forces and others. Students and parents will have an opportunity to speak with the various representatives and get information on the college application process, admissions testing requirements and financial aid. Students and parents from surrounding communities are welcome to attend.
   
4. Oktoberfest: Wear your dirndl or lederhosen to Karl's Sausage Kitchen on Oct. 11 and you'll be entered into a raffle for a limited edition beer stein and a copy of "The Oxford Companion to Beer."
5. There's a scarecrow contest going on downtown. The Peabody Downtown Association is sponsoring a contest in which individuals, families, teams, businesses and community groups are invited to create and showcase fun, inventive scarecrows that will be zip tied to light poles along Main Street. Scarecrows will be judged by a panel selected by the Peabody Downtown Association on Oct. 12. More details here.