The annual Moonlight Madness event will be held this upcoming Friday, November 9^th.  Moonlight Madness will be held in the Historic Downtown Dexter area, as many of the downtown businesses participate in the longer hours, but some businesses not included in that area are also participating.

During Moonlight Madness you may see many people walking up and down the downtown streets holding apple cider, hot chocolate, or some other goodies provided by the local businesses.

Many businesses participating in the event have sales on their merchandise and have chances for you to win prizes.

There will be a drawing at the conclusion of Moonlight Madness in which all the people who put their name in a bowl at the participating businesses will be entered for a chance to win many “Dexter Dollars.” Dexter Dollars can be spent at many businesses that participate.

A few of the businesses that will be open during Moonlight Madness are: Locust St. Flowers, Bella Gifts & Accessories, The Art Gallery, The Powder Room, MJs, Ben Franklin, Corner Cottage, and many more stores.

All businesses involved hope for a big turnout for this year’s Moonlight Madness which will begin in early evening and wrap up around 9:00 P.M.

City of Dexter offices will be closed Monday, November 12, 2012 in observance of Veterans Day.

City offices will reopen Tuesday, November 13, 2012 at 8:00am.

Refuse for Monday, November 12, 2012 will be collected on Tuesday, November 13, 2012.  There will be no bulk pickup on Friday of November 16, 2012.

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Bloomfield, Missouri - A benefit concert will be held on November 4th, 2012 at the Trinity United Methodist Church in Bloomfield.  The concert will begin at 6:00 PM and is a fundraiser to benefit the Stoddard County Foster Children's Christmas Party.  Organizers have been busy putting together a great musical program for your listening pleasure. 

The Event will feature some of the areas most talented individuals including:  Buddy Heaton; Grace Trio; Lara, Sophie and Tony Thorn; Mara and Heather Mayo; Jasen Williams; Michelle Warren Prichard, Ringer Hill Bluegrass; and The Concert Choir. 

Janet Moore, director of the Stoddard County Foster Children's Party, will also share with those attending about the foster care system and her experiences with the group.

Be certain to make your plans to attend and support the Stoddard County Foster Children's fundraising event.  Many area churches support these efforts but you will also be given an opportunity to contribute.  An offering will be taken during the concert in hopes of making this years Christmas extra special for these young children.

A fellowship time is also being planned for everyone following the program.

Idalia, Missouri - Members of the St. Joe General Baptist Church hosted a regional youth event for area churches this past weekend with over 100 youth in attendance.  The event was surrounded with M
music, bonfires, and lots of games. 

Organizers opened up the event to other area Churches.  Youth from Trinity United Methodist Church in Bloomfield, Liberty Hill General Baptist Church of Aid and Lighthouse Christian Center of Dexter all joined in with St. Joe for the activities. 

Richard Vaughn, primary organizer of the event, along with his wife, Heather and other members of the St. Joe Church were busy Saturday afternoon preparing the food and the facilities for the group.  The groups were treated to a hamburger and hot dog for the meal that night.  Later in the evening, the bonfire was used to have smores as well.

"We were honored to be asked to join with the youth leaders at St. Joe for this event," said Hedrick.  "It was really put together perfectly and everyone seemed to have a blast."

The group of youth was divided up into different teams of nine youth.  Each team was geared up to compete throughout the night in planned games and activities.  Volleyball was one of the main activities in the gymnasium, however, the older youth workers took the championship over the "Roll Tide" team at the end of the night.

Other games were more individually based and required some of the oddest skill sets.  Baseball style caps were set up with large tea bags taped to each side of the bill, requiring a team member to whip and buck their head in hopes of getting both of the tea bags to rest on top of the cap.  Another game involved a plate, a straw and a pile of M&Ms.  Students were to use the straw and move individual M&Ms over to the the plate to make a "Smiley Face".  First to accomplish the task was given points for their team.

Toward the end of the evening, a quick devotional was shared by Richard Vaughn and Alan Hedrick.  Vaughn pointed out the importance of Christian youth having a chance to get together.  Richard shared how important these friendships are to each one of the young people to encourage each other in their faith walk.

Hedrick used the verse of Ecclesiastes 4:3, sharing to the youth that being naive to the parts of the world is OK and actually Biblical.  He shared that sometimes having knowledge about what goes on in this world should be avoided and a person's trust in God is far more important than knowledge. 

After the short devotional, the group went back to playing volleyball, enjoying the bonfire and visiting with one another until the event ended around 10:00 PM.

"We are just real proud to have hosted this event for the area youth and look forward to the next time we can do something like this," commented Richard Vaughn.  "We really appreciate all the help and assistance we received from everyone.

Dexter, Missouri - If you are creatively skilled and have a strong desire to be involved in the community, the ShowMe Times has just the job for you.  The ShowMe Time is in search of writers on both a part-time and full-time basis. 

The ShowMe Times is a local online news journal that began operations in January of 2010.  Under the theme of "Delivering Good News About Kids, People and Businesses", the ShowMe Times has worked to share that news about the good things that are going on in Dexter and the surrounding area." 

"We are in search of a special, high energy person that loves to stay heavily involved in the community," commented Alan Hedrick.  "We want someone with a special positive spirit that loves to show off other people through the pages of the ShowMe Times."

The ideal candidate should be an exception to the normal rules of employment.  To maintain their own sanity, they must be very comfortable in public and visiting with others in the community, while possessing the ability of storyteller.  The applicant should be proficient in writing and proof reading skills so that the essence of the event and people can be shared with our readers.

"In many ways, it's a crazy job," added Hedrick.  "You find yourself deeply involved with everything from sports, to rendezvous reenactments, to fairs and parades.  Wherever you are, there is a story to be written."

The ShowMe Times currently has two exceptional part-time writers in Jessica Snider and Beth Farrah.  Both are students and have shown  great talents and writing skills.  SMT is also excited about the addition of Aleshia Flowers to their part-time writing staff beginning in November.  Other bloggers and writers have also participated in helping the ShowMe Times remain current with great content for our readers.

The part-time writing positions are paid on a per article basis and therefore offer flexibility to students and those whose schedule only allow for occasional writings.  There is a limited number of positions for paid writers available.  They key to this position is consistency of weekly articles and communication between writers other writers so no one is writing on the same thing.

A full-time position is currently available at the ShowMe Times.  This is a salaried position that basically is responsible for the overall operation of the ShowMe Times journal.  This position is challenging and would involve the coordination of the part-time writers, assignments of events, management of content, writing content and working closely with our sponsors and advertisers.

The full-time position is crazy busy and very much a challenge, but if you thrive on challenges and gain energy from the battle, this just might be the job for you. 

At the ShowMe Times, we realize the content of good positive news about our kids, our community and about local business is worth the effort.  We are proud that our long time sponsors have continued to support us through these times.  We are now reaching out to our readers in search of that person that feels they can confidently move our ambitions forward and continue this worthy endeavor. 

Please email your inquiries and information to resume@showmetimes.com.  We look forward to finding  that person excited about sharing the ShowMe Times with our community.