The Moultrie County Historical and Genealogical Society will not have a December or January monthly meeting but will begin the monthly meetings in February. The Heritage Center will close for the holidays at 3 p.m. Monday, December 22 and open at noon Saturday January 3, 2015.
Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White announced that all offices and driver services facilities will be closed on Wednesday, December 24 and Thursday, December 25, in observance of the Christmas holiday.
All driver services facilities will reopen for regular business Friday, December 26.
Individuals may visit the Secretary of State’s website, www.cyberdriveillinois.com, to locate the nearest driver services facility and the hours of operation. In addition, drivers may use the website to change an address, register to become an organ and tissue donor or renew license plate stickers.
The News•Progress will be out on news stands next Tuesday afternoon as opposed to Wednesday. As a result, the NP office will be closed on Dec. 24 and 25 and will reopen Friday, the 26th.
For more information, call our office at 728-7381.
The Sullivan school district has rescheduled the truth in taxation hearing for 7:30 a.m. Thursday December 18.
The recent change in date marks the second rescheduling of the hearing as the original was slated for this past Monday’s school board meeting. The district had to reschedule the hearing twice due to errors in the legal notice notifying the public of the hearing. Next Thursday’s hearing will be held at the high school in the media center.
For more information, contact the Sullivan school district at 728-7211.
The News•Progress will be accepting letters to Santa up until this Friday at 5 p.m.
Letters may either be dropped of at the NP office located at 100 W. Monroe in Sullivan, or emailed to santa2014@newsprogress.com
Santa letters will appear in next week’s special greetings section.
For more information, call 728-7381.
The Okaw Valley Drama Club will host a Soup Supper before the boys’ basketball game on Friday, December 12 from 5-7 p.m. in the high school cafeteria.
Menu items will include chili or cheese soup, ham and cheese sandwich, various desserts and tea or lemonade. For more information about pricing, call the OVHS office at 665-3631.
The Timberwolves will take on the Tri-County Titans. Basketball play will start at 5 p.m. with a Fresh/Soph game and the JV and varsity games will immediately follow.
The OVHS Drama Club produces two plays a year, with their most recent comedy “Game of Tiaras” occurring this past November. The group is set to hold auditions in January and begin rehearsals for their April 24 and 25, 2015 performances of the musical comedy “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”
The First United Methodist church in Bethany will host a Christmas concert on December 14 beginning at 6 p.m.
The Bethany community choir as well as brass and audience sing-along will be featured.
Refreshments will follow the concert.
Several festive happenings are set for this Saturday:
• Hometown Holidays Parade in Sullivan, 12 p.m. start
• Santa’s Workshop at the Sullivan American Legion, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
• Christmas on Main Street in Bethany, 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
• Santa at the Bethany Depot, 10 a.m.-noon
• Dance Station Performance in Bethany, 11:30 a.m.
• Christmas Tree Lighting at Bethany Depot, 5 p.m.
• Sparrow’s Annual Auction in Lovington at the East End, serving begins at 4:30 p.m., auction at 5:30 p.m.
The Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond FFA is sponsoring a canned food drive December 8-12. Students are encouraged to bring in canned food items by 8 am school days and after school until 3:45 p.m. The food drive is also being extended to the local communities as well. The goal this year is to collect at least 1000 cans to help all of the communities that make up the Arthur School District. In order to help achieve this goal, to gain admission to the girls’ basketball game December 8 and the boys’ basketball game December 9, the public is encouraged to bring at least two canned goods for children/students and three canned goods for adults.
Santa Claus is coming Saturday, December 13 from 9 a.m. to noon at the Lake Shelbyville Visitor Center.
Children of all ages and their families are welcome to stop in and see Santa. All who attend will receive a free photo print with Santa as well as some water safety items from Bobber the Water Safety Dog. Photos of the event will also be made available for download on the Lake Shelbyville U.S. Army Corps of Engineers facebook page following the event.
Santa’s elves will be busy making crafts with the children and serving complimentary hot chocolate, milk and cookies. This visit with Santa is provided free of charge by the Lake Volunteers Association, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. For additional information, contact the Lake Shelbyville Project Office at 217-774-3951, ext. 2.