It’s fast approaching, and we need your help!! We are in the planning stages of the Crawfish Fest and this is when we could use all the help we can get!!! We need volunteers to work the day of, as well as sponsors to help promote this event! We hope that we can count on some of our businesses around the area to help us out, whether it be assisting in the event or monetarily to help us cover expenses. This Festival is the Chamber’s major fundraiser and these profits go towards improving and promoting our little village. We have local businesses right here in town, as well as others coming in from the area, all contributing to the building and success of Port O’Connor. We would love to promote these businesses at our event, and show the public what we are built on! If you would like to volunteer at the Crawfish Fest, please email us at darla611@aol.com or shrimper@tisd.net . If you would like to help sponsor, you can find a sponsor commitment form on our website, www.portoconnorchamber.com , or we can also email you one.

Something new this year at the Festival will be a Chamber of Commerce booth where we will be selling our T-shirts, koozies, and also promoting our membership drive. We would like to make this booth available to all our members as well. If you have any promotional items, cards, coupons, brochures, or other free items you would like to pass out, here is the place to do it. Please make sure that you get those items to us before the event, so that we can prepare for display. This is what we want to do for you, to promote your business in Port O’Connor.

Mark your calendar for April 29th, from 10 am to 7 pm at King Fisher Park. There’s gonna be crawfish, beer, food & craft vendors, crawfish eating contest, horseshoe tournament, kids activities, horseshoes, raffle, and live music. Where else are you gonna get all this on a beachfront Saturday afternoon? Best of all, Josh Ward will be there…. Check him out!! www.joshwardmusic.com You will want to be there!!!

Darla Parker, Port O’Connor Chamber of Commerce

The POC Community Service Club is busy with Spring and Summer plans. Our April Garage Sale is almost here and 2017 scholarships will be awarded soon. We are excited to help with the Crawfish Fest again and look forward to other community events coming up. Our Spring Break Movie Night was a big success and the volleyball court should get some warm weather attention in its new location. 4H students have agreed to help with the garage sale efforts and they are much appreciated. Stay tuned for updates on all our plans and activities.

The application deadline for 2017 Scholarship awards is almost here. If you have not applied, see your school counselor or check with any club member for details. We would love to be part of your future dreams.

Have you been spring cleaning, reorganizing or just downsizing. We invite you to donate gently used household goods, décor items and clothing to the Port O’ Connor Community Service Club Spring Garage Sale. Bring donations to the Community Center Pavilion on Thursday, April 6th or Friday April 7th and we will help you unload those items to a good cause. All proceeds return to our community through scholarships and community projects. If you need help with larger items, please call Linda Orrick at 719-650-33433 or Diane Cooley at 903-467-6335 to make arrangements. Please do not leave donations at the County Service Barn any longer.

Have you thought of joining the POC Community Service Club? Now would be a great time to do so. We meet the 1st and 3rd Thursdays at the Community Center at 10:00 AM. Your skills will be valued whatever they may be and you will really enjoy the people you meet. Come check us out. We promise to make you feel welcome.

So, until next time, be safe, live simply, love openly, forgive generously and remember this quote by Margaret Moore, the educational pioneer and literacy advocate loved by teachers and parents everywhere, who said “Volunteering is the ultimate exercise in democracy. You vote in elections once a year, but when you volunteer, you vote everyday about the kind of community you want to live in.” Come cast a positive vote for a perfect POC.

Susan Braudaway was first in line for the opening of the new Dollar General in Port O’Connor, February 15.

Bob Wadley of Port O’Connor is General Manager over the 20 MidCoast area Dollar General stores, including the Port O’Connor store.
“I am excited to have opened this Dollar General in my home town,” Bob said. “My wife (Ruby Jane Stringo) grew up in Port O’Connor and we moved here nine years ago to retire. I just haven’t gotten around to retiring yet.”

Siggi Observatory
San Miguel Dueñas, Guatemala

I recently met with Dieter Erhard, proprietor of Seadrift’s Art Boat, who was anxious to tell me about his newest project in Guatemala: the country’s first observatory. The structure is located in the village of San Miguel Dueñas, near La Antiqua. The 30-foot diameter, 36’ tall structure will house telescopes and a microscope and projector – for seeing “the macro and micro world”, according to Dieter.

In addition to viewing the stars, visitors will be able to view the three nearby volcanos: Acatenango, Aqua, and Fuego (an active volcano). All are approximately 11,000 feet high, and with San Miguel Dueñas’ 4,500 ft. altitude, using a telescope, observers can get a “close up” view, without risking the very dangerous climb to the top.

The idea for an observatory was Dieter’s, but he commissioned artist Pepo Toledo to design it. Dieter was able to fund a large portion of the cost with the sale of his whale sculpture, which was unveiled last year in a VIP celebration at the German President’s castle.

The grand opening of the observatory will be held on April 23. Envisioned as a place for both learning and enjoyment, a great many visitors are expected to utilize it. Proceeds from admittance fees will go to help fund the Centro Madre Teresa, a facility for underprivileged children, that Dieter has been helping for several years. Starting as a food program, the children’s center has expanded to include a doctor, dentist and psychologist.

The observatory will be called Siggi Observatory, in honor of a deceased Rotary Club friend of Dieter’s who helped him with this mission to Guatemala. Siggi’s company, Lukas Co., is funding one-half of the cost of the observatory construction. The Lukas Co. manufactures “the jaws of life” and other rescue equipment.

While in Seadrift for a couple of weeks, Dieter will be doing maintenance on the Art Boat and visiting with friends, including his newest friends, Nasta and Freddy. He met the couple while at the airport passport check station and discovered, oddly enough, that they are not only from his home town of Erlangen, Germany, but they were traveling to Seadrift to attend their niece Sierra’s wedding to Donny Heath.

Dieter, Nasta, and Freddy, with their daughter (middle) Marion.

Hope High School will be having a Rummage Sale on April 7, to raise funds for graduation activities.

Rummage Sale Fund Raiser April 7, 2017

9:00 – 2:00

Hope High School 900 N Virginia (Auditorium) Port Lavaca