Community

The Soroptimist Club of Barry County has selected Ashley England as the 2023 Live Your Dreams Scholarship Winner. England is currently enrolled at Crowder College’s Cassville campus and has aspirations to earn her master’s degree and to one day become the CEO of a company.

30 YEARS AGO: This finale of the Shell Knob Chamber of Commerce fireworks display over Table Rock Lake Sunday evening lit the whole area. The Central Crossing Bridge is at the lower portion of the photo. Lights on the water are either from boat docks or boats that were in the area carrying spectators. The fantastic display, well executed, drew horn blowing approval from the vessels and shouts of applause from watchers on shore. While boat numbers were thought to be down this year, observers said spectator numbers completely choked traffic in the area for about 45 minutes after the display. Highway Patrol and Barry County sheriff’s department officers were at intersections for control purposes.

July 11, 1973 — The Emmanuel Baptist Church of Cassville this week announced acceptance of a call for a pastor of the church. Stanton W.

50 YEARS AGO: The Shell Knob girls softball team is dangerous with the bat when they step to the plate as many opponents either have or will find out this summer.

40 YEARS AGO: The Cassville Chamber of Commerce board got an idea of how big the proposed nativity scene characters will be and the color scheme to be used during their meeting Tuesday. Five C of C workers on the project are pictured here with an actual design of a wise man as one of 12 characters planned. On the left side are C of C president Jack Nickols, project chairman Cecilia Miller and Truman Baker. On the right are Jane Smith, the design committee and John Miller. Mrs. Miller said the actual- size character would be mounted on cardboard for display around the community. Construction, placing and lighting of the scene is scheduled in December in conjunction with the Cassville Christmas parade. Democrat file photo

40 YEARS AGO: Each year about this time, the Cassville Democrat features a Barry County dairy farm family on the front page in a salute to June Dairy Month. This year’s representatives of an important part of the area’s economy are Mr. and Mrs. Lynn Dilbeck and family of the Wheaton community. Included in the family portrait is the dairy barn during the milking process are Rusty, 8, Brad, 11, Lori, 16 and Lynn and Donna Dilbeck. Their 60-cow herd is supported by a 220 acre farming operation. The native Barry County family has been in the dairy business 17 years.

— 30 YEARS AGO: In recent years at least, this year's strawberry crop is one of the best, according to Dennis Epperly of near Cassville. He termed the quality and yield off his patch about the best in the past 10 years." Epperly said he suspects there are less than six total acres of berries in Barry County this vear. Years ago, there were hundreds of acres and berries were shipped out of several associations by the carload. Epperly's patch is in the Corinth community and is mainly devoted to U-pick operations. As he holds a display sample of berries, individuals picking for their own supply are pictured in the background. The Epperly patch is about an acre in size and is yielding good according to the grower. For the strawberry shortcake lover, the unfortunate part of the season, it's too short!

40 YEARS AGO: It’s official, the Cassville Chamber of Commerce’s doors are open at Sixth and Main in the PACE building. Signing the location was completed Monday by Gary and Kenneth Corn. As the sign says, the C Of C location is also a visitor center in the new location to provide a source of local information for tourists and locals alike. The center will also be the meeting location for a rumber of civic groups that are offsprings of the C of C. Secretary Sonia Chasteen said open house activities at the new offices will be observed in the near future when moving, relocation of materials and furnishings are complete.