By Judith Pannebaker

By the number of vehicles parked up and down FM 1283 all day - and well into the night of Saturday, Sept. 27 - the 28th incarnation of the Medina Lake Cajun Festival

By Stephanie Parker

Business partners Trini Fernandez and Alice Bailey call their shop at 907 11th Street (behind Super S, but it’s a one-way street, so take Mulberry to get there) Bit of Mexico, but the little shop has a lot more to offer.

Contributed

Pipe Creek brothers Winston Lopez, 13, and Chance Lopez, 9, pose with their parents Noel and Cathy Lopez, and sisters Alexandra and Dakota, after winning trophy buckles in junior bull riding

Exclusive to the Courier

When asked to help, the citizens of Medina come out in force.

Contributed

Hill Country Alpacas of Medina, 858 Moffett Road, participated in the second annual National Alpaca Farm Day on Saturday, Sept. 27.

Contributed

The annual Bandera High School homecoming parade will begin at 6 pm on Monday, Oct. 6. Parade line-up will begin at 5 pm in the parking lot of Bandera Middle School. A $15 entry fee must be paid in advance.

By Judith Pannebaker

Glancing around her chic western boutique, The Gunslinger, proprietor Melissa Benge said, “This is what I was meant to do. My mother always said I was born with beads and fringe on

By Stephanie Parker’

The fresh frozen seafood at Sheila’s Seafood Market on Polly Peak Road is so fresh that customers exclaim over it with joy - and even more so when owner Sheila Montes cooks samples for customers.

Contributed

Volunteers from the Medina Rose Garden Club, the Medina Community Library and Orchard Park of Medina put on their work duds Saturday, Sept. 17, and spruced up the gardens of the local library on Highway 16 North.

By Sandra Vannatte

The homecoming events in Medina scheduled for Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 have stirred remembrances for Terry Stokes, a 1939 graduate of Medina High School, who now lives in Dewey, Arizona.

By James Henry Frazar

Perennial contestant and - more importantly - perennial winner, Sonny Bade of San Antonio took trophies for showmanship and first-place seafood gumbo at the Medina Lake Cajun Festival’s

By Susan Tefft

We all feel it - high gas prices, market woes, bailouts and each political party blaming the other. We still have billions of dollars going out each month for a war none of us wanted that led to many lives and families forever ravaged.

Contributed

Eight-month-old twins Reese and Sydnee McDonald of San Antonio fairly faded into the colorful fall background last weekend at the Great Hill Country Pumpkin Patch in Medina.

Special to the Courier

The Bandera Honors Veterans committee is hard at work preparing for the fourth annual Veterans Day event slated for Saturday, Nov. 8, at the Bandera County Courthouse complex.

Contributed

Lola Klare Ninneman was born on August 14, 2008, at 2:22 pm at Christa Santa Rosa of New Braunfels. She weighed in at six pounds and 15 ounces and was 19 inches long.

By Dean Anderson

A Rodeo Cowboy Alumni Reunion is slated for 11 am until 4 pm, Saturday, October 18, in one of the meeting rooms at Skyline RV Park, SH 16 North.

By Judith Pannebaker

Nearly everyone is familiar with a determined Uncle Sam intoning “I want you” - an image designed to induce young men to sign up for the United States Army during “the War to End All Wars.”

By Judith Pannebaker & St

On the 10 pm news out of San Antonio on Tuesday, Oct. 7, Texas’ newly designated National Night Out, a woman in a crime-ridden neighborhood would not let her grandchildren attend a neighborhoo

By Stephanie Parker’

The sign identifies the building on PR 37 as Arandas Jalisco Mexican Restaurant. The menu makes a complete statement, “Authentic Mexican Cuisine - Welcome to our table.”

by Judith Pannebaker

The first sign of autumn in Bandera County is not the temperature plummeting to the low- to mid-80s or dried leaves crunching underfoot. It’s the arrival of the Great Hill County Pumpkin Patch.

By Judith Pannebaker

With the recent financial meltdown, people are naturally looking to stretch their dollars and cents - and have some fun while they’re pinching those pennies in precarious fiscal times.

by Sandy Vannatter

To help some of us younger Medina graduates to get a better perspective of how “it used to be,” Terry Stokes, Class of 1939, has written some of his memories in a letter.

By Stephanie Parker’

Tarpley rancher Jacob Elzie Dean, 94-plus, said that he has never made any money ranching, but the hard work involved in ranching has given him a long life

Contributed

For over four decades, Utopia has celebrated fall fairs - with the 43rd version of the Utopia Arts and Crafts Fall Fair taking place from 9 am to 4 pm, Saturday, Nov. 1,

Special to the Courier

Cowboy pomp and circumstance, as well as fun western activities, surrounded a Sept. 20 Western Trail marker dedication in Val Marie, Saskatchewan,

Contributed

The Hill Country Turners and The Majestic Ranch Arts Foundation will host a demonstration and hands-on workshop featuring Jamie Donaldson,

By Judith Pannebaker

The Bandera Riverside Players will hit the boards again performing a light-hearted romance with serious overtones. The play begins at 8 pm, Saturday, Oct. 18, in the Great Room of the Silver Sage Corral Senior Activity Cente

Contributed

The congregation of the Utopia Baptist Church celebrated the 91st birthday of Leslie Mazurek with cake and punch Sunday, Oct. 5.

By Stephanie Parker’

The Medina community will celebrate this year’s Medina High School Class Reunion on Saturday, Nov. 1, beginning with a 10 am parade. Classes honored this year include 1929, 1939, 1949, 1959, 1969, 1979, 1989 and 1999.

By Stephanie Parker’

For more than two years, Medina Hay and Feed has provided home grown hay and affordable, high quality feeds to customers in Medina. A Bandera location has now opened at 243 Highway 173 behind True Value Hardware.

by Sandra Vannatter

Homecoming activities will begin on Friday, Oct. 31, with the coronation of the homecoming king and queen before the football game.

By Medina Mikie

Back in the early ‘50s, it was not proper for a young lady to been seen in public in anything other than a dress, hose and matching pumps.

Contributed

Shawn and Shantay Lewis of Odessa proudly announce the birth of their son, Shawn David Lewis Jr. Shawn arrived on Friday, August 22, weighing 6 pounds, 7 ounces and was 19 7/8-inches long

Contributed

Jody and Terry Patrick of Bandera are proud to announce the engagement of their daughter, Shannon Michelle Patrick, to Joshua Clint Gilreath, son of Melissa Keith and Buddy Gilreath of Jonesborough, Tennessee.

Contributed

Kerrville’s Schreiner University held a ground blessing Thursday, Oct. 16, for a new freshman residence slated for completion the time the class of 2013 arrives next fall.

Special to the Courier

Featured artist for the 43rd annual Utopia Arts and Crafts Fall Fair, set for 9 am to 4 pm, Saturday, Nov. 1, is Melba Faires, who specializes in stained glass creations.

Contributed

Members of the Bandera FFA achieved several key accomplishments at recent shows and fairs.

By Judith Pannebaker

To Bandera’s businesses, the revin’ of motorcycle engines is the sound of money. The local economy always receives a boost when bikers come to town.

Contributed

Bikers Against Child Abuse (BACA) is currently developing a chapter in the Texas Hill Country.

By Stephanie Parker and J

None of the Halloween-type books at the Bandera County Public Library fully explain successful ghost hunting.

By Jana Osbourn & Warren

Lakehills 4-H Club President Sara Zavorka, an eight-year member of the club, received 4-H’s highest award - the Gold Star - at the District 10 4-H Honors Banquet Saturday, Oct. 18, at Southwest Texas Junior College in Uvalde.

By Stephanie Parker

Glenna Dethrow and daughter Melisa Checkovage came up with a winning idea for bringing Thanksgiving pies to the table and putting Christmas gifts under wraps in the closet in one stop. They opened The Upper Crust.

Contributed

The Bandera Independent School District Education Foundation awarded six grants to teachers from all four Bandera ISD campuses.

By Stephanie Parker

Medina Community Library Director Randy Solis and his staff transformed an idea into a popularity-winning event for both parents and children in Medina, “Kids Vote 2008.”

By Judith Pannebaker

This year’s Great Hill County Pumpkin Patch, sponsored annually by Medina’s Love Creek Orchard, is just a memory - but a great one for the boys and girls who shared in the annual harvest fest.

By Judith Pannebaker

There’s no denying, each year the Medina Volunteer Fire Department game dinner fundraiser - traditionally scheduled during Hunters Opening Weekend - gets bigger and better.

By Medina Mike

There was dancing in the street Saturday, Oct. 25, at Mulberry’s Wine Bar during the first annual Oktoberfest celebration. The Tuba Miesters gave it their all with traditional German songs, bier and wine flowed and another party was on.

Contributed

Director Roslyn Houghton recently announced the fall production for the Bandera High School theatre students would be the Disney classic, “Aladdin Jr.”