August 21: Jackie Luker; Brandie Baird; Brittney Collins

August 22: Ted Brown; Ryan Hammerly

August 23: Tim Sandoval

August 24: Lloyd Alford

August 26: George Harper

August 27: Rocky Harper

August 28: Dillon Hobbs

August 29: Robert Hanson Jr.; Dian Thomasson; Katy Mitchell; Gary Crone Jr.; Ryan Brown; Martha Hartado; Jessica Stringo

August 30: Robert Maxwell

September 1: Esther Caddell

Sept. 3: Vicki Collazo; Kathryn Stringo

Sept. 4: Margaret Emrick; Marie Harper

Sept. 5: Lisa Stringo

Sept. 6: John J. Shannon; Marcia Storenski; Pat Ekstrom; Monica McClung

Sept. 7: John Perry

Sept. 9: Helen Neil; Roni Ragusin; Marty McDonough

Sept. 10: Jan Taylor; C.C. Collins; Roxie Stringo

Sept. 11: Kevin Coleman; Dwayne Anderson

Sept. 12: Charlie Johnson

Sept. 13: Gary Gilliam; Bell Allen; Linda Tipett; Alyssa Ragusin; Chezanne Covarrubias; Joanne Mueller

Sept. 14: David Junek; Sandra Orma

Sept. 15: Brandi Hall

Sept. 16: Walker Hawes; Jacob Johnson

Sept. 17: Leah Marie Lucey; Candace Y. Gaines

Sept. 18: John Tyson; Evelyn Lewis; Everado Castro

Mon., Aug. 24    First Day of School (Calhoun County)

Tues., Aug. 25    Retirement Luncheon for Johnny Johnson 11:30-1:00    Port O’Connor Community Center

Fri., Aug. 28    “Back to School” Friday Night Youth 7:00-10:00 pm    Fisherman’s Chapel, Port O’Connor

Sat., Aug. 29    Hot Diggity Dog at King Fisher Beach 11:30 – 1:30    Free Hot Dogs & Watermelon!

Thurs., Sept. 3    POC Service Club 10:00 am    Port O’Connor Community Center

Sept. 4 & 5    Flip Flop Festival Port Lavaca Bayfront Peninsula

Mon., Sept. 7    Labor Day

Mon., Sept. 7    Calhoun County Republican Club Noon  Bejing Buffet, Port Lavaca

Tues., Sept. 1    Seadrift City Council 7:00 pm    Seadrift City Hall

Sat., Sept. 12    Girl Scouts Open House/Registration 9:00-2:00 573-6451; 104 W. River, Victoria

Mon., Sept. 14    Port O’Connor Chamber of Commerce 6:30 pm  Port O’Connor Community Center

Thurs., Sept. 17    POC Service Club 10:00 am  Port O’Connor Community Center

Sat., Sept. 19    Dinner with Texas Authors 6:00-9:00  The Sanctuary; tickets at POC Bank & Treasure Chest

Sat., Sept. 26    Adopt-A-Beach Fall Cleanup 8:30 am-Noon    www.texasadoptabeach.org
AA meets each Saturday night at 7 p.m. at First Baptist Church in Port O’Connor.
POC Lions Club meets the second Wednesday of each month, 4:00 p.m. at Port O’Connor First National Bank
Seadrift Chamber of Commerce meets the third Thursday of each month, 6:00 p.m. at First National Bank meeting room, Seadrift
Commissioner’s Court meets the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month at 10 a.m., 1st Floor of the Court House, Port Lavaca.
Crossroads Astronomy Club meets at 7:00 p.m., third Mondays, at U of H, Victoria, Room 223 info: wes81461@yahoo.com 935-2016
Calhoun County Quilt Guild meets the first Wednesday of each month at 9:30 a.m. at the Fairgrounds Exhibit Building.
Calhoun County Democratic Club meets the last Thursday of the month at IBC Bank, Port Lavaca, at 5:30 p.m.
CASA (Christians Against Substance Abuse) meets each Thursday from 7-8 p.m. Call 361-652-7451 for meeting place.
First Baptist Youth Group (Port O’Connor) meets every Wednesday night from 6:00-7:00 p.m. Grades 6th – 12th; Team Kids Grades 1-5
Port O’Connor Cemetery Association meets 3rd Thursday of each month at POC Community Center
Ladies Bible & Book Study is held every Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. at First Baptist Church Fellowship Hall in Port O’Connor
VFW Post 4403 meets first Tuesday of each month. 552-3886 Open Mon-Friday; Closed Weekends R. Guitierrez 210-872-1198

King Fisher Beach in Port O’Connor – Saturday, the 4th of July
Cars parked all down Washington Blvd. (on right in photo) -Photo by Bill Pitts

Again, I have to say this: I am totally blown away by the team that I have with me serving our community and our Chamber of Commerce, along with my great community and their support of all my efforts.

Thanks to Larry and Sharilyn Carroll for inviting Doug and me to watch the show from their home. As I sat on their upper deck and stared in awe at the beautiful fireworks that were bursting in the air, with some patriotic music in the background, I realized just how fortunate I am to be surrounded by such awesome people!

Early in the year we start planning for our Fireworks Celebration, getting letters and lists prepared to send out to collect the funds needed for this event to happen. Just to give you a rundown of all who make this show happen:

Donny Haynes makes the connection and orders the show for the next year. Darla Parker designed our letter for donations. Bill Tigrett and myself made sure all letters were sent out (along with the ladies that work for me that stuffed and sealed over 3,000 letters. Thank You, Diane Guzman, Carrie Rouse and Alyssa Roy.)

La June Pitonyak collected the mail and gave to the treasurer, Carolyn Garrison, who kept records of all the funds along with Bill Tigrett keeping a log of collections. This may seem like something I should not mention –however this is a huge job for all involved and for these folks, I am very thankful!

Let’s not forget Don and Sheryl Haynes and their setup crew—WELL I am not even going to think I could start with their efforts in this. But will say, “ What a wonderful show 2015 was and am looking forward to show 2016!”

THANKS to Sylvia Rodriguez and Darla Parker for putting the collection boxes out and keeping the monies collected from these boxes and put into the bank.
If you went to King Fisher Park, you would have seen what a great job Darla Parker did with organizing our vendors that were set up for the day. This lady has got a knack at getting this all in order and keeping things running smoothly.

Also, to Jullian Garcia and the County Crew for a awesome job of keeping the beach in order.

Last, to ALL that donated: This show would not happen without you! THANKS !

If you are a business owner please remember to thank these great folks for all the hard work and efforts that bring the tourism to you and make your business grow and prosper!
If you would like to get involved we would like to have you join this great Chamber Team!

Photo by Mike Hessong

It was a very special day in Port O’Connor, and we were bursting at the seams with guests and locals alike. Fireworks, firemen’s barbeque, fishing and fun were all in the mix.

Americans celebrate the birth of their independent nation in a big way. Still we should never lose sight of the cost of that independence. Each firecracker popped, every sparkler that twinkled and every rocket that flashed was the visual reminder of generations of sacrificial, selfless and giving free thinkers that made our current America so strong.

It is not just generations of soldiers who from the time of the Revolutionary War fought and died to achieve and preserve our freedom, but so much more. There are innumerable immigrant families, slaves, bond servants and individuals who gave up all for the hope of a dream. Many gave all but their very lives to build a dream that seemed beyond belief. Some made a huge success of their gamble, but more were simple people with humble dreams for a life of more. There are settlers and pioneers whose inexhaustible efforts to claim a sliver of dreamland for their own braved struggles they could not even imagine. Many of them found a dreamland was limited and required maximum effort, and yet they labored on. There are entrepreneurs, inventors, industrialists, inventors, capitalists, businessmen and women, rebels, reformists, radicals and revolutionaries who ;labored to build what sometimes only they could envision, and many received scant recompense for their efforts. Annals of Americans stood up, stood against, stood for and stood behind the change or growth or reform that laid claim to their lives and dreams. While we do not agree with them all, do not support every cause or effort, we have a duty to preserve and continue the core of that quintessential American dream. We are a land where on July 4th and every day we support and defend the right of Americans to be rugged individualists, free thinkers, reformers, mavericks, rebels and free spirits. Their history and legacy is impressive and awesome. So whether encouraging our children to set their own course, helping our community to map their own future, or even fighting to replot or reform a wrong turn in our society’s direction; we come from a long line of eccentrics, oddballs and individualists who dared to believe that one voice matters, one man’s effort counts, one woman can make a difference, and even a child can impact the future. So take time amid the potato salad and wet swimsuits, smoke bombs and bottle rockets to remember and pass on the living legacy that is America! Never lose sight of the fact that most of what makes us great, special, exceptional and extraordinary was strongly thought to be weird, wrong, peculiar, bizarre, uncanny, unpopular and abnormal by few or many at one or more points in history.  The real story of July 4th is in celebrating the amazing abnormal, the atypical awesomeness, the amazing anomalous that made America! Happy Independence Day!

Photo by Mike Hessong