News

The weather was exciting last night. We had thunder, lightning, wind and rain during the night which was greatly needed. We had been promised all week that we would get the rain, but it held off until after dark. The pets were not huge fans of the thunder. It made for really good sleeping weather at my house. 

We have a celebrity in our midst... this week Rodeo Giddings started on Thursday with slack and will continue tonight and tomorrow at the Lee County Sheriff's Posse Arena. We are so proud of Mark and Rodeo Giddings!

https://www.kbtx.com/2023/04/20/lee-county-sheriffs-posse-holding-rodeo-giddings-this-week/?fbclid=IwAR2b4Pj9phSncsuquw8wRkgpthOUSwtZZXlvJse8JGMhMNgRmvhYCTKawHs

We do want to give a shout out to our very own Margurite Lawrence and wish her a very happy 100th birthday! 

Hello everyone! Just wanted to let you know of a REAL HISTORICAL EVENT, Margurite Lawrence will be celebrating her 100th birthday this Saturday (4/22) at the Venue on Main, Giddings from 2-5. Hope everyone can stop by and meet a real piece of Lee County History.

She was born 4/20/23 at Beat Five. Parents Sue Ella Wood and John Bert Dodd. Married Odais Lawrence and moved to Giddings, where they raised two children, Bob and Betty. They operated Lawrence's Gulf Station and Garage for many years. Known for being an outstanding waitress at several local restaurants. Proven to be at least 7th generation Texan. Attended Dime Box schools.
- Invitation per Brenda Lawrence

We are making history every day. We just need to recognize how important it is to document these moments so that we can look back in the future and remember the good times we had.

As you can tell from the traffic on Hwy 290 and 77 this week, it is Spring Break and the Bluebonnets are blooming. Thanks to some very beneficial rains and cold weather back during the deep winter, we are having a very early and bountiful Bluebonnet Season! 

The next few weeks will be packed with fun and excitement. Starting with all the vendors rolling into Round Top and surrounding areas this week and setting up for the annual pilgrimage to Round Top, Warrenton, Fayetteville, and Oldenburg, Texas for the Antiques, Arts, and Crafts Show. It is so many things to so many people. Folks from across the country come to see it and they are all looking for something different and unique. And, the vendors are from all areas of the country. You can spend a day or a week and never see it all. Just remember to wear comfortable shoes and drink plenty of water. And you might need a hat, umbrella, rain poncho, or a fan to fend off the heat, so go prepared.

Plenty of things to see and do in the next couple of weeks. Enjoy the warmer weather but be prepared... it can change drastically. We know that they keep talking about some  bad stuff coming in the next several days. Just be prepared. But, in the meantime go see some bluebonnets, listen to some music, and enjoy these beautiful days.

March 20 - Rural Employer Lunch & Learn for Businesses and Local Employers 

March 25 -  Lee County Little League Crawfish Boil at The Silos on 77 - Advance Purchase required

March 28 - Martin Luther Church WOW Ladies Walk In Coffee

April 1 -  Immanuel Lutheran Church Spring Fest - free to attend

April 1 -  Cars & Coffee in Downtown Giddings 11am across from the Giddings Brewhaus - free to attend

April 1 - Brian Black and Georgette Jones Country Music Show at The Silos on 77 - Advance Purchase required

April 3-4 - Women's Self Defense Class at Fitness Solutions

April 4 - First Assembly of God Walk In Coffee

April 15 - Knights of the Round Table Gala at the Silos on 77

April 20-22 - Rodeo Giddings at the Lee County
tickets available at the gate     

April 22 - Interact Club Annual Plant Sale

April 22 - Lee County Center for the Arts Crawfish Contest

April 24 - First Methodist Church Walk In Coffee 

June 23 - Hot Summer Luau Casino Night at the Venue on Main, sponsored by the Chamber

We hope you have a great weekend and be safe traveling for your spring break activities. We will be here holding down the fort. The weather is perfect for your travels. Pack the sunscreen, hats, and sunglasses. You may need an umbrella later next week, but hopefully it will only be the kind that is in your tropical drink and not for rain. 

We decided to postpone our Casino Night event that was scheduled for next Friday night because we were not ready! We have had so many other events and activities going on that it snuck up on us and we just couldn't do it. We will do it in June when there is less legislative, workforce, and critical planning going on in our office. We hope that you can make plans to attend our Hot Summer Luau Casino Night on June 23rd. Casino Connection will be here to help us roll the dice. 

Check out our list of events and activities that will be happening in the next few weeks! Great food, fun activities, and warm weather to enjoy.   

There is another way to check out all the fun activities that are happening in and around Lee County. Check out our website under the Events tab.

March 20 - Rural Employers Workforce Lunch - RSVP required

    March 25 - Lee County Little League Crawfish Boil at The Silos on 77 - Advance Purchase required

    March 28 - Martin Luther Walk In Coffee at Martin Luther Lutheran Church 

    April 1 -  Immanuel Lutheran Church Spring Fest - free to attend

    April 1 -  Cars & Coffee in Downtown Giddings across from the Giddings Brewhaus - free to attend

    April 1 - Brian Black and Georgette Jones Country Music Show at The Silos on 77 - Advance Purchase required

    April 20-22 - Rodeo Giddings at the Lee County tickets available at the gate     

March has shown up loud and windy! It has been a rollercoaster ride for our local weather and of course it is Lee County Junior Livestock Show week, so that means it has to storm. It's funny how we associate the weather to certain annual events because of our past experiences. We still expect another cold snap around Easter every year, no matter what day it falls on... Whatever the weather, we know the show must go on. Livestock shows, fairs, rodeos, are the tried and true barometers of a community. People are rooted into the soil surrounding these events. They come for the camaraderie of family, friends, and neighbors. Everyone pitches in to create a memorable experience for their children and each other. Our best memories will always include these events. Good luck to all the parents, children, coaches, mentors, buyers, and sellers at this year's Lee County Junior Livestock Show and Sale. It is hard work, but the memories are worth it!

There are some other important dates to remember for March.

March 7 - Pancake Supper at Giddings Elementary School drive thru on E. Industry - Tickets available at Giddings Elementary or a Rotarian. Pick up starts at 4:30pm.

March 8 - Circus at Lee County Sheriff's Posse Arena. Starts at 6:30pm. 

March 12 - Loebau Store Polka Music and Cold Drinks     

March 13-17 - Spring Break

March 17 - St. Patrick's Casino Night at The Venue on Main, sponsored by the Giddings Chamber 

March 20 - Rural Employer Lunch & Learn for Businesses and Local Employers 

March 25 - Lee County Little League Crawfish Boil at The Silos on 77

March 28 - Martin Luther Church WOW Ladies Walk In Coffee

April 1 - More information soon...

• Cars & Coffee Car Show
• Spring Fest at Immanuel Lutheran Church 
• Brian Black and Georgette Jones at The Silos on 77                                           

We are excited to see so many fun events happening in and around Lee County. Let us know what you are planning and we will help get the word out to the community. 

We do want to tell you about our trip to the Texas State Capitol on Tuesday... IT WAS AWESOME! We ride the bus so we don't have to park in downtown Austin. I highly recommend it to everyone. We had the best day ever. We were able to meet with Senator Lois Kolkhorst, State Representative Stan Gerdes, Andrew Ross with Congressman McCaul's office, and Kara Mayfield with Texas Star Alliance. We had a huge group that was able to see the Senate Gallery where Lee County was recognized by Senator Kolkhorst, and we were seated in the House Gallery where Representative Gerdes read a Resolution recognizing Lee County. We took time to visit the Ag Museum where Rep. Gerdes presented Tootsie Tomanetz with a Resolution recognizing Snow's BBQ on their 20th Anniversary. County Judge Frank Malinak, Mayor Joel Lopez, County Commissioners, David Stedman, Giddings Economic Development President, and many others joined us on this trip. We were pleased with the turnout and the many people we were able to meet.

Another full week of family friendly activities and the weather is absolutely beautiful! These cool mornings are so wonderful...

National Night Out in Giddings will be on Tuesday, October 4th at Veterans Park from 6-8pm.

Family Crisis Center Meet and Greet is Thursday, October 6th at the Business Center - First National Bank next door to the Chamber office from 5-7pm.

The Shane Hanchey Roping starts this week and there are several activities at the Lee County Sheriff's Posse Arena -

Columbus Day Holiday is October 10th and our office will be closed.

Lee County Veterans Association will host their annual Chicken Spaghetti Lunch - Drive Thru only on Tuesday, October 11th. Tickets are available from Lee County Veterans

Relay for Life is Saturday, October 15th at Veterans Park from 6-9pm.

We are happy to share the events early so you can post them in your calendar. Looking forward to seeing you in the neighborhood.

The Succession Plan, So You Can Retire

There is this belief that as the population hits retirement age and employees start to leave the workforce that someone will step up and be able to do the job in the same way you did for the company or agency where you are employed.

The Great Resignation as it has been called in numerous op-eds and news stories is one of the many challenges that can be attributed to the last two and a half years. It is the quiet retirement or mass exodus of much of the institutional knowledge that companies, and organizations have had on staff for many years.

What happens when that institutional knowledge is no longer available? It can throw a company or organization into a crisis.

Planning for your retirement is one thing… but you also need to plan for your successor. Who will take your place and who can you mentor to become the person the company can trust to carry on your legacy? 

Serious thought and planning should go into those decisions. Your knowledge and skills are not something you can leave behind in a folder or on a computer. You must take responsibility for identifying someone you can trust with your job when you leave.

Take time to look around at who can step into your shoes when you get ready to get on the Retirement Bus…become a mentor and begin to train the next generation. 

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Blood Drive is coming up on Tuesday at the Giddings Public Library. It will be at the Blood Mobile Bus again from 11AM - 6PM.

You only need to drive a little ways to visit Fedor, Texas for the annual Fedor Fish Fry on Saturday, or out to Serbin, Texas for the 34th Annual Texas Wendish Festival this weekend. Great fun for the whole family! 

Rolling over into next week we have the Free Informational Water Meeting set up by the Lee County Agrilife Extension to help answer questions about the future of water in Lee County. Then on Friday night the Black Bridge Festival kicks off with an Oktoberfest Celebration in downtown Dime Box, Texas. There will be a barbeque cookoff on Friday and a Mini Marathon on Saturday. Another family friendly activity for you to attend. 

We are sharing this information with you today because we receive it and know it is important. This is a grant opportunity for the Texas Travel Industry. There are many deadlines so check it out as soon as you can. 

https://gov.texas.gov/business/page/texas-travel-industry-recovery-grant-program

Lots of historical significance in all of these surrounding areas. We are in history and love to celebrate with family and friends. We look forward to seeing you all!

Thank you Lord for the rain! It did not reach everyone, but it did help some of us and it was wonderful to see clouds in the sky. We know that the rain will come, and we wait patiently and pray. 

The Chamber Banquet was held on Tuesday at The Silos on 77. The venue looked great and the evening was a celebration of so many wonderful people in our community. We are very blessed to have such warm and caring people. Celebrating the 100 years as a Chamber is just the beginning! We will continue to tell the story of Giddings, Lee County, and the many struggles and triumphs over the past 100 years as we go forward during the next year. 100 years is quite a milestone to celebrate! Check out our Facebook page for award winners and crowd shots. We love our members and all of our sponsors who make the event so special. Thank you to everyone who was able to come out for the evening. 

My fondest memory of the Chamber Banquet was when Jerry Clower was here. The Sons of Herman Hall was packed with people and everyone had a great time. Looking forward to retelling some of those stories. You may even have some really good stories to tell. 

On another note, we have experienced a strange phenomenon in our email lists. It seems that we do not really have a choice when google mail or gmail updates our landing page. When it happens we experience some loss of emails. We only send one per week unless something critical that needs to be shared is sent to us. We apologize for any disruption in communication. 

There are several things happening this weekend in our community. Tonight is Rotary Club Fun Night at the American Legion Hall. Always fun and the food is great! Tomorrow will be another great fundraiser with good food and great auction items and fun stuff to do. And, our favorite Lost Cause Band will be playing for our listening entertainment. Fun for the whole family.

Finally, continue to pray for rain... looking forward to having grass again. The brown straw is just not pretty. We hope you all have a great weekend! Stay safe!

All of our events and activities are heating up! Outdoor temps are over 100* so it's time to find fun indoor activities.

Coming up next weekend we have the first Christmas in July Sip and Shop and we have a full house with vendors from all over. There will be music, children's area, cold beverages, and food. We are also collecting school supplies for the Back to School Drive. Start your Christmas shopping early and take advantage of the nice indoor venue. We have crafters, Scentsy, Lipsense, Harley's Texas Seasoning, and so much more. There will be demonstrations by Janie's Hair and Paparazzi Jewelry. You don't want to miss this opportunity to get a jump on your holiday shopping.

On August 9th the Giddings Chamber will host their Centennial Celebration and Community Awards Banquet! We are honoring many people from the community including the Outstanding Citizens of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award and the Humanitarian Award. Join us for an evening of fellowship at The Venue on Main.

EVENTS

Sip & Shop: Christmas in July - July 30, 9am-3pm
Arts and crafts show at the Silos on 77

Chamber Banquet - Aug 9 at 6pm, Venue on Main

Denim & Diamonds - Aug 27, 5:30pm at the Silos

Free Concert-Black Cat Choir

- Sep 2 at 6pm at Giddings Railroad Depot

We are seeing the Saharan Desert this week. It is hard to understand that the wind can carry anything that far, but believe me when I say that you can see the dust in the air. It is everywhere.

We have a few things happening this weekend... The Juneteenth Block Party will be held on Saturday, June 18th at the corner of Houston Street and Burleson at Noon! Come out for a fun, family friendly event.

On Sunday, Giddings Downtown Restaurant will be open for Father's Day from 10:30 AM until 2:00 PM. Lots of Southern cooked food and Rib Eye Steaks!

We are very excited to give you an update on the Grimes Street Music Festival. There will be food vendors, Italian Ice, and lots more. Lee County Texas Veterans Association will have a booth too! We are excited to have such a large area for the community to come enjoy. The shade trees will be a favorite for everyone. There is plenty of parking and everyone is encouraged to bring their coolers.