March 28th Edition Highlights

We're finally publishing on a day that's not rainy, and the imminence of spring is stirring activity in our community this weekend.

On Saturday, Greenville's Chamber of Commerce is holding its second annual Saturday Nite at the Races, a video horse racing event that mimics the Kentucky Derby. Mint juleps and hours d'oeuvres will be served, a hat contest will be held, and participants will bet "funny money" on the races, with the chance to win a number of prizes if their horse wins. The Races begin at 6:30pm at Shumardii's in Greenville. For more information, visit the Chamber's website.

Hooten's Hardware in Emory is heralding the arrival of spring with its Annual Demo Days on Friday and Saturday. There will be free hot dogs and drinks, drawings for door prizes, and KMOO will be broadcasting live on Saturday. Of course, attendees will get a chance to demo the latest and greatest power tools and mowers, and there will be slashed prices throughout the store.

Fairlie Greenhouse will also be showing off its spring offerings this weekend, with an open house on Friday and Saturday, from 8am to 6pm. Free coffee and donuts will be provided, and Fairlie Greenhouse is conveniently located just five miles northwest of Commerce on Highway 11.

This week's Shopper has plenty of ads offering great deals for spring activities, as well. For instance, on page 6, check out a coupon for $1 off fishing supplies at Reames Market in Cash. Comb through the rest of the paper for more fun activities and bargains - and don't forget that this is the last week of our annual Drug-Free Coloring Contest!

March 21st Edition HIghlights

This past weekend's sunshine quickly dissipated, with Monday ushering in heavy rain (as if Mondays weren't bad enough) and flooding. But we're wading through Hunt County's bad weather to bring you this week's edition of the Shopper, and this week's front page story looks forward to balmier days and outdoor activities in anticipation of this year's Keep Greenville Beautiful Home & Garden Show.

Scheduled for Saturday, March 24th, the Home & Garden Show will feature $1 hot dogs provided by Habitat for Humanity, a silent auction, and a coloring contest for the kids, a drawing for a Kindle Fire, plus many booths representing area businesses. In the parking lot, Keep Greenville Beautiful will be recycling most electronic devices for free from 10am to 1pm, and shredding up to 3 file boxes of paper per vehicle for free from 10am to 2pm.

For other upcoming community events, look inside this week's Shopper - after you use it as an umbrella.

March 14th Edition Highlights

It might be a rainy day today, but cheer yourself up with plans for an activity-filled weekend in Hunt County, starting with the Annual Golden K Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast this Saturday morning, March 17th. We know, Saturday still seems a long way off on a Tuesday, but just imagine the taste of buttery, syrupy pancakes with a side of sausage patties and your choice of juice or coffee, and your mood might improve a little. Now imagine that the meal will taste even better for only $5, all of which will benefit local charities, and you'll have painted an accurate mental picture of the Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast. It starts at 7am and ends at 1pm, and will take place at Ridgecrest Baptist Church in Greenville. 

And while rain might be forecasted for the next few days, the weekend brings with it promises of sunshine and warm temperatures (well, at least for now...). And with warm, sunny weekends come garage sale bargains. This weekend, check out garage, estate, yard and moving sales, AND flea markets, all listen in this week's Shopper: eleven of them, to be exact. The dates and locations of each sale are listed on page 3, and the details of the individual sales themselves are scattered throughout the paper. Happy hunting!

March 7th Edition Highlights

This week's blog is being drafted a bit later than usual, due to the absence of our in-house blogger earlier in the week, whose infant son is not interested in her perceived need to attend work in order to secure income for the family. But, anyway. This week's front page story! It's about our annual Drug-Free Coloring Contest. Each week, the Shopper features a different picture with an anti-drug message for the kids to apply their creative filling-in skills to. The Drug-Free Coloring Contest is part of the Shopper's initiative to keep our community drug-free, along with our support of other programs, such as the DrugFree Greenville Red Ribbon Celebration and Greenville ISD's Project Graduation. The winners of the Drug-Free Coloring Contest will receive prizes as a reward for their diligence and precocious artistic ability. Don't forget to encourage your child to foster his creativity and absorb an important message about the dangers of recreational drug use when you receive your copy of this week's Shopper!

February 29th Edition HIghlights

Happy Leap Day, Hunt County! Winter weather is finally beginning to give way to warmer temperatures this week, and the change is reflected in an uptick in community events listed in this week's Shopper.

On the front page, we herald the second annual incarnation of the Lake Tawakoni Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Business Expo. This year’s Expo is set to take place on Saturday, March 3^rd, from 10am – 3pm at the Ford High School in Quinlan. Over 40 local businesses will be represented, with attractions for Expo-goers of all ages: a bounce house and face-painting for the kids, classic cars on display, a mobile pet adoption unit, pancakes from IHOP and even an opportunity for procrastinators to file their taxes. For more information, visit the LTRCC’s website.

Page three features our weekly garage sale listing, which continues to grow longer as the days grow warmer and more hospitable to bargain-hunters. This week, check out opportunities to turn another person’s trash into your treasure in Greenville and Caddo Mills.

If you’re looking for even bigger bargains this weekend, turn to pages 8-9 of this week’s Shopper to check out an ad for an estate sale by LD Loftis in Commerce, featuring a wide range of furniture and household items. On the opposite page, check out the ad for Noonday Tractor Auction, taking place this weekend in Flint, Texas. With over 250 tractors, backhoes, dozers, skid loaders, lawn mowers, 4-wheelers, RTVs, trucks and trailers to be auctioned off, anyone in the market is sure to find a bargain. Check out their website for more details!

If you’re in the market for something a little more dangerous, check out an ad for the Gun & Knife Show on page 11. The Show will take place at Crossroads Mall in Greenville on Saturday and Sunday.  

Last, but not least, don’t forget that next week is Texas Public School Week! After you’ve fantasized about firearms, glance downward on page 11 for a comprehensive list of events taking place at the public schools of Hunt County during the week of March 5-9. Most elementary and intermediate schools will host an open house, but many middle and high schools are participating, as well, and several schools are holding parent breakfasts and lunches, talent shows and more! Find out what’s going on at your local school – and much more – in this week’s Shopper.

February 15th Edition Highlights

Happy Valentine's Day, Hunt County! It seems a little strange for it to just now be Valentine's Day, since we've just completed our paper for the day after Valentine's Day, but the office is still abandoning its New Year's healthy eating resolutions for the afternoon, anyway.

Speaking of New Year's Resolutions: if you resolved to make a difference in the community this year (Or even if you didn't - because, really, don't you feel just a little bit guilty now that we mentioned it?), check out our front page story this week. We're helping to promote Project Graduation - an event held annually by Greenville High School that provides graduates with a drug and alcohol-free alternative to other, more dangerous graduation night celebrations. Of course, graduation is still some distance away, but, since Project Graduation relies entirely on donations by the community, they need your donations to help keep graduates out of trouble on graduation night. And the event works - about 90% of all GHS graduates take the substance-free pledge and attend Project Graduation. Click here to download this week's e-edition to find out how you can make a donation!

February 8th Edition Highlights

Valentine's Day is just a week away; do you know what you're getting for your sweetheart? You may be interested to know that this holiday hasn't always been the sparkly, diamond-encrusted celebration of monogamy that it is today. In fact, Valentine's Day may have began as the Luperci festival, a pagan holiday during which women entered their names into a drawing, and the man who chose a woman's name would be paired with her for the rest of the year. The festival was later sanitized for Christianity, and it eventually evolved into its modern-day incarnation. And while VD may be a cruel reminder of loneliness to single people and an expensive, stressful affair for partnered folks, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy taking advantage of a few good deals!

In this week's paper, Cavender's is advertising their sweetheart sale, where you can take advantage of price cuts on western wear. Shumardii's has specials for couples, from Friday, February 10th through Tuesday, the 14th. Clean As a Pin's ad features a Valentine's Day Special coupon that can be redeemed for 20% off your first cleaning. Awesome Blossom Florist in Quinlan is advertising arrangements of a dozen roses for $69.99, and chocolate-covered strawberries, $24.99 a dozen. There are plenty of other Valentine's-themed ads in this week's edition, so pick up a copy of the Shopper to get in on more warm and fuzzy deals!