Harper, Texas, will celebrate 150 years!  It promises to be a great family event, beginning with a Cowboy Breakfast (by donation) at 8:00 a.m. at the Harper Community Park.  The parade begins at 10:00 a.m.  Other activities include a Dutch Oven cooking contest, tour of the Harper School, beard/mustache contest, 42 dominoes tournament, washer pitching, Extreme “Pinewood Derby” race, live music all day and evening dance featuring The New Age Out-Lawz.  There will be food and refreshment booths plus a BBQ dinner. For more information call (830) 739-8512.

Fredericksburg area residents and small business owners are invited to a solar workshop to learn about the nuts and bolts of solar water heating and electricity generation.

There is no fee to attend the event which is scheduledSaturday, May 18, from 9 a.m. to noon at Hill Country University Center, 2818 East U.S. Hwy. 290 in Fredericksburg.The event is an initiative of the clean energy subcommittee of Fredericksburg SHINES, a nonprofit organization showcasing Fredericksburg as the center of sustainability in Texas.

Michael Hurst, green builder and president of the Fredericksburg SHINES board of directors, said this workshop is the place to find answers. “Essentially, this event will cover questions and issues surrounding solar installation such as costs, placement and viable financing,” he said. “We really encourage anyone who has ever thought about solar energy—but dismissed it as too costly or too technical—to attend this workshop and learn how this exciting new energy source is overcoming those early challenges and is really now in reach of regular people and small businesses looking for sustainable, more environmentally friendly ways to live and operate from day to day.”

Introductory presenter for the workshop will be John Watson, a Corpus Christi native now living in Fredericksburg, who will recap his personal, multi-year journey from solar interest to actual installation of his solar energy system and, more recently, a solar water heating unit. Watson’s presentation will include a brief segment on an easy, money-saving way for almost anyone to harness the sun’s power for their benefit.

Thomas Isaac, chief executive officer of Techsun Solar, a solar water heater manufacturer, distributor and installation company headquartered in Martindale, TX, will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various residential and commercial solar thermal system designs.

Isaac, whose company has installed systems for NASA, the U.S. military, HUD and many commercial and residential entities, including the solar water heating system at the Watson home in Fredericksburg, will review common installation or design errors and the effects of hard water.

He will also discuss a solar water heating system’s financial return, its significant environmental impact and reasons it has not yet been more readily adopted in Texas.

John LaFleur, sales consultant with Native, Inc., of Austin, a green builder and a licensed installer of solar, rainwater collection and geothermal air-conditioning and heating systems, also will make a presentation at the workshop. The company installed Watson’s solar electric system in Fredericksburg.

David Peterson, P.E., director of engineering and operations at Central Texas Electric Co-op (CTEC), will be on hand to answer questions about CTEC members installing solar systems and connecting to the CTEC distribution system. CTEC does have a policyfor what is called “distributed generation” that addresses how a member may generate power while continuing to connect to the distribution system.

After the workshop concludes, local residents with solar installations will be available to talk about their personal experiences with solar technology.

Light refreshments will be available. While there is no charge to attend the workshop, reservations are encouraged for planning purposes. For more information or to reserve seats, call Watson at 830-997-3543, ext. 27, or email him at jwatsongreenliving@gmail.com.

Individuals and groups of the Fredericksburg Community Orchestras will present their Spring Concert this Saturday, May 18, beginning at 2 p.m. at the Evangelical Free Church in Fredericksburg.

The program is free and open to the public. Theresa Britt is conductor and director.

The Advanced Youth Ensemble begins the concert with Canon in D, by Pachelbel.

The FCO String Orchestra performs four pieces:
Concerto No. 9 in A Minor (Mvmt. I), DeBeriot, featuring Mary Beth McQueen on violin
Espana Waltz, Emil Waldteufel
Over the Rainbow, Harold Arlen & E.Y. Harburg
Sea Songs, Ralph Vaughan Williams

The remainder of the program features recital pieces by FCO Suzuki students on violin, cello, and viola.

The public is invited to enjoy refreshments following the performances.

FCO has two other events coming up in June. The Summer Strings Half Day Summer Camp takes place June 10-13, at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Fredericksburg. Cost is $95 per student.

The FCO fundraiser is set for June 13 at Luckenbach, TX. The orchestra and quartet will perform classical and fiddle tunes in an outdoor and informal concert setting, and host a barbecue dinner.

Information on all of these events is online at www.fredericksburgorchestra.com, via email at info@fredericksburgorchestra.com, or by calling (806) 549-2483. Anyone wishing to provide financial or volunteer support is invited to contact FCO.

The Fredericksburg Community Orchestra is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of string education in the Hill Country. The orchestra consists of community members of all ages. The mission of Fredericksburg Community Orchestras is to promote string education in Fredericksburg and surrounding communities.

The popular Rockets 2013 returns to the Hill Country on May 2–5, 2013, as students from 30 Texas high schools gather near Willow City to send up 60 rockets they built as part of Fredericksburg’s SystemsGo science program.

The public is again invited to visit the pre-launch prep area at the Willow City Fire House, and the actual launch site at Stewart’s Hillview Ranch, located north of Fredericksburg off the Willow City Loop.

The student teams design and build 8-foot tall models that will go up from one of six launch towers. First-year students attempt to send a one-pound payload one mile high. Second-generation projects send rockets past the speed of sound.

Plans call for a rocket to launch every 30 minutes between 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

In between launches, there will be activities, demonstrations, and tours for families. Food and restroom facilities will be available. Admission is free. Organizers remind the public that the area should be considered an experimental testing range. Schedule may vary, mobility will be limited, access will be controlled, and visitors need to be aware that this is the first flight of all rockets.

Direction signs will be posted. Maps to the site, launch schedule, and complete listings of activities are online at www.systemsgo.org. For online map searches and gps: N 30 degrees 24.470; W 98 degrees 40.91.

The SystemsGo Aeroscience program started in Fredericksburg High School in 1996 under the direction of teacher Brett Williams.

Williams had students build and launch rockets as a way to develop skills and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). In 2007, he invited teachers from five schools to launch their finished rockets. Today this program has spread across the state, been featured on NBC Nightly News, is endorsed by NASA and certified by The Space Foundation.

Fredericksburg Tennis Association‘s tournament for doubles and mixed doubles for partners who are 20 years or more different in age or parent/child.

Men’s and women’s doubles Sat at 8 AM.

Guests $5 per event.

At the tennis courts at Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park on Hwy 16 S and at Fredericksburg High School.  Call (830) 456-1758 for more information.

The Parish Societies of St Mary’s Parish (Knights of Columbus #9765, St Mary’s School PTC, Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission, Catholic Daughters, St Ann’s Society, & St Joseph’s Society) will be hosting a Lenten Fish Fry Dinner beginning on Feb 15th Every Friday evening throughout Lent, from 5-7:30 pm at St. Joseph’s Halle, as an opportunity for the entire community of Fredericksburg to join in a constructive community outreach.  The event is not viewed as a fundraiser but as an effort to bring together those of ALL faiths to meet for dialogue, discussion, and dining during the Lenten Season. For those who wish to attend, Stations of the Cross Devotion will occur on Fridays at 6pm in the Marien Kirche with plenty of opportunity to attend the meal following the devotion.  This is our 3rd year for this event and the support and attendance has been outstanding from the community over the past 2 years.   Meals to go will be available, but there is no drive thru as we are hoping that people will wish to stay, meet new people, visit with old friends, and socialize during the event. Call Darin Holmes 456-1999 for more information.

Turner Hall is having its annual Pork B-B-Q Dinner on Sunday, March 4, 2012 at 103 W Travis Street. Serving starts at 11:00 am. $8.00 donation per plate. To go plates only.

A Turn Verein (that’s the Texas spelling of Turnverein) was orginally a gymnastic and social club begun in 1811 in Germany by Friedrich Ludwig Jahn.  Turn Veriens were established all over the country promoting gymnastics and calisthenics, and Turners contributed to the standardization and popularization of bowling nationwide.

Since 1854 there have been twenty-eight turnvereins in twenty-one Texas communities, some with over 600 members. As soon as possible after formation, all acquired halls spacious enough to accommodate gymnastics. Whether simple frame structures or elaborate masonry complexes housing bowling alleys, ballrooms, theatres, and saloons, nineteenth-century Texas Turner halls were often centers of community life. Financing came primarily from dues and rental and sale of property, although tax incentives and rent-free buildings for community service projects were sometimes provided. In 1984 six Texas turnvereins remained active: Boerne, Comfort, Fredericksburg, Houston, La Bahía, and San Antonio. Turners, however, have contributed much more than buildings. Though begun as gymnastic societies, most vereins also had social, intellectual, and benevolent goals. Houston’s Turners cared for the sick and needy, established schools, and provided dramatic and musical entertainment for the public. Turners organized elaborate Fourth of July celebrations for their towns or counties and made turnverein parks, gymnasiums, and bowling alleys available for general use. Most significant, Turners founded several of the first volunteer fire departments and provided fire protection for years. The Houston and Fredericksburg clubs received citations for this work. The 1870s were the heyday of turnvereins in Texas, with fifteen new clubs organized, both by second-generation German Texans and by Turners from other states. -

Mary Lou LeCompte, “TURNVEREIN MOVEMENT,” Handbook of Texas Online(http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/vnt02), accessed February 15, 2011.

Fasching Fredericksburg, the 9-day celebration of German Karneval, continues with the Fasching Ball on Saturday, Feb 9, and Fat Tuesday on Tuesday, Feb 12.

The Fasching Ball will be held at the Hangar Hotel, from 7 pm to 11pm. This event is a formal costume ball filled with Ice Sculptures, Vodka Bar, Bourbon Bar, Cigar Suite, Kabarett-style entertainment by Fredericksburg Theater Company, and live jazz combo Altered 5. Guests will also enjoy catered serving stations by premier Fredericksburg restaurants August E’s, Vaudeville, and The Herb Farm. Ticket prices are:

$150 Individual Ticket
$1500/Table for 4
$2800/Table for 8
$3900/Table for 12

Fat Tuesday is the traditional Mardi Gras part to be held at Lincoln Street Wine Bar, from 4 pm until midnight. Organizers describe this as a New Orleans-style street party with a Hill Country flair. The event begins in the afternoon, with activities for the whole family, including live music, a children’s parade, face painting, and costume contest. Beginning around 7 pm, the activities shift to a more adult crowd, with more live music, contests, and crowning of the Fasching King & Queen. Ticket prices: $10 Individual Ticket/Tables of 10 for $200

Tickets for all Fasching Fredericksburg events can be purchased online at www.FaschingFredericksburg.com, or by calling 830-998-1981.

Plans are set and the public is invited to Fest Nacht, the kickoff event of Fasching Fredericksburg, on Saturday, Feb 2, 2013, from 7 pm until midnight at MarktPlatz in downtown Fredericksburg.

Inspired by the German Mardi Gras, Fest Nacht is described as the Rock-n-Roll party of the year. Guests are encouraged to put on their most outrageous costume and get ready to enjoy a night of music, dancing, laser light show, fun, and fundraising. Refreshments are BYOB.

The party features Memphis Train, a 9-piece dance band that delivers R&B, soul, funk, Motown, Disco and jazz music all night long. Other entertainment includes a laser light show, contests, and a table decorating contest with a theme of “make believe roadies.” The venue will be open all morning for table setup.

Individual tickets for Fest Nacht are $60 each, with tables of 10 available for $495. Fest Nacht is a fundraiser for two area nonprofits: Hill Country Community Needs Council and
PAWS.

Fest Nacht is the kick-off for Fasching Fredericksburg – the 10-day German Karneval, a time of festivity, fun, and fundraising. Other public events include the Fasching Ball on Saturday, Feb 9, and Fat Tuesday on Tuesday, Feb 12, at Lincoln Street.

Have you ever tried to solve the mystery behind your land heritage in Gillespie County? When looking over the title to your property, have you found a myriad of names which are still a mystery? When involved in land title searches have there been questions which may have been puzzling to you. What is the difference between a land patent and a land grant? Have you ever wondered about the differences in the terrain of the land today compared to the early days of this county?

Gillespie County Historical Society is sponsoring a symposium entitled, “Solving the Mystery of Your Land Heritage” on Saturday, January 26, 2013 to help you find the answers to these and many other questions. The morning sessions begins at 8:45 with coffee, doughnuts and registration in the Social Hall of the Historical First Methodist Church located on the grounds. Entrance is located at 312 W. San Antonio Street. The symposium will feature speakers who can guide the general public to discover the story of the land in the Texas Hill Country and how it was acquired by the German immigrants in the 1840s in the days of the Republic of Texas.

Speakers for the morning sessions are Bill Lindemann, President, Hill Country Land Trust; Kevin Klaus, Information Specialist in the Texas General Land Office Archives and Records Program in Austin, Texas; Mary Lynn Rusche, County Clerk; and Charles Ottmers, Retired Surveyor. The registration fee is $25 to the general public and $20 for students or members of the Gillespie County Historical Society. To pre-register, call 830-997-2835 or register on location on the day of the event.

The morning sessions will conclude with lunch on your own. The afternoon program is a field trip to the Hershey Ranch near Stonewall to observe how the good land management has protected the ecology of the land granted to the early immigrants. The Ranch is located on FM 1623 about five miles past Stonewall.