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WEIMAR – Fayette Savings Bank recently made a donation to the Weimar Independent School District and St. Michael School from its School Debit Card Program.

Left: The Incredible Knockouts made a $1,000 donation to the Turtle Wing Foundation. Pictured are Samuel MacDonald (IK), Edward Kozel (IK), Hannah Bartos (IK), Destiny Psencik (Turtle Wing), Lukas Bartos (IK), Callan MacDonald (IK), Daniel MacDonald (IK), Charlie Bartos (IK), Megan Bartos (IK). Right: Darlin’s Diner recently made a generous donation to Turtle Wing Foundation. The proceeds were raised from their third annual Muffins & Mufflers Event. Darlin’s Diner is a small-town diner and coffee shop, located off South Main in Flatonia, and is open daily. Turtle Wing Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with the mission of helping individuals with learning challenges in rural areas achieve their full potential. Pictured from left areTaylor Swenning, owner of Darlin’s Diner, and Destiny Psencik, executive director, Turtle Wing Foundation. Courtesy photos

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LA GRANGE – On Tuesday, May 23, the Colorado Valley Quilt Guild held their second Charity Quilt Workshop.

WEIMAR – If you have ever asked yourself in the last year if you would benefit from learning how to play chess, now is a good time to see.

COLUMBUS – The Colorado County Extension Office is hosting its “Sew” What 4-H Camp June 1416 at the Colorado County Sewing Lab, 316 Spring St. The camp is open to those age eight and older. Participants must register by June 7 to attend. The camp is from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Those interested in attending are asked to bring their lunch.

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COLUMBUS – The Colorado County Extension Office, 316 Spring St., is offering a series of leather making classes this summer starting June 19-20 and June 26-27.

The Weimar Public Library, 1 Jackson Square, launched their summer reading program last week with arts and crafts, movie days with free popcorn, story time on Thursdays at 10 a.m., and a discovery and adventure program schedule.

EAGLE LAKE – Registration for the Wintermann Library Summer Reading Program has opened! The program will take place on Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. The library said students must have a library card free of fines to participate.

ALLEYTON– The public is invited to attend a grand opening and ribbon cutting for Camp Oak Haven, formerly Gulf Coast Christian Youth Camp, at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 3 hosted by Orr Family Ministries and the Columbus Chamber of Commerce.

The Rice Raiders still have some sports action despite the arrival of the end of the school year. Rice athletics is in the midst of playing through the summer football schedule as the Raiders compete in the Rice League 7 on 7 football season. Starting on May 16, the Rice 7 on 7 team has already hosted three separate events and competed in a fourth as May comes to a close. Their season continues to pick up momentum as they continue to make their way through the schedule and vie for a chance to play in the state playoffs.

Dallas Avila is a graduating senior at Rice High School who competed at the State Special Olympics in San Antonio Texas on May 19 and 20, 2023 at the Hero’s Stadium. He competed in the 200-meter dash and received a silver medal. He also competed in the running long jump event, receiving a bronze medal for his efforts. This is his fifth year participating in the Special Olympics, but just his first time competing at a state level in Track & Field events. He is the first Rice student to compete at the state level in the Special Olympics.

The athletics programs of Columbus High School have been having strong seasons across the board as several different sports have boasted deep runs in the UIL State Playoffs for their respective competitions. With several appearances at a regional and state level during the spring sports season, the Cardinals have been moving up the ranks of the Texas Lone Star Cup. Columbus moved into the top five of all 3A Texas schools with 45 points, just one point behind the fourthplace team in the standings.

The alumni of Columbus have been making waves in the collegiate sphere as a pair of former Cardinal golfers contributed to some program history in the sport for Blinn College. Ty Thomas and Carson Wray are a pair of sophomores that made significant additions to their team’s effort at the NJCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship tournament as they helped the Buccaneers snare the eighth-place spot as a team in a 24-team field. After securing an at-large bid into the championship tournament, Blinn and their roster made up entirely of sophomores secured a top 10 finish, led by a top five individual placement by Thomas.

Colorado County will have a few of its baseball seniors recognized in an all-star game format as a pair of players earned spots on to the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association’s annual 2A-4A All-Star Game. Ironically, both players took the only shortstop positions available for the south all-star team as Brady Henke for Weimar and Ryan Lewis for Columbus each claimed their all-star spots after having stellar seasons for their respective teams. The two players each had impactful seasons from the plate and on the field playing shortstop as they helped lead their teams to postseason wins this season. While both the Cardinals and the Wildcats have completed play for the season, Lewis and Henke will return to action on June 18 when they travel to Round Rock to compete with the north allstars at noon. Dell Diamond Stadium will be the host as the seniors represent their high school teams for one final time in their career.

AUSTIN – The varsity golf team for Weimar had a strong performance at the boys’ state championship meet as the Wildcats came away with a top-10 effort as a team. Weimar reached State after an impressive outing at the regional level. The Wildcats, led by individual regional champ Hudson Ervin, played their way into first place and claimed the regional championship to earn their spot at the state-level meet. Another quality performance at State helped the Wildcats finish in ninth place as a team with several top individual scores as amongst the team well.

The Ladycat varsity softball team punched their ticket to the state semifinals after holding on for a hotly contested victory against fellow softball juggernauts and district rivals, the Shiner Lady Comanches. In a 3-game series that was as hotly contested and competitive as their regular season offerings, it was the Ladycats who took the advantage after finding just enough scoring to outplay their longtime rivals. The storylines were plentiful heading into this Regional Finals series. Both teams spent a majority of the season in the TGCA’s top 25 poll as Weimar entered the series as the third-best team and Shiner entered as the fourth-best team in the rankings. The two teams also split their matchups during the regular season as they finished first and second in the district standings.

On Wednesday, May 17, graduation exercises were held at St. Michael Catholic Church for the eighth-grade students of St. Michael Catholic School followed by a reception in the school cafeteria.

Wow! Wow! Wow! Happy Birthday, Columbus, and what a magnificent celebration and festival! From the powerful twelve-member Board of Directors, the dynamic duo in the Chamber office to the 200 volunteers that helped it run like a well-oiled machine, we can officially deem Magnolia Days Festival 2023 (MDF) a HUGE SUCCESS! It truly does take a village to pull off an event the magnitude of MDF.