Oakland News 7/16/26
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It is hard to believe we are already staring down the calendar at school starting! The Oakland Chamber is once again hosting a Back to School Kick-Off. It’s from 10 am till noon, Sat., July 25, at the Swearengen Walking Track and Park. The Lions Club is collecting school supplies and those will be available along with sno-cones, hot dogs, water games, watermelon and more! Girl Scouts, 4-H, Vets for Youth and more will be on hand to share information about wonderful youth organizations in the area. Friends of the Library will be there and have patriotic themed bookmarks for students to color. One of the most fun events promises to be the Oakland Volunteer Fire Department providing a fire hose demonstration at 10 a.m.
Cossar State Park is presenting Dancing in the Park from 10 am-4 pm on Sat., Sept. 5. Vendors are invited and should call the office at 662-623-7356 and press 2 to get signed up. They will have the mechanical bull ride for $5 a ride. There will be a $2 entry fee at the Park Gatehouse.
Friends of Cossar State Park met this past Sunday afternoon and discussed the major projects for which they need more volunteers! If you can paint or help replace borders around the playground or if you have chain saws and want to help our Park, the major projects are to paint the playground equipment, put the new borders around the playground, and clear the hiking trail, the Friends of Cossar need you!
Congratulations to Oakland’s Pilgram Rest Church of God in Christ on their 62nd anniversary. Mary Ann Johnson, an active member there, shared that Pastor L.D. O’Bryant started the church and is still the Pastor! She said they started out meeting in people’s houses, then a chicken coop type house, then a traditional white church building and now they have one of the prettiest buildings in Oakland, out on Hwy. 51. Mayor Stephanie Patterson welcomed the people and Superintendent Michael C. Hickmon of Abundant Harvest in Charleston was the Guest Speaker. Ms. Johnson said people came from all over the state and some from Atlanta and Memphis to help celebrate the anniversary. After the service, they fed all of those folks estimated to be 250 to 300.
We had a wonderful group of parents and interested community members last week at our Montessori School community informational meeting. Brooke Fly, a long-time Montessori leader, shared information with us about the Montessori program. The five core areas of Montessori at all age levels include Practical Life, which includes everyday life skills such as learning to pour water, cleaning off tables, and practicing “grace and courtesy”; Sensorial skills which refine the five senses and teach children to observe, classify, compare and categorize; Mathematics; Language; and Cultural Studies which encompasses science, geography, history, botany, zoology and art and music. It has a fascinating history led by Maria Montessori who was an MD who developed the Montessori approach to education in the very early 1900s. Google her for more information. A few famous Montessori students include the founders of Google and the founder of Amazon.
My newest daughter-in-law, Rosy, is a child and family therapist and very knowledgeable about the Montessori program bought one of the special “learning toys” or Montessori materials for her 1-year-old and had it here at Mother’s this past weekend as we celebrated baby Huckleberry’s first birthday. She wanted to see how all the children of different ages played with it. It was really interesting to watch. They ALL, from age 12 to 9-month-olds, played and interacted with these large stone-like toys. They are a little like big turtle shells—one side is sort of hollow and the other is rounded a bit. The babies turned the components into a bowl and dropped things into those, learning to sort without even knowing it. The older kids stacked them and stood on top of the tower it created, some balancing on one leg! One of the older toddlers put one of the “bowls” on top of his head like a very large hat.
Rosy’s heritage is Korean so we had a really fun 1st birthday with a Korean tradition of placing items on a tray that represented different facets of life. Some were things like a long string for longevity or coins for wealth. Others were possible career choices with medicine represented by a stethoscope, leadership by a medallion, engineering and architecture by a pencil, agriculture by a tractor, law by a gavel, education by a book, and athletics by a ball. Each guest got to guess ahead of time what she would choose and dropped their name into a jar with a picture of the corresponding item. Then the tray is placed on the floor and the baby crawls to it and selects something. She had to chose it and hold on to it for a bit. She touched several, but finally selected the tractor! We then let the other two crawling babies do the same and they both chose the ball. It was fun. In our case, there were three people who had put their name in the tractor jar, so they each won a prize.
Just down the street, there was a baby shower for Nick Knowles and his wife Carrie who are expecting their first baby in September. We wish you much joy and happiness!
We have several in our community who we want to wish speedy recoveries. We are including Faye Tackett, Carol Williams, and Artie Hoff. I’m sure there are others, but these are the ones reported to me.
The Oakland Area Chamber is excited to welcome Lori Gray to our board. Lori is employed with Grays Power Supply. Grays is Oakland’s second largest employer and I am always amazed to find out what Michael Gray is planning next! Right now, he is building space to increase the size of the wine and liquor shop and to add several new businesses just off the interstate. If you are looking for space in Oakland, check out the space he is building just west of the Shell station.
One of Chamber members and biggest supporters is Cypress Creek Farms between Oakland and Coffeeville. Some just call it the watermelon shed, but they are in full swing and the melons are better than ever! Thanks to Cypress Creek for always donating to our events both as sponsors and with watermelons! It is a very large operation and while you and I can drive up and buy a few watermelons, cantaloupe, and other goodies, they have big 18-wheelers pulling in from all across the South getting loaded for buyers. Recently, a woman from Chicago showed up with a big truck and trailer and loaded up. Yalobusha County melons are literally going places we might not have ever imagined. Thanks to the Burneys and my sister, Janet Ross Caulder, for their support.
Thanks for reading and for telling me you are reading! It’s really nice when I get a note or run into someone who lets me know they enjoy seeing what’s going on in Oakland.
Huckleberry Choses Her Future–In the Korean tradition, when babies celebrate their first birthday, the baby choses from an assortment of items which may lead to a future career. Guess what Huckleberry chose!
Friends of Cossar–A planning group of Friends of Cossarmet recently with Park Manager Brandon Sims to discussprojects that the volunteer group can undertake to helpmake Cossar an even better park.
Brooke Fly in Oakland–Montessori leader Brooke Fly of Water Valley led a community information meeting in Oakland recently as interested parents and potential instructors met.
