It is spring. Flowers are blooming, birds are busy, and we are hoping we can put our coats and sweaters away till the end of this year.
• The Master Gardeners of our county will hold a Petals and Pathways tour on April 19. Tickets are $10 before the event, $12 on the day. Starting at Coldspring Community Center (across from the courthouse) you will get a map showing you the route to see the gardens and landscaping of beautiful homes. Tickets available at the SJC Senior Center.
• Women’s League holds its annual Style Show on April 10 starting at 11:30 a.m. with lunch at noon, this event is a fund raiser. All proceeds are given back to organizations in our community. There will be a wonderful Silent Auction with fashions from Chico of Kingwood modeled by members of the Women’s League. Again you can buy a ticket from the Senior Center at $25.
• The SJC Historical Commission are spring-cleaning the Jail House Museum and found vintage albums about the Women’s League. These were collected by Sheena Bass and brought to the Committee meeting. We will all be able to look at them some time in the future.
• Trash and Treasure will be on April 5, held over till this date because of the weather in February. Come out to see vendors and garage sales round the Courthouse Square as well as across the county.
• Do you quilt? Do you love shopping for a quilt? On April 5 starting at 10 a.m., Quilting Among Friends Quilt Show will display work by the Livingston Piecemakers Guild at Polk County Commerce Center, Livingston. Tickets are available at LaLa’s Quilt Shoppe in Coldspring as well as from members of the Quilt Guild.
• Our county’s firefighters deserve recognition for their excellent work on putting out the fire this last week which burned more than 2,000 acres. Along with firefighters from neighboring counties, they fought the blaze night and day which was a great accomplishment when the winds and low humidity made the job so difficult.
Thank you to all who worked on this and God bless everyone. Fortunately, no one died in this fire and communities opened up shelters for both residents and animals.
• The SJC Senior Center Fish Friday was sponsored by First Founders Insurance. Call to reserve a lunch at (936) 653-4175. As always, the meal was delicious. Call the company if you need insurance information at (936) 653-2494.
• Coldspring Chamber of Commerce will hold a spring festival on April 19 at Coldspring-Oakhurst High School. From 10 a.m.-2 p.m., there will be vendors, food and games including a free Easter Egg Hunt for different age groups. Contact the Chamber if you would like to be a vendor at the number below.
• Last Friday, Cleveland Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting for the Community and Children’s Impact Center at the location on North Byrd Avenue. Brenda Myers and her great team of board members and volunteers created a lovely setting for lunch for the crowd attending.
About 50 guests enjoyed Kevin Watkins’ award-winning brisket and ribs. Ionna Newby provided all the side dishes with Montana Bailey and Angel Huffman. Teddy Elliot, the SJC Winner of Best Volunteer, did all the decorations. The Impact Center is working hard on creating a Crisis Center for those affected by storms, fires, etc.
• Shepherd Friends of Shepherd Library met last week. Easton Wolfe who is our youngest member and is President of the High School Student Council told us of his plans for the summer. He is going to Drake University in Iowa and will start working as a Legislative Aide for Sen. Grassley and as an intern for Sen. Peterson.
Two weeks ago, he was in Washington, D.C., co-writing a bill on secondary education to promote more funding for students no matter their background or financial status. With senators he visited the White House where he met President Trump.
That was quite a week. He has more plans but is working on his summer employment first and we will hear more in the coming weeks.
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.
