Bangs Mayfest is set to kick off on Friday, May 3rd at Bangs City Park and with other events throughout the area.  The weekend will be full of fun featuring live music, car show, talent show, BBQ cook-off, citywide garage sales, and lots of good food.

There will also be entertainment for the children attending including pony rides, face painting, rock climbing wall, an inflatable boxing ring, bounce house, air slide and much more.

Saturday will feature the Mayfest parade and end with the Street Dance featuring Zack Edwards Band  and guest Four Barrel to benefit the Bangs Museum.

The 3M Company is working to help improve school safety by donating signs to area school districts.

They recently donated several signs to Bangs ISD recently that will be placed around the three campuses in the school district.  3M will also be donating signs to other districts in the county.

Brownwood Independent School District is one of three finalists for the Small District H-E-B Excellence in Education Award.  The H-E-B education awards are prestigious honors that recognize excellence in a variety of categories including, teachers, principals, school districts, and early childhood programs.

An article on the TASA (Texas Association of School Administrators) website supplied additional information regarding the district awards:

The district awards are broken into small and large district categories, with small districts defined as being 1A, 2A or 3A.  The three regional finalists in the small district category were awarded $2,500 each and the winner will receive a $50,000 cash prize. The finalists are:

Students of Brookesmith High School participated in District Academic UIL competition on March 25th in Cross Plains with two students received top placings.

Heather Allgood placed 6th in Accounting.  Shyan Seamans placed 3rd in accounting and 2nd in Social Studies.  Seamans went on to compete at regional competition.  Pictured top left are Allgood (left) and Seamans (right).

Teachers who coached these students this year were:  Science - Allie Schoen, Math - Sandra Lehman, Poetry and Literary Criticism - Amanda Crossley, Journalism - Amanda Van Allen, Prose - Priscilla Clement, Accounting - Cynthia Means, and Social Studies - Harold Greenfield.

Early Chamber of Commerce will host a City Wide Yard Sale on Saturday, May 4, 2013.  Yard sales throughout the city will be held at homes and businesses in Early.

Participants may host their own sale at their home or business or have one at a booth in the Heartland Mall parking lot.

The Early Chamber of Commerce will do the advertising for all the yard sales.  The Chamber will also hand out maps at the northern corner of the Heartland Mall parking lot, on the grass from 8:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m., listing all garage sales.

To participate in the City Wide Yard Sale, contact the Early Chamber of Commerce at 325-649-9317.  Deadline to sign up is May 2nd.

The 9th Annual Heart of Texas Quilt Show wrapped up on Sunday at the Brownwood Coliseum with over 120 entries of quilts in a variety of patterns, colors and sizes with entries from across the state.

Awards given on Friday included Early Mayor’s Choice of “Dallas Cowboys” pieced and quilted by Rosa Sanchez of Brownwood and HPU President’s Choice, “A Study in Perseverance” pieced and quilted by Carolyn Thomas of Clyde.

Saturday’s award winners (pictured below) included The Brownwood Mayor’s Choice of “Texas Friendships” quilted and pieced by Doris Rice of Brownwood, Guild Choice of “Baltimore Album” which was appliquéd and quilted by Joy Early of Bangs and Best of Show was this same quilt by Joy Early.

Other activities during the quilt show included a raffle of a donation quilt entitled “Stars across the States” and the “Old Fashion Bed Turning.” According to guild members, the donation design featured a star block for each state depicting that state's name and state flower.  The quilt top was pieced by members of the guild, layout design and quilting was done by Angela McCorkle.

Lake Brownwood Community Development Council in partnership with Brown County Water Improvement District's Lake Patrol held the Lakeshore Cleanup on Saturday, April 20th.

“Thank you to the Volunteers who showed up to help and to Republic Services for providing the dumpster,” said Lake Patrol Officer Troy Henderson  “The cleanup helped clear litter and debris from portions of the shoreline for a more enjoyable experience for everyone visiting Lake Brownwood this summer.”

The Early Chamber of Commerce will host an appreciation dinner Monday night honoring the Early Volunteer Firemen.

The dinner will be held at Prima Pasta Italian Restaurant from 6:30 PM to 8 PM on April 29th.  Cost is $22 per person and includes choice of 4 menu items, non-alcohol drink, dessert, tax and tip.

The public is encouraged to buy a fireman's dinner as well by contacting the Early Chamber office with details.

There will also be a live auction with Rex Tackett as auctioneer and a silent auction.  Entertainment will be provided by Ryan Contreras & Abe Cooper from the Early High School Band.

Call the Early Chamber to RSVP or for additional information at 325-649-9300.

There will be a special meeting for sixth-grade students and their parents at the cafeteria in Brownwood Middle School Tuesday, April 30th, at 6:00 p.m.

The purpose of the meeting is to supply students and parents with useful information as they prepare to make choices regarding 7th grade classes next year.