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* National Guard celebration set July 2; annual banquet is June 9.
By Mack Spencer
Monitor-Herald
CALHOUN CITY - Plans are shaping up for this year's Ace Cannon Festival.
The sales booths are moving back to the Square this year, and vendors will start setting up about 7 a.m. on May 30.
Registration for the annual 5K Run-Walk will also begin at 7 a.m. on the grassed lot across from First Baptist and Lewis Memorial United Methodist churches.
Much food will be available as usual, with the Green Apron cooking team grilling, Sweet Potato Sweets offering its wares and funnel cakes making another appearance.
The Chamber will have an information booth on the Square. The Chamber's Green Committee will also have a booth, with reusable shopping bags on sale for $3 and information on recycling, energy conservation and other green issues.
Entertainment is scheduled to start at 10 p.m. and run all day. The evening concert series will start at 5 p.m. with the blues band Easy Money, followed by Loose Gravel at 6, Ace Cannon and Rare Blend at 7 and the return of Loose Gravel at 8.
Festival T-shirts are now available for $15 at City Hall and the Chamber of Commerce office.
* Also ahead for the Chamber is the annual banquet, which will be held June 9 at the Methodist Corner.
The keynote speaker will be Dr. John Poros, executive director of the Carl Small Town Center at Mississippi State University. The center specializes in regional planning and creating sustainable communities.
Tickets for the banquet are $10, available from the Chamber office or Chamber members. Tickets must be purchased by June 1.
* Jimmy Gage Dobbs updated the Chamber on plans for the National Guard sendoff event set for July 2.
amp"It will be on the football field, and it will open to everybody,amp" Dobbs said. amp"All of the Guard members and their families will be invited.amp"
Guard members and their family members will eat free. Other attendees will pay a small fee to help defray costs. The event is supposed to be informal, with a sack lunch and drink and a brief program.
The Readiness Group for the 223rd Engineering Battalion in Calhoun City, under the direction of Joy Gosa and Michelle Good, are also working to support the unit and the sendoff. T-shirts are being sold for $15 as a fundraiser for the group.
To honor the troops during their absence, all Calhoun Citizens are asked to wear red T-shirts on Friday.
The unit will actually deploy on July 17. The Bruce unit will not deploy with Calhoun City, but the Okolona detachment, among others, will.