In Champion, hopes are that the political divisiveness that has been so damaging to friendships, and even some family relationships, will dissipate for a little while, at least, as we celebrate together the birth of the Nation we all love on the 4th of July. Huzza!

Tennessee boys, Drason and Carson, came to the Sometimes Porch Jam with their Mom and their Grammie on Wednesday. Grammie won the First Ripe Tomatoes in Champion Contest again this year, though the only prize was getting to eat them herself. They were joined on the wide veranda by regular Mountain Grove visitors, Dean and Dailey, and by Madeline, her Dad and four brothers who live on the old home place up on Fox Creek Road once occupied by the big Upshaw clan. Lena’s younger brother, a favorite motorcycle hoodlum, arrived before noon to toot his own horn over his recent scrabble wins. He is such an expert with words that people call him ‘loquacious’ behind his back and other things to his face, all in good humor.

While there were still notable absences (Jerry, Lena et. al.), it was almost like the old days at the Thursday Vanzant Bluegrass Jam. Some seldom seen musicians and a couple of newcomers made the circle large enough that turns only came around a few times, though who could imagine a circle of a dozen bluegrassers and no fiddle? Jerry? That unusual situation followed a bizarre spectacle the previous week when the Mayor and Vanzant Weather Bureau Chief donned the mail carrier’s rainbow tutu and performed a classic tango ballet. The spectacle was preserved digitally in case it is needed later in court. The audience was bigger this week too, swelled by Grammie’s bunch, The General’s Springfield contingent and community workers getting ready for the Vanzant Picnic.

This year the picnic will be on the 9th and 10th of July. No small amount of work goes into making this annual event such a high point on the summer calendar. Everyone is looking forward to the good music, good food, carnival games and the chance to see much-missed neighbors after a long eventful year. The trials and tribulations, the stumbling, crumbling, and grumbling out there in the big world seem less oppressive in the face of good neighbors coming together in fellowship and friendship. The ring-toss is a particularly interesting game at the picnic. It is generally run by a haymaker who hardly gets farther in a conversation than “Howdy, how you been?” before someone else comes along with dimes to spend. He is lucky enough to have two sterling helpers out on his spread where he maintains a small herd of geriatric cattle. The three of them go by the names, Me, Myself, and I. An already difficult task, fraught with unforeseen complications, hardly slowed this trio down, the bales stacked in the barn before the rains came that make gardeners sigh and smile.

Kaitlyn McConnell, the winner of the Skyline VFD Quilt drawing last October 1st, stopped in the Historic Emporium for a visit on Saturday. It is one of her favorite places. Kaitlyn is a media specialist, a real journalist, not prone to embellishment as sometimes seems to be the case in The Champion News, according to some. She is interested in preserving the character of the Ozarks and particularly interested in getting acquainted with the some of the older folks who have lived their whole lives right in the neighborhood where they were born. She is planning to go to the Vanzant Picnic where she can be introduced to any number of them. Perhaps she will come for the Champion School Reunion on the Saturday of the Labor Day weekend to meet some vintage Champions—Looking on the Bright Side!

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