County hopping along to the next slate of activities

Easter time has started a lot of events as the weather moves into warmer times. The annual SJC Women's League Style Show is on Thursday April 9 at the Coldspring Shelter. Tickets are available from members of the Women's League and at the Senior Center in Coldspring.

• The Community & Children's Impact Center will hold a cook-off fundraiser April 24-25. On the 24th, teams will check in at 6 p.m., then on Saturday at 8 a.m. the program begins with breakfast from a local vendor, followed at 10:30 a.m. with barbecue plates beginning serving. A cornhole tournament starts at 11 a.m. (Bring your own boards.), and at 1 p.m. games begin with cake walk being one.

There will be contests for best dressed, best dancer and more. This is because the dance begins when the sun goes down with DJ Arie Sale setting the musical atmosphere. Vendor spots are still available, call (936) 499-2632 and register.

• The first Thursday of April was a special day for the Coldspring Garden Club. I wrote last week that it was the 87th birthday of the Club and the membership held a very special event to celebrate. After a short business meeting we had a PowerPoint showing of scenes throughout the Club's history. A table displaying notebooks and photos, some from the early days of 1939, was available.

Everyone attending was given a goodie bag with packets of flower seeds and candy and there was a lovely refreshment table set out, the birthday cake being the centerpiece.

The Garden Club was founded by Mrs. Lucy MacMurray and Miss Bessie Hale, and meetings were held in members houses at first.

A generous donation of land allowed the building of the Community Center. The Garden Club, as well as many other groups, have met there regularly ever since. This original building will disappear to become a larger building for the city's use. This will not happen soon, but plans are being made.

• The SJC Senior Center said goodbye to long-time member Anna Blair last Friday. Anna is moving to San Marcos to be near her family, and her friends gave her a wonderful send-off. Gifts and speeches of how much she will be missed and how much she loved to shop at the Resale Shop made for a mixture of tears and laughter. Cake and ice cream were served, and Anna's daughter was with her to experience the occasion.
• Last Tuesday members of the Historical Commission of our county visited Shepherd First Baptist Church. Dale Everitt, along with Barbara McGee, my husband Gregg and myself, all members of the Commission, met with Pastor Chester Holloway.

Dale had a photo of his ancestor Washington Bruce Everitt and his bride Ruby Hare, which he presented to the minister. Married in 1891, they moved to Shepherd where Dr Everitt was ordained as a minister and called to preach as the first pastor of First Baptist Church in Shepherd in 1896. He was a doctor, pastor, teacher and also a Mason. The photo and a framed description of his life will be displayed in the Church.

Members of the Historical Commission have been working at clearing our accumulations of paperwork and artifacts stored in the Jail Museum in Old Town Coldspring. This is all voluntary work and includes painting and repairing areas to historical standards. Once complete, visitors will be able to enjoy a glimpse of life from the past in San Jacinto County.

Contact the Shepherd Chamber of Commerce at (210) 995-7420 or the Coldspring Chamber at (936) 653-2184.

Yvonne Cones is president of the Shepherd Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Coldspring Chamber of Commerce.