Fans and Davidson College athletes crowded the Green Saturday. (Tim Cowie photo)

Posing for a picture with The Wildcat. (Emma Boraks photo)

Hundreds of residents and Davidson College sports fans came to the Village Green Saturday afternoon for a Meet the Wildcats Fan Day that signaled the start of the 2009 fall sports season. Fans played games, took turns dunking the campus police chief, coaches and athletes in a dunking booth, and grabbed players’ autographs at the 2-hour festival. (More about the start of the fall sports season and Monday’s planned opening of Davidson’s Cats on Main shop in our Friday preview.

More photos in a gallery below. Read the full story

You’ve probably seen those new red-white-and-black Wildcat banners on utility poles downtown. That can only mean the impending start of the fall sports seasons at Davidson College. For local fans, the fun begins Saturday, Aug. 15, from 1-3 p.m. on the Village Green with a Meet the Wildcats Fan Day.

And on Monday, Davidson will open its Cats on Main shop, selling Davidson merchandise, souvenirs and logo clothing. It’s at 131 N.Main St. Hours will be  Mondays to Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (See more about the store in our most recent BizNotes column.)

Read on for a calendar of upcoming Wildcats events below. Read the full story

Today’s Around Davidson is a guest column by Laurie Dennis.

Paige Scoggins works on her design sketches during the first session of Davidson Art Camp.

Davidson offers a little bit of everything for kids on break from the classroom this summer. From theme camps to sports activities to scouting adventures. What interesting stories teachers will get to hear when they ask that traditional first day of school question, “What did you do for your summer vacation?”

We present three possible answers this week: the girls at Fashion Design Camp have combined learning and crafts into fanciful duds, Cameron Montague and his basketball teammates have played their way to the top of the AAU, and Cub Pack 58 is experiencing a new summer program of family events.

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Five teams vied for the title of ice cream champ at Ben & Jerry's Monday.

Today’s Around Davidson is a guest column by Laurie Dennis.

Turning over the calendar page to the month of August is always a shock for school kids who suddenly realize the end of summer  is fast approaching.

For this week’s “Around Davidson” we keep summer firmly in focus, bringing news of ice cream and lemonade – the former in the form of a report on Monday’s contest at Ben & Jerry’s, the latter in the form of a lemonade stand on Lorimer Road run by Audrey and Drew Gibbs.

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A crack that Mr. Denham has identified as the "North Main fault." (Scott Denham photo)

Bicyclist Scott Denham is a pothole watcher. As someone who rides daily on both town and state roads, he sees road hazards up close. After a road-inflicted flat tire late this spring, he decided to create an online map with photos to point other cyclists and state transportation officials to some of the most glaring problems on local roads.

State Department of Transportation officials responded by sending out a patching crew to fix some of the problems. Read the full story

The O'Connell golfers making a name for themselves: (l-r) William, Dad Roger, and John.

Last weekend brought us the British Open and the four hole play-off victory by Stewart Cink with a gracious Tom Watson as runner-up.  Today Around Davidson brings news of notable golf rounds by Davidson young men, William Gordon, William O’Connell and his brother, John.

Also today, news of new babies for Lance and Sara Rhew as well as Mark and Heather Smith.  Read the full story

Fans watch Pittsylvania County, Pa., vs. CBC of Richmond in Tuesday night's early game. (David Boraks photo)

If you drive down South Street any night this week, you’ll see an unusual amount of mid-summer activity on McEver Fields, across from Davidson Elementary School. It’s high season for youth baseball, and our town is playing host to two tournaments: the Pony East Zone South Region Tournament, for 13-14-year-olds, and the Bronco zone championships for 11-year-olds. Read the full story

Stephen Curry twisted an ankle in the first half but came back strong later in the game to help the Golden State Warriors beat Sacramento in overtime in an NBA summer league game Sunday. The former Davidson College star wound up with 29 points. See coverage links below. Read the full story