Banner County Notes

Good morning Banner County, and bahh hum bug to the snow. Wouldn’t ya know that our winter would wait until spring to show up!

Now with the time change we also have one more hour of daylight to enjoy it instead of all of those evenings when it was dark by 4 o’ clock! Sounds like we will maybe get some more here this week.

Our school students do not have a whole lot going on as of right now, so at least we will keep them off of the roads.There will be No School tomorrow, March 15, for them, teacher work day as usual for the staff. Saturday and Sunday the 15 & 16 the MatCats youth wrestling group will be involved in State competition at Grand Island

The Central/Banner 4-H club will meet on Sunday afternoon, March 17 in the school cafeteria and will hold the quality assurance meeting. Safe travel to all of you.

Over the hill and up north the Paws 4 Paws group will be celebrating the 10 year anniversary of their service to the area. Skipper’s Cupboard feeds hungry pets and strives to develop support for local artists. They will be hosting an Ice Cream & Cake Social at the Weborg 21 Centre from 6:30 - 8 p.m. for the public.

March 16 will be a busy day beginning at 10 a.m. at the legacy of the Plains Museum where in conjunction with the traveling Smithsonian’s Water Ways exhibit the North Platte NRD will present” Emerald Green” on green infrastructures and the tree and grass programs available at the NRD. At 10:30 a.m. there will be a Fun Run, ‘ Leprechaun Leap ‘ hosted by United Way of Western Nebraska and Western States Bank. This is open to all ages and will begin and end at Runza in Scottsbluff. Before the race at 10:15 they will award prizes for the best St. Patrick’s Day costume, so get your green on!

Also on the 16th at 11 a.m. the American Legion in Gering with Kelly Bean Company will be offering a ham-n-bean lunch to all veterans. Back to the Legacy of the Plains Museum, at 7:30 p.m. the Wildcat Audubon Society will present “The Empire Builders -- An African American Odyssey in Nebraska and Wyoming.” This is the story of African American settlers who founded Empire, Wyoming, just north of Henry, Nebraska in 1908. This informative entertainment is Free and open to the public. On Monday the 18th at the Fairgrounds in Mitchell Trout Unlimited will host an Open House from 4 - 8 p.m. with information on the restoration of dry Spotted Tail Creek. There will be fly casting demonstrations and tons of information.

On Tuesday, March 19 the Region 22 Emergency Management and the National Weather Service will offer Severe Weather Spotter Training. This will be at the technology center at the Harms Center, 2620 College Park. The training is Free.

Also on the 19th there will be two showings of The Church Basement Ladies:Rise Up O,Men at the Midwest Theater. Call 632-4311 for more information. I just love this group. Sundays at the Rock this week will present The Great Platte River Road and that will be at 1:30 at Chimney Rock.

Birthdays this week in the Burg are: Holden Lerwick, Linda Barrett, Trenton Elsen, Joel Cross, Ryan Olsen, Pat Mooney, Joshua Boston, and Kyla Ansley. Happy Birthday! Congratulations to anniversary couples Mr. & Mrs.’ Kurt Baker, Steve Brown and Ryan Norman.

Well just a short note about St. Paddy’s Day, March 17. Most of us know of St. Patrick as the 16 year old boy born in Roman Britain in the 4th century who was kidnapped and taken as a slave to Ireland. He escaped and returned with the conviction of converting the Irish to Christianity. Many legends grew around him but it was emigrants, particularly to the United States, who turned St. Patrick’s Day into the holiday we see today. I myself am more interested in the Leprechauns.

I have read that in the magical world the distinctive sound that alerts one to the presence of a leprechaun is the tap-tap-tapping of his tiny hammer, he is a shoe cobbler ya know. He has pots of gold, treasure you see, usually found at the end of a rainbow, however sometimes also hidden. If you are lucky enough to catch a leprechaun you can bargain with him for his gold and his release. One folklorist offers a tale of a man who caught one of these tricky little fellows, made the bargain and found the treasure to be hidden under a tree.

Being a kindly man he marked the tree with one of his red garters, releasing the leprechaun went to retrieve his shovel. Returning a very short time later he found every tree among the many trees all boasting a red garter!

Happy St. Paddy’s Day everyone! Take care until next time.

Barb Cross is at 436-7152.