Congratulations to the Stars and Stripes Committee for another outstanding Fourth of July Celebration event. There were fewer vendors this year, but I suspect the heat was the issue. The parade was just small town impressive. I loved the giant houseboat that held the cheerleaders. Kim and Jody Lewis managed the baking competition.
Elissa Gilmore, Keith Hebert, Kristy Norris, Sarah Taylor, Jennifer McKinnerney, Dale McKinnerney, and Kay McKee were grand champions in their divisions. The other place holders were not all photographed so unfortunately, I can’t give them their moment in the paper. I know Shirley Harlow, Clara Elkins, Savannah Garcia, Jadyn Fleming, and yours truly, placed in various baking divisions. I’m sorry the other names were not posted; congratulations to all who participated.
The cornhole, washers and horseshoe events were heavily participated.
Champions for cornhole event were Jacob Essary and Hayden Wall; for washers, Mike Teel, and Daniel Moore; and for Horseshoes, Adam Lotts and Alec Newby. The forty-two champions were Jerrell Hemphil and Bobby Mack; 2nd place went to Bill Harlow and Guy Wood.
The hog sacking kept the crowd entertained and cheering. Billy Perry and his partner crossed the line at 10 seconds. He loves this event and participates multiple times each year. On the ladies side, Clara Elkins scored a quick 13 second win. She also competed multiple times and finished off the evening singing with her brother during the fish fry. Grand champion hog sackers were Keston Lusty and Brandon Stewart. I could fill this column with the winners of the hog sacking; please turn to the Howlers Club posts and Stars and Stripes posts to view all the winners. The state bound championship ball players and their families cleaned up the area after the events were over. We want to wish them God speed, and good luck on their big competition.
We have an official new postmistress in Richland Springs. Chrissy Baker finished her training in San Antonio, passed the tests and is good to go. I know she will be an asset to our community. She is industrious, empathetic, and efficient. I hope you can stop by and welcome her to her new job.
I hate to mention this, but I’m struggling with how quickly time has flown. School is only a few weeks away. Most schools are starting the first or second week in August. I wonder how I will feel when school starts, and I stay home. I have worked for most of my adult life. I can’t imagine how I am going to be productive during retirement. I am going to find out. I do have two trips planned, one to Alaska and one to Costa Rica. I haven’t given up on Canada yet.
My brother is not in good health. The long sweltering summer is causing health problems. The prayer lists for the local churches are long. The McCollister family is high on the list as they mourn the loss of family members. We have several local members suffering from cancer that need prayers. Our precious country needs prayers and restoration in many areas. We need at least four inches of rain in the area for crops to survive. Pray for sanity to prevail in our government, for peace to come to our borders and for inflation to go down so that people can survive. Thank you to our service members, police officers, border patrol and most of all our precious troops and their families. A special blessing needs to go to our health care providers. God bless America.