This year’s event will open on Nov. 25 for weekends only, until Dec. 16 when it opens on a nightly basis until closing on Jan. 1, 2012.
This annual event is a partnership between the Wappapello Lions Club and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Wappapello Lake. With the help of local businesses, volunteers, churches and other organizations within the community, this year’s event will be bigger and better than ever.
Those wishing to take part in this year’s event by decorating a campsite are encouraged to contact the Wappapello Lake Project Office and register.
Campsites are free of charge and all electricity is free. Decorators can begin their work starting on Nov. 7, and are asked to have it completed by Nov. 25, at 5 p.m.
For those wishing to help in a different way, volunteers are sought to assist with placing lights and decorations up throughout the campground.
Hundreds of strands of lights are put up every year, in addition to many displays. Those wishing to assist will be provided with all needed tools and decorations.
Persons needing more information or have questions, please contact Park Rangers Andrew Jefferson or John Daves at the Wappapello Lake Project Office at 573-222-8562.
The Dexter Chamber of Commerce went to college Tuesday night!
Three Rivers College in Dexter hosted the monthly Chamber After Hours event Tuesday evening, with Chamber members seeing first-hand the new educational center in the community.
Guests were treated with hot dogs grilled by Center Coordinator Bill Hampton and were served soft drinks and chips by college staff. Three Rivers Vice President for Learning Dr. Wes Payne and his wife MaryBeth were also on hand to greet guests.
Hampton offered guided tours of the center, and pointed out that construction will begin this Saturday on the addition of a new science lab at the Dexter facility. The new lab will be ready for student use in January, when Three Rivers begins offering science classes at the center.
The Chamber After Hours is a monthly informal time for socializing, networking and learning more about the community.
Photo Above: Mary Worley chats with Dr. Wes Payne, Three Rivers College Vice President for Learning, at the Chamber After Hours event. (SMT photo by Annabeth Miller)
Spotted ... At Chamber After Hours
The tournament was held Saturday evening at the DHS Gym before a crowd ready for some action! Organizers said 12 teams signed up for the event, including teams of from businesses and groups in the community, a squad from Three Rivers College in Dexter, and from Briggs & Stratton in Poplar Bluff and other members of the community. A total of 12 teams participated in the tournament and four referees were in charge of the rules of the game.
The rules and game structure are much different than the images people may have from childhood. For the start of the game, 10 dodgeballs are placed at the centerline of a basketball court. Each team stands on opposite baselines, awaiting the start signal. Players then sprint to half court to get possession of the balls and start attacking the opposition. Once all players on one side are gone, the team left is awarded one point.
Winner of the championship were the “Dodgefathers” sponsored by First Midwest Bank. Second place were the “Top Guns,” with employees of the City of Dexter as squad members.
The Dodgeball tournament was the culmination of an exciting week of DHS Homecoming Week activities.
Among the nations of the world, Belarus is old – and yet young. With a history that dates back to the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Poland, Belarus emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union to become an independent republic.
A unique taste of the nation's historic European culture will be featured Thursday evening when the Belarus National Christian Choir will be in concert at Dexter’s First Baptist Church. The concert will begin at 6:30 p.m., and is free and open to the public.
The choir includes 28 vocalists and a string quartet and is in the middle of a concert tour throughout the south and mid-south. Rich Lee, minister of music at Dexter’s First Baptist Church, is travelling with the choir on its tour.
Lee says he first became acquainted with the musical group in 2007 when he was serving at a church near Kansas City. He has since made three trips to Belarus, gotten to know choir personnel, and is excited to bring the group to Dexter.
“It’s been an exciting trip,” Lee said in a telephone interview from Alabama on Monday evening. He’s driving one of the tour busses, and his son Joshua, age 12, is along on the journey and helping his dad and the choir.
“I know the choir and they know me. They are all so genuine and humble,” Lee said. Most choir members, he said, do not speak fluent English. Along the journey, choir members are staying in homes of local residents, getting to better know American culture.
Lee says Christianity is just beginning to emerge from the days of Soviet communism.
“There were no churches in Belarus except the Russian Orthodox Church during the Soviet days,” Lee said. He said following the emergence of Belarus as an independent country, church groups and denominations in America began to assist the fledgling Christian community in the country.
“Missouri Baptists took an active role in helping,” he said. Even today though, he said that there are only approximately 200 non-orthodox churches for a country with a population of 9.6 million people.
“Christianity as we know Christianity is still looked upon by many as a cult,” he said. "Many feel that God must be like the Soviet rulers to which they are accustomed; that God must rule with 'an iron fist' instead of being a loving God."
Thursday's concert will include a variety of selections, including a few hymns that the choir sings in English.
“The concert will be mostly in Russian with some religious and some (Belarus) folk music,” he said. The group is accompanied on several selections by a string quartet.
Lee said that earlier this fall, he taught the Dexter First Baptist Church choir two numbers in Russian, and they will join the Belarusian guests for two numbers in Thursday’s concert.
Formed in 1986, the choir has performed in Eastern Europe, France, Germany and Russia and is currently making its fifth tour to the United States. Nickolay Lamako, dean of music at Minsk Seminary, is the founder and conductor of the choir. An offering will be taken at the end of the performance.
