Independence Day Celebration is This Saturday, July 2

Sunny Sweeney is this year's headliner at the free concert and street dance.

Final preparations are underway for Saturday’s big July 4th Celebration, and the event’s organizers are planning another big day to remember.

It will begin with the Lions Club Pancake Breakfast at 8 o'clock, followed by the parade down Broadway at ten o’clock. Then comes the Plowboy Mudbog at George Parks Field, with the gates opening at eleven and the event beginning at twelve.

In the afternoon, street vendors will be open and selling food and other wares along Broadway, Cypress, and Old Town Park, and the Roscoe Historical Museum will be open for visitors.

The Roscoe Express will be available to shuttle people free of charge between downtown and the Plowboy Mudbog during the afternoon.

Music will begin “on the bricks” of Cypress next to the bank at four o’clock with Kris Gordon, followed at six by American Aquarium. Then at eight, Nashville singing star Sunny Sweeney will entertain the crowd, followed by the ever popular fireworks show, which this year will include a special appearance by Texas Tech’s Masked Rider.

Here are more details about the various events of the day:

THE PANCAKE BREAKFAST

The Lions Club Pancake Breakfast will start at 8am and end at 10am before the start of the parade. Pancakes, bacon, sausage, coffee, and juice will be served for $5/plate in the empty building next to the former Smacker’s Café on Broadway. All proceeds from the ticket sales and breakfast will be used to support the Roscoe Lions Club charitable activities for the year.

THE PARADE

Parade organizers invite your participation.  They are looking for creativity and variety.  Prizes will be awarded for best bicycle, motorcycle, antique car, semi, western, most patriotic, and overall best float. Items in the prize bags will be donated by local businesses. The parade will start at 10:00am.  Line-up will be on Broadway at 9:30, and judging will be at 9:45.

For more information, call Valerie Pruitt at 325-338-4666.

THE PLOWBOY MUDBOG

A new class of vehicles at the Plowboy Mudbog this year is sure to bring excitement—vehicles with tractor wheels! As always, mudboggers will be coming in from as far away as Hobbs, NM, the Panhandle, and several area towns to try their vehicles in Roscoe’s blackland mud, so competition will be fierce.

Registration for entrants begins at 9:30am Saturday morning at the northwest corner of the baseball field at Second and Sycamore Streets.  The driver entry fee is $30.

Entries will be in six classes:

1.    Street: 35” tires and under with limited engine modification
2.    Super Street: 35” with engine vac under 13”
3.    Modified: 36” to 39” with limited engine modification
4.    Super Modified: 36” to 39” with engine vac under 13”
5.    Open: 40” and over.
6.    Tractor Wheels    

Since there’s an advantage in going last rather than first, each mud vehicle makes two runs, with the second run in reverse order from the first. Street and Super Street classes will do both their runs first, and then the rest of the classes will follow in order.

The public gate will open at 11:00am with the mudbog beginning at noon.  Admission is $5 for adults (17 and older) and $3 for kids (11-17), with free admission for children (10 and under).  Proceeds will benefit the Roscoe baseball little league. The Little League will also run the concession booth.

Time permittting, there will also be a Plowboy Mudbog “Dash for Cash,” an entertaining event featuring kids running through knee-deep mud.

Spectators are encouraged to bring sun block, mosquito repellent, canopy, and lawn chairs. For more information, see the Plowboy Mudbog Facebook page, or contact Felix Pantoja at 325-514-8384.

THE FREE CONCERT AND STREET DANCE

The music stage will be set up on Cypress Street downtown between the Roscoe State Bank and Old Town Park.

Kris Gordon will begin the live music at around 4:00pm. He is a Texas Country singer originally from Friona in the Panhandle but now based in Austin. The first song of his recently released album, Don’t Let Go Tonight, is “The Upside of Down,” which has made the Texas Regional Radio and the Texas Music charts.

He will be followed at six o’clock by American Aquarium, an alternative country band from Raleigh, NC. Of the seven albums they’ve released since the band was formed in 2006, the best known is Burn. Flicker. Die. (2012). “Wolves” is the title track from their most recent album, Wolves (2014).

Then, at eight o’clock, this year’s headliner, Sunny Sweeney, will take the stage. Although she’s a Nashville star now, Sunny Sweeney is a native Texan singer and songwriter whose roots are in Texas honky-tonks. Her hard work and talent have put her songs on the Top Ten in national country music charts and got her nominated for Best New Female Vocalist at the 2013 Academy of Country Music Awards. She’s also a regular on the Grand Ole Opry, having appeared on that show over forty times.

Since the success of her albums, Heartbreaker’s Hall of Fame (2006) with its regional hit “If I Could” and Concrete (2010) with national hits “From a Table Away”—at the time the highest-charting single by a female country artist in four years, “Staying’s Worse Than Leaving,” and “Drink Myself Single,” she’s mellowed to the point that she’s now writing love songs like “Used Cars.” Her latest album, Provoked (2014), contains that song along with others that demonstrate her wide range of themes and styles.

She’ll be fun to watch, and you can bet this will be the only time you’ll ever get to see her in person for free.

The music will then be followed by the fireworks show.

FIREWORKS SHOW

The fireworks show, organized, as always, by City Councilman Robert McBride, will be a memorable event that fittingly tops off the day. The show begins at about 9:40pm and will be done at about ten o’clock. As mentioned above, this year’s show features a special “electronic” performance by Texas Tech’s Masked Rider.

Those who are still not done celebrating can then go to the Lumberyard, where there will be live music and dancing until 1:00am.

So, if you're in the area, make plans to attend, bring lawn chairs and coolers, and help us celebrate the country’s independence on Saturday!

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LUMBERYARD KICKS OFF JULY 4th WEEKEND WITH JOSH ABBOTT, PHIL HAMILTON FRIDAY EVENING

The Josh Abbott Band

Roscoe will be rocking this weekend, and it all begins Friday evening when Phil Hamilton and Josh Abbott come to town. Phil Hamilton will kick off the show around 8:00pm and will be followed by Josh Abbott at around 9:45.

Phil Hamilton

Phil Hamilton’s single, “Hold on Tight,” from his latest CD, Live at the Whiskey Girl Saloon, recently hit the top ten in Texas Country. Hamilton, also known as Philthy, is well known in the Metroplex. His single, “Dirty Love,” received extensive radio play there. His debut CD was Nothing to Lose (2009), followed by Renegade Rock n Roll (2012), which yielded three hit singles, “Bad,” “Running,” and “Back of a ’73.”

The Josh Abbott Band, a popular group originally from Lubbock, was formed in 2006 and began touring in 2008. They released their first album, Scapegoat, in 2009 and followed it with She’s Like Texas in 2010. Their third album, Small Town Family Dream, was released in 2012, and their latest, Front Row Seat, is now giving the band some well-deserved national attention. Earlier this month they sang “Wasn’t That Drunk” on Jimmy Kimmel Live. The Band's singles also include “She’s Like Texas,” “Oh, Tonight,” (with Kacey Musgraves), and  “Touch.”

For reservations or more information, contact the Lumberyard at 325-766-2457.

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CITY POOL ANNOUNCES TUESDAY EVENING SWIMS

Starting next Tuesday, Roscoe’s City Swimming pool will be open on Tuesday evenings from 6:30 to 8:30pm for those who want to get in an evening swim.

For more information, contact Isabel Moore at 325-514-9416.

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WEATHER REPORT: HEAT, HUMIDITY, AND TWO MORE RAINS

The eastern sky on Sunday.

Temperatures were about five degrees less than average for this time of year, but it seemed hotter than that with mostly sunny skies and humidity of 50% or higher the entire week. We got two more rains, both fairly light here in town. The first was on Sunday morning, the second yesterday afternoon. The first rain started shortly before sunrise and lasted until nine or ten o’clock. It was little more than a heavy sprinkle. I got .16” and Kenny Landfried had an official .17” here in town, but west of town it was more like .3” or more. Then, yesterday afternoon’s shower amounted to only .12” at my house, but Kenny got .3”, and Allen Richburg reported 1.5” southwest of town. David Duncan, west of town, got .6". Even though these rains didn’t generally amount to that much, they were enough to frustrate farmers still trying to plant cotton.

The forecast for the coming week is for clear skies, south winds, a gradual increase in temperature, and continued high humidity of around 50%. There is no rain in the forecast.

The predicted high for Saturday, when Roscoe will be celebrating Independence Day, is 95°F, and the outlook for July 4th on Monday is the same. Lows will be in the low seventies until Saturday, when they will increase to 75° and 76°, where they will remain thereafter.

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† ROY K. HIGH

Funeral services were held at 4:00pm, Saturday, June 25, at Cate-Spencer & Trent Funeral Home Chapel for Roy K. High, 75, who passed away at his residence in Sweetwater on Thursday, June 23.  Burial followed at Sweetwater Cemetery.

Roy was born on August 13, 1940, in Elkhart, Texas, to Oscar Leroy and Ida Margarite (Lasiter) High. He married Lynda K. Gabler on January 16, 1960, in Roscoe. He retired in 2005 from Georgia Pacific after working for forty-one years in the gypsum wallboard industry. He was a member of Fourth & Elm Church of Christ in Sweetwater.

He is survived by his wife Lynda High of Sweetwater; sons, Randall High of  Loraine,  Russell High and wife Nancy of Sweetwater, and Henry High and wife Rachel of  Wolfforth, Texas; grandchildren, Kaitlyn Newton and husband Akeem, Chad Dillard and wife Amanda, and Chase Dillard; great-granddaughters, Shae Newton and Piper Dillard; and sisters, Marilyn Billard, Deborah Leach and Cathy Hurd.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Oscar & Margarite High, son, Jeffrey Scott High, sister, Barbara Sue Iverson, and brothers, C. J. High, Gary High, Mitchell High and Ricky High.

Pallbearers were Chad Dillard, Chase Dillard, Akeem Newton, Wayne Bryant, Bill Doggett, and Scott Whittenburg. Honorary pallbearers were Lester Batteas, James Holloman, Jerry Riggs, Wesley Harris, and Jim Henderson.

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