Janice Kaelin Bell of Port O’Connor and Joshua James Escobar of Port Lavaca were married Saturday, October 3, at two o’clock in the afternoon at Fisherman’s Chapel. Rev. Erny McDonough officiated. Rev. Jesse Alderete provided the music.

The bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edmond Tausch IV of Port O’Connor. She is the granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ted Brown of Bandera, Ms. Kay Gant and the late Mr. Leroy Gant of Kyle, and Mr. and Mrs. Edmond Tausch III of Smithville. Great-grandmothers Ms. Gladys Meuth of Rosanky and Ms. Janice Bell of Phoenix, Arizona were also in attendance.

The groom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Escobar of Port Lavaca. He is the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Gerardo Escobar of Port Lavaca, Ms. Maria Kingston of Brownsville, and Mr. Felix Rodriguez of Waco.

John Rivera of Port Lavaca was the best man. Groomsmen were Zack Sneider, Jon Tausch and Derek Tausch, all of Port O’Connor. Ushers were Kyle Faupel of Buda, Ben Mann of Huntsville, Logan Mann of Kyle, and Frank Vallejo of Luling.

Corissa Rivera of Port Lavaca was matron of honor. Bridesmaids were Hannah Casey of Port O’Connor, Angel Vallejo of Luling, and Corie Vallejo also of Luling.

Serenity Coen and Journey Coen, both of Port Lavaca, carried the rings in beautiful silver rose ringboxes. Geneva Brown and Anamika Brown, both of Port O’Connor, were flower girls.

The bride was escorted by her father. She was elegant in her taffeta low waist, side draped gown with a lace halter neckline and sweep train. Her ivory chiffon fingertip-length veil was attached to a comb with ivory, pear and bead adornments.

Following the ceremony, the bride’s parents entertained at a reception at the Heritage Center in Port Lavaca.

Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Vallejo and Mr. and Mrs. James Vallejo, aunts and uncles of the bride, provided a rehearsal dinner at the home of the bride’s parents.

The bride’s aunt, Michelle Brown, acted as photographer. Cindy Bowles and Kay Gant made the cakes and all of the floral arrangements.

The couple is making their home in Port O’Connor. They wish to thank everyone who joined them to celebrate their marriage. A special thanks to all who volunteered their time in preparation for this special day.

Ribbon Cutting at Salt Blossom

“IT’S THAT TIME AGAIN”

Dear 2015 Members of the Port O’Connor Chamber of Commerce:
In December of this year the Chamber will be electing several new members to our Board of Directors. There will be 5 positions open for nomination. Terms are for 2 years. If you are someone whose experiences and involvement would be an asset to our organization, we hope you will consider becoming a nominee.

The Chamber is entering a challenging and exciting time, as economic pressures in our community increase and the demand for our services continue to rise. If you have any questions or would like your name added to ballot, contact Donnie Klesel at dk@pocrods.com. Also it would be wonderful if you could come to the November meeting, get acquainted and meet everyone and become involved in the community.

It’s not too early to start thinking about the Annual Lighted Boat Parade. This, along with the Toy Run, has become a spectacular event of the year. So start planning on how you want to decorate your boat entry. We are looking forward to a fantastic parade.

If you missed the Ribbon Cutting for Salt Blossom, it was a great event. Thanks goes out to Beverly and Mike Clifton for the great reception. The shop is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10-6. Stop in and visit and check out their inventory.

Our November meeting will be on Monday, the 9th, at 6:30 p.m. at POC Community Center.

Welcome, New Members:
Britton & Susan Braudaway

The POC Community Locator Map is posted at Kingfisher Beach on the wall outside the restrooms facing the street. If you have not seen it yet stop by and take a look. We took the time to check out who was using the map on one beautiful day recently. Two women on a morning constitutional stopped by to see the ‘new picture of POC on the wall’ they had heard about. They seemed impressed with the map. A dad and his son dashed by on the way to kindergarten. The boy was indignant that there was no map spot in the location of his house pointed out by his dad, and no explanation would suffice for his outrage at the oversight. A fisherman from out of town stopped to investigate possible accommodations to extend his stay and left with a list in hand procured from ‘the map.’ A young lady jogged by and then returned to reference the map as she made plans to meet a friend later, and the map made being specific much easier she said. A northern couple who ‘snowbirds’ in POC braked excitedly when they saw the map and took a few minutes to review old haunts and discover possible new ones since their last time here. They were duly impressed with the ‘nice addition to front beach.’ A leisurely dog walker watered his pup just in front of the map and commented on how he liked it and had found things he did not know were in our town as he studied it on his daily route. Two neighbors waved as we sat and watched and one walked over to ask why we were there and inquire if we needed assistance. Once they knew our purpose they were on their way; with a quick ‘that map is a good thing. I like it across the street.’ So, nine people, four dogs, a few stray cats, golf carts, bikes, cars, 1 RV, 2 cycles, passing boats, barges, several birds including some nesting osprey and half a morning later, we decided the map was getting used and being appreciated. This is another Port O’Connor Service Club Community Service Project done well.

It is definitely Fall. so instead of the “British are coming” we cry “the Pumpkins are here.” I mean really here.  There is a huge pile of pumpkins as you walk into Walmart. They are about the Jack-o-lantern size, approximately twelve inches in diameter or slightly smaller.  More about that later.

It is an interesting thing to know that there are many Guinness record types of contests for who can grow the largest pumpkin. By large I mean really large. The current world’s record is something like 2,323 pounds from a pumpkin grown in Switzerland. The current USA record is a mere 2,058 pound monster grown in California.  Hey, I even watched a TV movie that was obviously old because the folks that grew that champion pumpkin only grew one something like 1,800 pounds.   This is not just for fun; contests pay something like $7 a pound for the champ.  You do the math – that’s big money. I would also make a huge Jack-o- lantern except the big ones are not round..

The history of pumpkins starts back around 6000 BC.  Probably before my great-grandad grew pumpkins.  It was in that Central America/ Mexico string of land linking North and South America. Naturally it moved north to the American Indians and spread.  It was then, and still is, an important seasonal food.  Even in this day and age Texas is the fourth biggest grower of commercial pumpkins in the United States.  Who would have thought?

Another popular pumpkin thing is that pumpkin spice latte.  It is a peculiarly big deal for fancy drink lovers.  Personally, I like Chai Tea Latte.  But that pumpkin stuff is popular all over.  I guess it is more popular with the ladies because there is a big article in a college newspaper that says if you joke about PSL you are sexist.  That seems a little extreme to me, but when I find myself shouting at the TV when my football team makes a boo-boo, I wonder who is listening. My wife leaves the room. Does that make her sexist or sensible?

Jack-o-lanterns came to us from Ireland by way of turnips.  It started a long time ago. This was before they knew about pumpkins.  In those days the Irish had turnips. They hollowed them out and put a little flame inside to use them as lanterns.  The story goes that there was this mean man named Jack who made a deal with the Devil, by trickery, to never be in hell and when he died he wasn’t allowed in heaven because he was so mean. With a little begging he got an ember from the devil and carved out his turnip and put in the ember. He wanders to this day using Jack’s Lantern.

When the Irish immigrated to the USA and found out about pumpkins, they immediate saw that they were easier to hollow out and put in a candle.  So the pumpkin Jack-o-lantern was born. Naturally, it is used mostly on Halloween.

The 7th Annual Chili & Gumbo Cookoff set for Saturday, October 24, 2015 will take place at Hooper’s Bar & Grill, Jim Hooper’s new place of business, located on 2441 West Maple Street here in Port O’Connor and facing the Intracoastal WaterWay.

Hoop every year has offered his place of business to many outstanding cooks of our area and other hopeful ones to compete in this event by preparing their favorite recipes for either chili or gumbo on a Saturday in late October.

This year at his new location fronting the Intracoastal will be another array of hopeful chefs present to show off their skills and their many recipes for judging by an impartial group of taste testers. Luckily, this year the cooks will have the comfort of an overhead roof to keep them dry in case of inclement weather. But there will also be a grassy area for the overflow number of chefs to set up their equipment.

Returning to uphold their winner’s title will be Dee & Kyle Woodruff for their prize winning dish of shrimp and crab and fish gumbo delicately seasoned with Dee’s file, and what a delight that was. And also present will be the Coastal Cookers with an emphatically tasted chili. And we expect many former winners from past years to return once again to compete and hopefully reclaim their prior awards.

A silent auction is on tap to will follow the judging at a later time, which will give those judges some extra minutes to unseason their tongues from all that mouth watering chili. And one can expect a large display of statues and art work and other delightful items to bid on.

Hoop has made several organizations the recipient of the monies generated by this event during the past several years. Last year’s recipient was the building fund for our proposed new library, which is extremely grateful for that check. This year again, Friends of the Port O’Connor Library will be the recipient of the proceeds.

Do make plans NOW to either participate in this fun filled activity or to just be there to walk around and see what’s cookin’. I know once again I’ll be there as usual to cover this event for our paper, take pictures of the participants and winners, and do a little sampling too!

For entry, information, or for contributions to the silent auction, please contact Ginnie Lichac at 361.746.4544, lichacz@tisd.net; Jim Hooper, 361.983.4249, hooper@hjpoc.com; or Pam Ray, 361.983.2088, pamray@tisd.net