One Small Business Can Win Highway Billboard

MGH, the Owings Mills company that paired the Natty Boh man and the Utz girl together in an iconic Smyth Jewelers billboard, will award a small business a billboard on a major highway in Maryland.

MGH, an Owings Mills-based advertising and marketing firm, is giving one small business in Maryland the opportunity to kick off 2013 with a big bang. The company, known for its iconic Smyth Jewelers’ ad that has the Natty Boh man proposing to the Utz girl, launched Make It Big, the winner of which gets a billboard designed and placed by the agency on a major Maryland highway for one month. To enter the contest, small for-profit businesses can submit videos detailing with the company should win until Feb. 13. From Feb. 20 until March 5, the public will be able to vote on three finalists chosen by MGH. The free billboard could earn as many as 1.6 million impressions, according to a press release. “I started MGH with my business partners and …

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Behind the Counter

Behind the Counter: The Fractured Prune

The Harford Road doughnut shop is a great place to find a taste of Ocean City at home; it's also a great place to find awesome people.

Delicious doughnuts are only part of the equation at The Fractured Prune on Harford Road—sure, they've got the cure for the winter blues in the form of "OC Sand" doughnuts that will (not quite literally) transport you to the beach— but what they've also got is an awesome and friendly staff. Brittany Ritko, an Overlea resident, has worked at the Fractured Prune for the last five years—since she was a sophomore in high school. "I really like working here," she said. Now a junior at CCBC Essex, Brittany has seen the business change hands, as it did back in April leading to more consistent hours. Under new ownership, the business is open daily from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. for all your doughnut needs. On a Thursday afternoon, Brittany was making fresh…

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Baltimore Mag Named Casey's Among Top 25 Bars

The popular watering hole on Joppa Road was cited for having "delicious and generous home-cooked meals," and camraderie in a setting where "... multi-generational families sit side-by-side with rowdy sports fans—and everyone gets along."

Support Your Favorite Small Business with a Patch Shout Out

With Small Business Saturday coming this weekend, you can encourage shoppers to stop by a local store.

Is Black Friday worth the trouble? You just ate a feast's worth of turkey and stayed up a good part of the night watching football or talking with relatives you haven't seen in months. And now it's a good idea to be caught waking up at the crack of dawn and waiting in a long line outside of a department store in the chilly November weather for that bargain? Sleep in on Black Friday and do some holiday shopping on Small Business Saturday instead. Small Business Saturday, a calendar event conceived by American Express, encourages holiday shoppers to avoid the busy parking lots at outlets and instead take a trip down local streets. Review your favorite local businesses in Patch Places.

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Finding the Perfect Thanksgiving Wine in Parkville-Overlea

Adding the right bottle of wine can help improve the quality of a holiday meal.

Finding the right turkey is just part of putting together the perfect Thanksgiving meal. Selecting the right bottle of wine can be the perfect complement for any dish. But knowing what wine to pick can be difficult for many people. After consulting with several wine experts, here are six selections to consider for your holiday meal. Those selections, with a complete description of the wine, include: Here are five places in the Parkville-Ovelea area to assist you in your search for the perfect bottle of wine: Parkville-Overlea Patch editor Nick Gestido contributed to this article.

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