News

The city of Graham will be celebrating Independence Day with a full showing of events Monday. The Kiwanis Pancake breakfast, Independence Day honors, Independence Day parade, Chalk the Walk and Fourth at the Fields fireworks display will make for a day of activities in Graham.

Events will be held from local veterans nonprofit groups, the Graham Chamber of Commerce and Graham Kiwanis Club through the help of local volunteers. Graham Chamber of Commerce Manager Lisa Shook said the first Monday in July will be packed with events for the community.

This Wednesday, First United Methodist Church will kick off its Our Daily Bread program at the church, providing a free hot meal and take-home sack supper every day until the beginning of August. Similar to last year, the program will be held inside and will not be offering a curbside pickup or delivery option.

The program welcomes all in the community and is held at  11:30 a.m. in the FUMC McCree Hall from Wednesday, July 6, through Friday, Aug. 12. The program was started in 2011  when FUMC member Bronwen Choate was in her final teaching year at Graham ISD.

As of Wednesday, an estimated 11,598-acre wildfire continued to burn in Palo Pinto County south of Graford as firefighters both in Palo Pinto County and surrounding counties as well as the Texas A&M Forest Service continue efforts to suppress the fire.

For 30 years, Virginia’s House has served as a nonprofit agency in Young County and dedicated itself to the needs of children and families of domestic and sexual abuse. The organization assists local law enforcement to see that these victims go through as little mental anguish as possible during the prosecution of their abusers and provides support to help with the healing process. The organization celebrated its 30th anniversary Thursday evening at the Old Post Office Museum and Art Center.

In late May, Greg Cotter opened South St. Arcade in Graham to answer a call from the community for an area youth activities center. Since its opening, the arcade has seen youth and their families come together at the location.

The Graham City Council Thursday appointed former Graham City Manager Larry Fields to serve in the position of interim city manager following the June 15 departure of Brandon Anderson from the position.

The council met Thursday, June 23 for a regular meeting and appointed Fields to serve in the position for a period of 90 days.

Fifty years ago the city of Graham placed a time capsule at Shawnee Park to be opened in 2022 with one of the items being a letter from 1972 Gov. Preston Smith addressing the current governor and the community of Graham. This year, after the capsule had been opened and over 300 letters distributed, Gov. Abbott sent a response addressing the city.

The city of Graham, in partnership with the local Texas Parks and Wildlife Game Warden and a contractor with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), hosted a town hall meeting Thursday discussing feral hogs and the damage they have caused within the city. Damage Management Urban Biologist Adam Henry with the USDA Wildlife Services spoke at the meeting on lethal and nonlethal solutions to address feral hogs within the community.

The Ryan Express is making a stop at the National Theatre in Graham. Facing Nolan, a new Nolan Ryan documentary from Graham High School graduate Russell Groves, will have two screenings; at 6 p.m. Friday, June 24 and again Tuesday, June 28 at 7 p.m. Tickets will be $5.

Featuring interviews by Ryan, President George W. Bush, Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, Randy Johnson, Rod Carew, Dave Winfield, Craig Biggio, George Brett, Roger Clemens and Pete Rose, Facing Nolan is the story of the Texas baseball legend told by the hitters who faced him and teammates who revered him.

In 1992, a group of concerned community leaders who saw a cycle of violence within families and wanted a solution to stop the problem formed the Young County Family Resource Center in Graham as a Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC). Eventually the organization became what it is now called Virginia’s House, and is celebrating 30 years of helping children and families this Thursday.