What is next for the new year?

The Coldspring Garden Club Board.
The Coldspring Garden Club Board.
Posted

We made it through Christmas and New Year, now what is next?

Well, Coldspring Chamber of Commerce is collecting votes for The Best of San Jacinto County, and prizes will be awarded at the banquet on Jan. 25.

Collect your tickets at the Chamber Office at 31 Butler St., Coldspring. Members pay $25, non-members pay $30. There is a change in the way the vote will be done. All ballots will be on paper. Call the office for more info.

• Coldspring Garden Club learned all about bluebirds at the first meeting of 2025. Phyllis Campbell brought nest boxes to demonstrate how to install them and how to monitor them. Predators are especially clever at catching prey when the nest box is mounted on wood. The Texas Bluebird Society has a great deal of information for anyone interested. Look them up.

• It is a sad day when we have to say goodbye to longtime resident Ms. Billie Trapp. Billie was a historian and collected every piece of history about Coldspring and our county she could. She gave talks to many groups and donated the Camilla Post Office to Old Town Coldspring; she wrote books; and appeared on the “Eyes of Texas” in 1987. Billie loved art. She painted and she taught art too. She loved to sing and formed a Sweet Adeline group who performed all around our area. They once performed in Russia.

Billie Trapp did a great deal to make Coldspring a vibrant place for people to visit or come to live. In the 1980s she started the annual Christmas Round the Square. She organized this for 5 years and then Coldspring Chamber took over. There is so much more to tell about her. She was kind and generous, wise and loved.

One of my last memories of her was at the Juneteenth Parade some years ago. I was below her balcony with my friend when I heard her voice, “Come up here, it’s a better view,” so we walked round the corner of the building to be greeted by Billie in her own elevator. I was amazed to find she had one, but it was perfect for her, of course.

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.