Teachers, parents, grandparents and all others who interact with students, begin now to get your K-12 students ready to enter the 2026 Fish Art and Essay Competition sponsored by the Mississippi Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks and the Marine Foundation. The host site for the competition is the Bob Tyler Fish Hatchery Visitor Education Center.
For K-12, all entries must include an entry form and original artwork while grades 4-12 must include a creative writing submission. The deadline is Feb. 28 and all information, including the entry form, is at www.mdwfp.com/fishing-boating/wildlife-forever-art-and-essay-competition. Don’t forget, if you need access or help getting online, the Oakland Public Library is the place to go. The Oakland Public Library is open on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, plus some Saturdays. You can check their schedule on the Yalobusha County Library Facebook page or call the Library at 662-623-8651.
If you haven’t visited the Fish Hatchery Visitor Education Center, it is truly a great gem right here in our area. It is just off the Enid exit and has a wonderful 10,000 gallon aquarium that will entertain children and adults plus interactive exhibits where the children can row a boat and fish. They can feed the fish outside and learn as they do.
It was good news to learn that Billy White has been released from the hospital and is mending at home. Billy is known far and wide and helps many local folks with odd jobs.
Margaret Ross rode with her daughter, Janet Ross Caulder, to the Batesville Civic Center last week to take great-grandson Kash Mastrangelo to the Northwest District Livestock Show, where he showed four heifers. Kash, along with Emmett Brooks and Wyatt Vaughn, showed from Yalobusha County. Emmett is the grandson of Chamber board member Luanne Brooks.
Y’all need to get prepared for frigid weather and possible freezing rain and snow. While the timing might change, right now it’s predicted to move in on Friday and be in the low teens by Sunday morning. Take care of people, pets and water sources.
Oakland Mayor Stephanie Patterson and Alderwoman Marzet Bland were in Jackson this past week for the Mississippi Municipal League’s Winter Conference. While they were there, they made a stop at the Capitol where they visited with Sen. Ben Suber and Rep. Kevin Horan and discussed the legislative needs of Oakland. They also had an opportunity for an unscheduled visit and photo with Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann.
Sen. Suber serves as chair of the Senate Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, obviously a very important committee to the Oakland area with Cossar State Park here. He is also vice chair of Economic and Workforce Development and serves on numerous other committees. Rep. Horan is chair of the Judiciary B Committee and a member of several other committees. They have a lot of responsibility and work extremely hard to represent us.
Don’t forget to put Saturday, May 2, on your calendar for Oakland’s Yalo-Ribbon Festival. We have Danica Hart of Chapel Hart fame as our featured musical act. If you are interested in being a sponsor or vendor, contact Chamber Executive Director Sue Donohue Smith at execdir.oaklandarea chamber@gmail.com.
Please share your news with me at oakland areachamber@gmail.com or leave a message at 601-853-3942.
