A Champion spring…

Pete, Uncle Ray and Frankie

Local ancient lore had us believe that the last frost date for Champion is today.  After a few warm days, a cold morning seems extreme and a personal affront to have to pick ticks out of one’s long-handles.  The season of rapid change transformed those vertical gray and brown brush piles into glorious full-blown oak trees in just a week.  August will be here soon, and we will long for what we now think of as too much rain.  Last week Reba said Don caught a seven pound, twenty-seven-inch-long Walleye at Stockton Lake in perfect weather for a good day of fishing.  Pete posted pictures of himself and his Uncle Ray Hicks holding crappie on their foray last week.  Pete said his was the biggest one he ever caught.  It may be good fishing weather, but gardeners are holding off on planting their tender crops.

Maybe Uncle Ray will be at the Denlow School Reunion again this year.  It always happens on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.  LaShell Upshaw Bearden will there.  She had such a good time with all her kinfolks at the Vanzant Bluegrass Jam on Thursday, she will not be able to stay away.  She was related to almost all of them in the whole people-packed Community Building.  Her second cousins, Kalyssa and Foster, took their turns in the music circle on fiddle and mandolin doing “Boil Them Cabbage Down” and other great tunes.  (There was a great video of the song posted on the Facebook by Grammy Upshaw Krider, but Facebook would not share it with The Champion News, so readers will have to settle for a version by The Grascals.)  This bunch is a splendid example of a big loving family and of the music of family laughter.  LaShell had always tried to get www.championnews.us on her phone, with no success, but when she tried with her computer, she was rewarded with fifteen years of fun, much of which involved her family.


Congratulations to the graduating class of 2021

The last week of school at Skyline will be a busy one.  Nine eighth graders are graduating on Tuesday.  Prekindergarten to fifth grade will have their Field Day on Wednesday.  Thursday will have the eight graders on their class trip to Silver Dollar City and Friday will be the Awards Day and the last day of school.  The year has gone by quickly or slowly depending on who is asked.  Mr. Luna says there will be no summer school this year due to a construction project in the kitchen area.  There have been several excellent upgrades to the school this year.  We do not know if Mr. Luna and the Skyline School Board will be doing the actual building, but we know their good efforts have made the students feel valued.  Our little rural school is the heart of the community and those students will be running things in just a few short years—the schools, farms, businesses, banks, hospitals, and government.  Go Tigers!

Humming birds are humming and Indigo Buntings are bunting.  Out every window is an avian delight.  Gardeners look up from their toil to locate that bird whose song has caught his ear.  It is a beautiful time of the year.

Robert Frost said, “Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can’t, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.”  We will keep saying that Bud Hutchison’s Champion Trail Ride will happen on Wednesday the 19th.  Riders will rendezvous on the Square and be ready to take off at 10:00 a.m.  Yard dogs and deep creek crossings will be some of the challenges, but they will amble back in after a few hours to enjoy ice cream and fellowship on the wide veranda of the Historic Emporium in Downtown Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!


 
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