Staff photo: Christina Barany

The winners of the State Fair’s Big Texas Choice Awards will be announced Monday, and one of the competitors lives in Preston Hollow. Christy Erpillo is the creator of Fernie’s Fried Club Salad. That’s a 12-inch spinach wrap — deep fried, of course — that’s top with deep-fried croutons and served on shredded lettuce. Find out more about Christy on Page 3A of today’s edition of Preston Hollow People.

Double-click for an enlarged photo of the expansion

Good news for Dallas cyclists: Plans to expand the Northaven Trail from Preston Road to Valley Dale are moving forward. La Terra Studio, the Dallas-based architectural firm that is designing the trail, said they hope to have all the construction documents finished by the end of the year. At a public meeting with the Parks & Rec Department and the City of Dallas on Tuesday evening, CEO Michael Black said that ideally, a year from now the 2.2 mile trail will be usable.

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Twenty schools will be on the receiving end of $10 million through the Kohl’s Cares for Kids program, and if Hillcrest plays its cards right, it could be one of them.

In  celebration of 10 years in  business, Kohl’s is donating $500,000 to the 20 schools with the highest votes on Facebook. The contest runs through Sept. 3. If you have a Facebook account, use this link to vote for HHS.

Once on the approved list of schools, the only remaining requirement is to have at least one idea posted on how the cash would be spent. The leading school, Silverstein Hebrew Academy in New York, has the ingenious idea to “help the children.” And they have 99,288 votes.

The leading candidates for project proposals at Hillcrest are:

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Legendary sports broadcaster and former NFL player Pat Summerall was on hand for Friday’s season opener between Parish Episcopal and Epsicopal School of Dallas at Parish.

Summerall was making a donation of peanut butter on behalf of the Slant 45 Program to Parish student Cate Love. Slant 45 is a youth education program being held in conjunction with Super Bowl XLV in Arlington in February.

Parish won the game, 49-0.

On Friday, Sept. 3, Preston Hollow Presbyterian is hosting a luncheon with Dallas Cowboys former tight end Billy Joe Dupree and sportscaster Scott Murray. Dupree will sign and discuss his book, The Unbroken Line: The Untold Story of Gridiron Greats and Their Struggle to Save Professional Football. Murray will stand around and look pretty.

The deadline to reserve a seat at the catered meal is Sept. 1, and the cost is $10. Call 214-368-6348 ext.252 for more information or to sign up.

I normally wouldn’t find myself surrounded by bikers on the side of the highway. But after writing this post, I decided to delve a little deeper into the issue. I’d interviewed DPD, DPS, and affected residents, and it seemed the only thing left to do was get in the belly of the beast and attend the weekly “Bike Night” at High Five Cycles off 635. Let me just say for the record, on the whole the bikers were respectful and open to talking to me. I was accused of being a cop–more than once–but that’s neither here nor there.

I’m working on a longer form piece about the whole stunting culture and the community reaction to it, so I don’t want to scoop my own article, but here’s a sampling of what I’ve learned.

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It shouldn’t take a Jedi mind trick to get you to Barnes & Noble this evening at 7 p.m. The Lincoln Park store is hosting an “Intergalactic Party” with Darth Vader’s Star Garrison, actor Mike Edmonds “Logray the Ewok” from Return of the Jedi and Cindy Freeling “Princess Anne-Droid” from Hardware Wars.

A calendar listing in today’s edition of Preston Hollow People erroneously stated the event would kick off at 1 a.m. B&N employees assured me the action starts at 7 p.m. So dust off your storm trooper helmet, grab your light saber, and may the force not disrupt your bedtime.

Former Cowboy Daryl “Moose” Johnston will present “Rebound and Recovery Concussion Discussion” at the Center for Brain Health at the University of Texas at Dallas on Tuesday. “With sports programs gearing up across the country, it’s important that parents, teachers, coaches and other adult supervisors understand concussions and how to handle them should a child or teen they know experience one,” said Johnston. “People immediately think of football when they think of concussions but other sports such as soccer and activities like cheerleading are potential environments for head injuries.” To purchase tickets to the Aug. 31 event, visit concussiondiscussion.eventbrite.com.

News Flash: I love cake. A lot. If I could eat cake every day and not suffer the consequences, I totally would.

Which brings me to some pretty exciting news: Today’s Groupon deal is for discounts at Wendy and Craig Moore’s Nothing Bundt Cakes, the specialty bakery at Preston Road and Royal Lane that serves — you got it — nothing but Bundt cakes.

Their cream cheese frosting is so ridiculously good! And the Bundtinis, which are cupcake-sized Bundts, are so cute and delicious. Sounds like a great surprise for teachers making it through their first week back at school!

Preston Royal Village is leading the changing tenant charge. Besides the recent Talula closure and impending Toy Maven expansion, Property Manager Kim Mangone said Zoe’s Kitchen should be moved into the Zinsky’s space in the next 60 days, and Short Stop Food To Go is currently building in the former Jamba Juice space. Short Stop will be moving south down Preston from its present location at the Forest intersection to Preston Royal Village in the coming months.

One more juicy update: Elevation Burger is still headed to the Big D. We first reported on the D.C. burger joint’s move to Hillcrest Crossing in April, with an estimated opening at the end of summer. While that’s no longer in the cards, Leasing Agent David Thomas said Elevation Burger plans to start flipping patties by the end 2010.