The first Saturday in May, May 6th, is Election Day for Seadrift! Get yourselves down to the Seadrift Council Chambers to vote. Early voting starts the week of April 24th from 8:00 to 5:00, except Tuesday and Thursday of that week when it’s 7:00 to 7:00. Also, on May 1st and 2nd early voting is from 8:00 to 5:00. Voting on Election Day takes place from 7:00 to 7:00. Ya’ll come!

Following is an introduction to the candidates for the three City Council positions:

“The Captain” – Geoff Hunt
Geoff Hunt is running for Seadrift Councilman in the May 6th City Election. We have dubbed him “The Captain” since he has been a tug boat captain for the Port of Point Comfort for several years and takes great pride in his profession. Geoff calls Seadrift his home since he was raised here since he was a boy. He has been on the Seadrift City Council for eight years. The departments he has been responsible for are Streets and Drainage, and currently, the Seadrift Harbor.

The reasons Geoff wants to be on the City Council are that he wants “to be part of the solutions to issues our town faces and participate in this way in keeping our small community as one of the best places to raise our families.” He says he is “committed to protect your interests and values as a resident.”

Geoff concludes with: “I hope you will allow me to continue voicing your concerns and to be able to help on the development and constant improvement that this wonderful town requires.”

“It’s about Seadrift…my home” = Kenneth Reese
Kenneth Reese is running for Seadrift Councilman in the May 6th City Election. He has been councilman since 2017 and his first assigned departments were the Seadrift Harbor and Solid Waste. Kenneth says, “I am proud to say that I played a very large part in getting our Solid Waste project up and running.” He added, “I have been deeply involved in the following projects: the Pier project, the West End beach erosion project, 3rd Street restroom, the Harbor pilings and bulkheads project with its debris removal, all of which are now complete.”

Currently Kenneth is working on many other projects for the city. They are the Seawall project, the new wastewater treatment plant, west end/north end/Heron Slough drainage project, 12th Street Restore project, and the Harbor dredging project which is still in permitting/engineering.

Commenting on the May 6th city election, Kenneth says, “I will be coming up for reelection…and as I am still involved with these projects I would like to see them to an end.
Therefore, I ask for your vote in the coming election. Working on the Council for me is not about the money, it’s about Seadrift…my home.”

Kenneth has been a part of the Seadrift community since he was in the 7th grade at Seadrift’s Junior High School which was called “Fannin Junior High.” He worked various jobs growing up and married a “Seadrift gal” and has been married for fifty-four years.

“I want to improve the city.” – Howard Heath
Howard Heath is running for city councilman in the May 6th Seadrift city election and wants to improve the city. He says he wants to expend time and effort into improving Seadrift since he is retired and has time on his hands to do so. He wants to “help improve the city by sitting down with the mayor and the council to find out what we can do. Howard stated, “I’d like to see growth in Seadrift where there’s more revenue coming in to improve the city all around and that would include more businesses and tourism.”

Howard comes from a background of construction and transportation and has ten years of law enforcement and security. He is a fourth generation Texan who grew up in the Austin area. He has five children, ten grandchildren, and one great grandchild. Howard has lived in Seadrift for over five years.

“I want Seadrift to SHINE.” – Tracey Johnson
Tracey Johnson is running for Seadrift Councilwoman in the May 6th Seadrift city election. She has already served her first two-year term and is seeking to be reelected.

Tracey has been living in Seadrift over seventeen years and is the sales manager at Coastline Trailer Manufacturing, Inc. here in Seadrift. She is the proud mother of a “beautiful twenty-four-year-old daughter” and “fur-momma to several rescues.” She is a member of the Seadrift Chamber of Commerce where she hosts the monthly Seadrift Market Days.

Tracey says, “Being on the city council means a lot to me. I want to see Seadrift grow and flourish. This year I have been moved to oversee the Parks and Recreation Department. I am working on seeing what grants we can qualify for to improve our parks, etc. Playground equipment is top priority, then I will investigate grants for a volleyball sand pit and net, pergolas with picnic tables, and repairing or replacing the bayfront pavilion. I want to see Seadrift grow and prosper. I want to see us working towards better streets and cleaning up more of the abandoned properties. I want Seadrift to SHINE. We have the potential. We just need to show the folks we can do it!”

Huge Mega Garage Sale and Bake Sale: The Count Down Is On!!!  We are only a few weeks away from the Service Club’s Huge  “Spring Mega Garage Sale and Bake Sale”, which will be held on Saturday, April 1, 2023 from 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM at the POC Community Center Pavilion.   There will be something for everyone – so come see us for some great buys! The Ladies continue to accept your generous donations of furniture; household, kitchen, and decorative items; small appliances; clothes; shoes; toys; children’s and baby items; etc!!  You can leave your items in the “Drop Box”  at the front of our Donation Center, or, for large items and furniture, please contact one of the Service Club Ladies listed below.

Farmers Market:  Please visit the Service Club’s Booth at POC’s Farmers Market, held the 2nd Saturday of every month; next one being Saturday, April 8, 2023 from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 Noon.  There will be a variety of homemade breads and sweets, plants, hand crafted items, our “Service Club Cookbooks“ and our “POC- End of The Road” License Plate Covers!!  We will also be selling raffle tickets of $5.00 each for a beautiful handmade quilt donated by Club Member, Carol Haverfield.  There is something for everyone, so please stop by!!

Meetings:  April’s Service Club meetings will be held on April 6, 2023 and April 20, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. at the POC Community Center, and all Ladies are welcome!

Alane Haardt- 281-416-6028
Marie Hawes- 361-920-2322
Nan Burnett- 832-276-5948
Nancy Ladshaw- 830-832-0510

With over one hundred people in attendance our Chamber Appreciation Casino party was a blast! Everyone devoured the six-foot Charcuterie table, which provided a lot to snack on during the evening. A big thank you to Brookie’s Cookies for the best themed casino cookies. The music was provided by DJ Locomotion which helped to loosen everyone up for some great dance moves. We also had table games which included Blackjack, Roulette, and Craps! Congratulations to our prize winners, Jo Beth Staff, Gary Crone (two-time winner), Otto Hardt, Mary Wygrys and Dennis Smith. A huge thank you to all our diligent Board Members who bartended, decorated, and greeted our guests!

Plans continue for the Crawfish Festival & Cookoff on April 29th. Admission is $5, Beer tickets are $5, and Crawfish plates will be $25. Boudreaux will be returning with his Zydeco music and will be bringing Pousson this year!! Don’t want to wait in line then get ready and order early. Presales for your admission wristbands and beer tickets will go on sale beginning April 1st on the Chamber website. You will be able to pick them up on Friday, April 28th, from 3-6 pm at the pavilion or at the Will Call gate from 10-2 pm the day of the festival. Start following the POC Crawfish Fest & Cookoff Facebook page to keep up to date of what will be happening!

Start watching for the bright yellow litter bags! The Port O’Connor Chamber of Commerce has partnered with the Nueces River Authority in cleaning up our Beaches and Bays. The UP2U litter bags will be placed in boxes near the Kingfisher pier, along Kingfisher Park, the little jetties and other strategic places to help collect litter. We are providing the bags free of charge, in hopes that you will grab one to collect your trash in and place in the trash cans in the area. Please help us keep our beaches and bays clean and free of trash! We want you to have a beautiful and safe beach for you and your family to enjoy!

This year, the Chamber will be raffling off a new 2022 Polaris Ranger Premium SP250, Crew with a Camo Package. Tickets will be $100, with only 500 sold! Stop by the First National Bank in Port O’Connor to see it! All Board members will be selling tickets. Tickets can also be purchased at the Farmers Market (2nd weekend of each month), the Crawfish Festival & Cookoff, and also at the July 1st Fireworks (pavilion). Drawing is scheduled for October 8, 2023, or sooner if all 500 tickets are sold prior to. Do not wait. tickets are going fast! Call 361-983-2898 for more info.

Remember, that if you have not renewed your Chamber Business membership, all listings will drop off our website on April 1, 2023. Only member referrals are given out to incoming calls and inquiries about Port O’Connor. If you would like to become a member, please call us or join online at www.portoconnorchamber.com. We welcome everyone in supporting Port O’Connor, individuals as well as businesses!

We are still very busy working to raise money for the Community Center. We have raised almost 1/3 of the total needed to do the repairs and additions to the Pavilion. Those include adding additional stalls to each restroom, adding a prep area for catering, adding additional storage for new tables and chairs, installing a pull down door on the north side near the restrooms, painting and repairs. Our expected cost is $150,000.00 for all this. Look for our THERMOMETER near the highway and track our progress. Once this project is completed, we will start a campaign to raise money for the main building restoration.

The next event we will be a part of is the Crawfish Festival put on by the POC Chamber each year. We will be selling raffle tickets for our Redfish Bench (drawing to be held May 6), our neon sign donated by the Chamber, and a large basket of goodies to host your own crawfish party. The winners for these two items will be announced at the Festival at 4:30.  If you have never been, now is the time. It’s an amazing event on April 29, at Kingfisher Park.

On May 6, we will be hosting our first annual Derby Day celebration. It will start with a fun run through the Sanctuary in the morning. At noon, we will start our festivities at the Community Center. There will be food available, fun and games for all ages, a silent auction, races, hat decorating contests, and live streaming of the Church Hill Down’s day of racing ending with the Kentucky Derby. Come join in in the fun! We will be announcing the winner of our Redfish Bench at this event . We will be telling you more about this event in next month’s Dolphin Talk. Mark your calendars.