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With a major event such as the Fine Art Market, free admission is essential so anyone and everyone interested in fine art can attend the event.

Our top level sponsors have made a major commitment to the Fine Art Market this year and we want to acknowledge them publicly and say a big “Thank you!” for their generous support

City National Bank
607 S. Main St.
Winnsboro, TX
903-342-3791

Sunny 106.5
East Texas Radio Group
http://kooi.com/

The Keyring Gallery
107 Locust
Winnboro, TX
903-347-1218
http://keyringgallery.com/

The Links at Land’s End
285 Private Road 5980
Yantis, TX 75497
(903) 383-3290
www.golflakefork.com/

The Leaves of Winnsboro
404 N. Beech St.
Winnsboro, TX
(903) 473-3020 ext 2
www.burtonstarproperties.com/leaves/

As you're enjoying the wide variety of art this weekend, keep in mind that its these major sponsors who have provided significant support to make it happen!

Check out the new 2010 Winnsboro Dining & Entertainment Guide.

It's loaded with great information about our local restaurants and music venues.

Please note, some dates for events we updated after the publication went to press. For accurate event information, be sure to consult the Winnsboro Online Guide or the Weekend Planner.

If you haven't signed up for the Weekend Planner (free weekly emails to keep you up to date on upcoming events) and the monthly Guest Pass Offers, check the Home page where you can subscribe instantly.

For a small town, Winnsboro has an incredible selection of places to eat, from fast food to fine dining.

Plus, you can enjoy music in any number of locations every week.

They're baaackk. . .

The award-winning Quitman Community Theatre will present the second part of the Smoke on the Mountain musical trilogy, The Sanders Family Christmas. Performance dates are October 29, 30, 31 and November 5,6,7 at the Carroll Green Civic Center in Quitman.

Curtain times are 7:30pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and 2pm on Sundays. Set on December 24, 1941, seventeen days after Pearl Harbor and FDR's declaration of war, the play takes place in the Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

This will be the last "Saturday Night Sing" for the Sanders Family prior to the war forcing the group to disband. There are 28 standard Christmas carols and gospel songs that will be presented through the course of the play. Piano, guitar, string bass, autoharp, banjo, and other instruments will be used for all of the songs, along with the actors' wonderful singing harmony.

The first presentation of the Smoke on the Mountain trilogy two years ago was the highest-attended play in QCT's history, and it is expected that this Part 2 will break that record.
 
The cast members are Keith Haisten, Donna Henderson, Blake Durham, Hannah Graham, Tara Moore, Michael Phifer, Bob Hibbard, Ulna McWhorter, Ann Norris, Jeff Norris, Gordon Schulz, Ann Rutherford, Dalton Kratzmeyer, Kay McEntire, Elaine Quillman, Betty Stribley, and Charlotte Hollis.
 
The ladies of First Baptist Church, Quitman, will host an Opening Night Gala beginning at 6:45pm on Friday, October 29.
 
This production of The Sanders Family Christmas has been underwritten by Wood County National Bank.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for 12 and under.
For more information call Production Coordinator
Becky Hibbard at 903-967-2164.

By now you've probably heard all about the Winnsboro Merchants Shopping Cart Drill Team, which had its debut last month during 3rd Friday.

The video of the choreographed routine is still on Art & Espresso's facebook page.

This month the Drill Team will be performing at the Depot, Saturday at 2:00 pm and on Market Street at 5:30 pm.

In addition to having a lot of fun, the Drill Team will be collecting donations for the Winnsboro Community Resource Center/Centralized Food Pantry.  Expect to see them on Main Street gathering the donated food on Friday (not Saturday as previously reported).

According to Gus Gustafson, the Team will walk their loaded carts over to the Resource Center at 115 W. Broadway.

Non-perishable items are needed at the new Food Pantry:

• Canned juice
• Peanut butter/jellies
• Bread items
• Staples
• Mixed veggies
• Newborn baby cereals, etc.

You can bring your donation to either performance or drop it off at Art & Espresso ahead of time.

This is a wonderful way to have fun and help benefit local families.

Have a heart. Help fill a cart.

Last night during the-rain-that-wouldn't-stop, our lights started flickering. Typical behavior during a thunder storm, but not plain old rain. Even so, we disconnected our electronics, which is the regular drill when bad weather shows up.

But a funny thing started happening. Certain lights and wall plugs that weren't working suddenly went live. Rooms that were lit one minute were dark the next. The trouble seemed to rotate through the house in a strange, random pattern. Huh. Called our neighbors. No flickering there. Hmm.

It seemed like a mystery that might be normal in a haunted house. But this is a ranch house on Coke Rd. Come on!

So we called Eddie Pierce, owner of B&E Electric and explained the strange behavior of the lights and plugs. The microwave trying to pop corn while humming a new tone we'd never heard. The dead, then live, wall plugs. He gave us even more odd things to look for and, sure enough, those described our situation exactly. (Some lights getting insanely bright, for example.)

At 8 am this morning he was at our door and checked things out. Not the breaker box. Not the meter. Oh great. Please don't let the problem be underground. We called SWEPCO and, in the absence of other urgent calls, "Big Ed" Hawley rolled up in a matter of minutes, a big "it's a great morning" smile on his face. Eddie explained what he'd already determined from his insepction.

By then the coffee was brewing and we watched Big Ed dig a big hole around the green box where our connections to the outside world reside. Pretty soon, two more guys arrived and the trio worked to get us reconnected. Eddie and Lew talked vintage cars.

Finally, Eddie had to go to his next customer. Shortly after that, the lights came on as the guys wrapped up the repair. We cheered. They told us the technical term for what caused the problem, but I think a rascally squirrel was the real culprit.

So why am I telling you all this?

People, like Eddie, operating service businesses in a small town like Winnsboro, treat you more like neighbors than customers. And, surprise, so do the service guys from big companies like SWEPCO. They want to make sure you can get your life back to normal as soon as possible. They approach the job like you're friends down the block, not a customer number in a database.

And that says a lot about them and SWEPCO. Thanks guys! The squirrels could take a lesson.

Hey cool cats and kittens, grab your Valentine and rock on down to the Carroll Greene Civic Center, in Quitman for Rock'n'Roll Romance. It's the Quitman Community Theatre's annual Valentine's dinner theater extravaganza.

Choose Friday Feb. 5 or Saturday, Feb 6 to rewind to the 50's and savor the popular teen love songs still tucked away in your memory, plus other oldies. Dinner starts at 6:30 pm prior to each performance, and is catered by none other than the Texas Tea Room.

Scheduled a week before Valentine's Day, it's a fun and romantic way to get that lovin' feeling early. Expect to be dazzled. The QTC talent pool is exceptional. Their performances typically blend some serious bits, along with some hilarious antics.

In case you missed my recent post about the "Best of..." awards, QCT captured the Best Community Theatre award for 2009, as announced in the January edition of County Line Magazine. It's no accident. Bob and Becky Hibbard, along with a loyal band of singers/actors/musicians, have raised the bar for community theater in East Texas.

This fundraising event is produced in cooperation with the Quitman Rotary Club. Tickets are $20 each. You can buy tickets at Bank Texas and Wood County National, both Quitman and Mineola branches. Or, you can call Becky Hibbard at 903-967-2164. Please note, seating is open unless you reserve an entire table for 12.

Becky said you can wear regular clothes or. . . whip together a 50s look or dig out the vintage clothes you simply couldn't part with. Go ahead, guys, wear that varsity jacket and relive those high school glory days for a few hours. (We promise not to notice it "shrank" since the last time you wore it!) And gals, feel free to wear your poodle skirt.

Quick tip: Last year's Valentine's dinner and performance was a sell out, so make your reservations early.