Can you believe it’s October already? It’s a little easier to believe since the temperatures are going to be in the 70’s most of this week.
I want to send out birthday wishes to my nephew, Casey Smalley, who turns 33 today.
Casey resides in Nashville where he plays the local music circuit with his band, Flatland Revival. If you haven’t checked them out you can find them on Spotify or wherever you listen to music.
The band just received word this week that their new song “Lost in the Summer Night” was added to another Spotify playlist, “Wild Country.”
This was exciting news as this is one of their hot playlists receiving over 800,000 listens last week.
Happy Birthday, Casey.
Town Talk’s latest fundraiser is banners for Main Street. The banners are two sided and you may purchase one or both sides. The banner will be a tribute to our veterans.
It will read Stroud Proud at the top, have a veteran’s picture in the middle and under the picture state the veteran’s name, rank, branch of service and if they served during wartime, the name of the conflict.
If you would like to see an example, we put one up on the light pole between Kathy’s Thrift Store and the Pentecostal Church on Main Street.
The banners will hang over the sidewalk to hopefully create more foot traffic, not only from visitors but also from you local folks. We are excited about this project.
The cost of one side of the banner is $125.00. All proceeds will go toward Project Bugle Boy. You may order one by calling 918-527-9833.
The Bugle Boy will be a hand-carved six-foot dark gray granite statue on an 8-inch base that will stand in Ed. Smalley Centennial Park near our Veteran’s Memorial. He will play reveille every morning.
We were thinking he would play taps each evening but I have been told there are other songs played in the evening when the colors are retired such as “To The Colors (Bugle Call).”
Veterans, I need to hear from you. Please call me at 918-527-9833 or text me and let me know what you think the appropriate song should be from our bugle boy to end the day.
We will need to raise $7500 before we can order the Bugle Boy. After placing the order, it will take four months for him to be carved, shipped and put in place. During that four-month period we will raise the balance of $7500.
I think it will be something we can all be proud of and will want to share with visitors traveling Route 66. As I said last week, patriotism is not dead in Stroud.
In the next week we will also have a Bugle Boy t-shirt for sale with all those proceeds also going to the project.
As you’re driving down Main Street be sure and look at the cute Route 66 themed chair in front of Heather Black’s Welcome Home store. The chair was donated by Terry and Creecha Melton.
Julie Bivin, Vivian Henshaw and John Owens are responsible for the sanding of the chair, the artwork and the painting.
We have such wonderful volunteers helping us with all our ideas and we couldn’t do it without each one of them.
Thanks again to City Manager Bob Pearman for his vision of the replica of the Ozark Trail Obelisk. I wish I had thought of that (LOL). I love it and it looks amazing at night, all lit up.
Wander out after dark and see how great our Main Street looks with lights.
Long-time Stroud resident Wirt Trawick called me this week and told me he had an article he thought my mom might be interested in reading.
It was in the Tulsa World and was about former Stroud resident Bob Pope.
Bob’s dad had owned a grocery store in Stroud and my mom worked there for a short time.
The article was written because September marked the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. Bob, against his parents’ wishes, dropped out of Stroud High School after his junior year to join the Navy.
After his training he shipped off to war but in route his fleet learned about the dropping of the bombs and the surrender of Japan. He missed the fight but helped with the rebuilding of the future of Japan as part of the occupation forces.
After finishing his Navy service, he returned to Stroud where he completed his final year of high school and met the girl he would go on to marry.
Bob Pope is now 93 years of age and is living in Bixby.
I just wanted to share this with you because I’m sure many of you remember the Pope family.
Mom and I had an early dinner at Lusetta’s Fresh Grub with Lincoln and August on Thursday evening. It was nice to sit outside and the little boys took toys and played while we waited on our food. It’s one more great place to eat locally and another fun place for visitors to stop on Route 66.
Have a great week and remember to shop and dine local............first!