News

The Wills Point Bluebird Festival will take flight again locally in just eight days, returning to the historic downtown brick streets April 22 for the 24^th consecutive year.  

Attractions for this year's festival will include arts and crafts vendors, the Bluebird Car Show, Bluebird Pageant, a food court, live music, carnival, games, train show and much, much more.

The annual carnival will once again be the lead-in for the Bluebird Festival, opening April 20 and running through April 23. The carnival will once again have rides and games for children of all ages, with wristbands expected to cost $20 April 20-22, and $15 for April 23 between noon-6 p.m.

On festival day, musical performers scheduled to perform include: the Acoustic Soundhounds taking the main stage at 10 a.m.; Chip Murrey and Texas Underground taking the stage at 12:30 p.m.; and the Ally Venable Band taking the stage at 3 p.m.

The city of Wills Point lost one of its most prominent and active citizens last week with the news that Irma Adele Wynne Monning had passed away in her home April 4 at the age of 90.

Adele was born and raised in Wills Point, eventually attending Hollins College and the University of Texas where she met her husband Ben Monning, Jr. After marrying at Russell Memorial United Methodist Church, the pair moved to Amarillo where Adele served in numerous civic and church organizations while raising a family.

The Monnings returned to Wills Point in 1970, bringing the same level of commitment to local organizations and efforts. Adele served as president of Bruce & Human Drug Company, became the first woman elected as the president of the Wills Point ISD Board of Trustees, and took an active role in organizations including the Wills Point Historical Society, Keep Wills Point Beautiful and Wills Point Bluebird Festival.

The Wills Point ISD held their latest monthly meeting on Tuesday night, scheduling a special called meeting to review the district’s energy savings plan and discussing ways to incentivize and fill hard to hire teaching positions.

District business opened with several student and staff recognition items, including presentations from sixth grade gifted and talented students on recently completed projects that focused on what the Wills Point of the future might look like.

Board members and meeting attendees commended the students on their creativity, before presenting the group with certificates of appreciation.

Members of the student advisory committee, consisting of juniors and seniors, were also recognized for providing input from the student body to the administration.

Son’rise service to be held at Melton Rock

A special Easter “Son”rise Service will be held at Melton Rock, Sunday, April 16. 

The McNeills are scheduled to perform at the service.  The McNeils are a “family with 10 children who all perform southern and country gospel, bluegrass and contemporary  music. The family is set to begin singing at 6 a.m.

The service will begin at 6:45 a.m.

“This will be the 22^nd annual service at the legendary local landmark, Melton Rock, and will be a service honoring the ministry, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and all denominations are welcome.

Stonepoint Church has scheduled its annual Community-Wide Easter Egg Hunt for Saturday, April 15from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at Lester Park. The event, which draws hundreds annually, has traditionally included thousands of eggs, bounce houses, face painting, cotton candy, hotdogs, drinks, special giveaways, and age graded egg hunts for infants thru 5th grades.

The church has also announced that for the second consecutive year that it will also host an Easter egg hunt in the Edgewood community the same day. The Edgewood Community-Wide Egg Hunt will take run from 2-4 p.m. at Heritage Park.

Two proclamations and a mass gathering permit application for an upcoming event were among the items approved by the Van Zandt County Commissioners Court March 28 during its regular session.

A proclamation proclaiming the month of April as Child Abuse and Neglect Awareness Month in Van Zandt County was unanimously approved by the commissioners.

The approval from the commissioners came following a presentation from VZC Child Welfare Board President Sandy Hilliard and the reading of the proclamation from VZC Judge Don Kirkpatrick.

The Wills Point High School Theatre Department put together a strong showing at the One-Act Play district competition with their performance of “The Crucible”, qualifying for bi-district competition in the process.

Awards presented to cast and crew members included: Billy Goss being named Best Actor at both the district and bi-district competition; Austin Durham being named an All-Star Cast Member at district; Hayden Duckworth being named Honorable Mention All-Star Cast at both district and bi-district; Alyssa Rasmus being named Honor Crew at district and bi-district’ and Kathryn Bell being named Honor Crew at district.

Wills Point ISD parents with elementary school children, identified as part of the free and reduced lunch program, were offered the opportunity to participate in the Samaritan’s Feet Project April 4.

Samaritan’s Feet partnered with the Walmart Distribution in Terrell to provide new socks and shoes for 291 WPISD students from Kindergarten through 6th grade.

The Samaritan’s Feet Project began in 2003 and provides shoes to children as the foundation to a spiritual and healthy life resulting in the advancement of education and economic opportunities. Organizers stated that “Children grow very fast and sometimes it is hard to keep up with the demands of their growing bodies.”

In recognition of Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Month in Van Zandt County, a candlelight vigil was held April 3 on the east side steps of the county courthouse in Canton.

VZC Child Welfare Board President Sandy Hilliard welcomed those in attendance and Word of Victory Pastor Mike Burns led in the opening prayer.

VZC Judge Don Kirkpatrick read a proclamation announcing that the month of April would be declared as Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Month in the county which was unanimously approved March 28 by the county commissioners court. Soloist Sandra Washington sang “Amazing Grace.”

Guest speakers Ashley Chaney and Isaac Delacerda were introduced by VZC District Attorney Chris Martin.

Chaney was in a long-time abusive relationship involving drugs, according to Martin. Child Protective Services were called and her daughter, Madison, age 8, was removed from the home.

The Wills Point Municipal Court has put a heavy emphasis on clearing outstanding warrants and monies owed throughout the new year. Those efforts began in earnest back in February with the WPMC once again participating in the Great Texas Warrant Roundup.

The roundup is an annual joint effort including more than 300 agencies and municipalities from around the state that helps to “target thousands of defendants with traffic, parking, city ordinance, penal code, and higher charge warrants from participating jurisdictions. The focus is to bring these individuals into compliance with court orders; there are multiple options that are available to do so.”

The local roundup effort was a huge success in 2017, resulting in 127 warrants being cleared and collections by the WPMC totaling $24,862.