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For over three decades, Derrick Days has been a highly anticipated annual celebration of Corsicana's rich history.

Brad Haynie and crew have things well in hand for Derrick Days 2008. To ensure this years event is as good if not better than years past, the Derrick Days committee has been meeting and planning, once a month, since October, 2007.

With ?Derrick Days Saturday? set for April 26, and additional activities set earlier in the week, we?ll once again gather to celebrate spring and Corsicana?s oil heritage in fun fashion in the streets of downtown Corsicana.

To date, about 35 arts and craft vendors and 17 food vendors have signed up for the Saturday affair. With the classic car show, the city basketball tournament, the chili cookoff and a whole bunch of entertainment lined up, it?ll be quite a day.

And of course, Brad has promised perfect weather!

Thursday, April 24th
VOICE will have its fourth annual spring luncheon as part of the Derrick Days kick-off. This year?s luncheon will be at noon at First United Methodist Church, 320 N. 15th St. The guest speaker will be longtime Corsicana physician Dr. Neal Green, who will delight the audience with his humor. There will be a pre-celebration on the evening before hosted by Corsicana Salon and Day Spa. To offer sponsorship or to purchase a table, contact Gina Dieterichs at (903) 872-0180 or gdieterichs@voiceinc.org.

Friday, April 25th
Street Dance ( 8:00 p.m. to Midnight) with live performance by Ryan Payne and The Cannons, stage located at the intersection of Collin and Commerce. There will also be a fireworks display after dark.

Link: Derrick Days

The Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League (BFL) is having it's Cowboy Division tournament on Richland Chambers Reservoir on April 26, 2008. The one day event is the division's fourth qualifying event of the year.

The event will be launching from Oak Cove Marina that morning and the weigh in promises to be an exciting time for angler's and visitor's alike.

The $8.8 million Wal-Mart Bass Fishing league is nationwide with regional divisions. Competitors are randomly paired for the tournaments and boat owners compete with other boat owners while the co-anglers compete with one another.

Following the end of regular season competition, the top 40 boaters and top 40 co-anglers in the Cowboy Division will advance to the Regional Championship. Then the top six boaters and co-anglers will advance to the All-American tournament and compete for a total purse of $1 million.

The event is bringing 400 plus people to our community April 25-26 and merchants and hotels will see additional activity as a result.

The Corsicana Development
Corporation a committee of the Corsicana/Navarro County Chamber of Commerce has
contributed funds for advertising the event.
The Richland Chambers Reservoir/Hwy 287 committee of the
Corsicana/Navarro County Chamber of Commerce has been working with Oak Cove
Marina owner, Jerry Jordan to help with the logistics of parking, launching and
set up. They also have put together
promotional items that will be handed out to the tournament participants. These items donated by Corsicana merchants are usable items plus
discounts for dining.

Media Contacts:

Jerry Jordan, Oak Cove Marina 903-872-0888
Bruce Howard, RCL/Hwy 287 Committee 903-641-0549
James Grigar, RCL/Hwy 287 Committee 903-874-5298
Paul Hooper,
Corsicana/Navarro County
Chamber of Commerce 903-874-4731

A Community Assessment conducted by the Community Services Center of The University of Texas at Arlington School of Social Work, and funded by United Way of Navarro County, is available to interested residents, community leaders, businesses and other organizations. Choose either a brief summary of findings or review the full report.

The Navarro County Community Assessment has revealed significant resources, opportunities and challenges facing residents, community leaders, businesses and other groups and organizations. Some of the biggest concerns are shared by communities across the nation; these include lack of access to health and mental health care, poverty and household economic instability, transportation, unemployment, youth development, and disparities between racial and ethnic groups. However, it is the uniqueness of Navarro County that both complicates these issues and offers opportunities for creative community solutions.

A great strength of Navarro County is that it offers residents the advantages of living in a community that is small enough to promote a sense of connectedness to each other, but large and philanthropically robust enough to provide good educational and cultural opportunities. These community assets serve as a foundation to develop strategies to address the problems that seem to disproportionately affect individuals and families struggling with economic instability, health and mental health concerns, and difficulties accessing needed services.

Navarro County?s greatest challenge is to ensure that all residents share the ability to attain good health and well-being, engagement in community affairs, opportunities for economic growth, thriving neighborhoods, and a sense of belongingness. To work toward these ends, we recommend:

• Establishing both prevention and intervention strategies using an asset based community development model to address key issues such as health and mental health care access, transportation, unemployment, youth development, drug trafficking and substance abuse



• Engaging a wide array of community stakeholders in planning and strategic development opportunities, and promoting broader race and ethnic diversity among community leaders



• Improving networking and coordination among existing service delivery systems, as well as better information collection, utilization and assessment



• Designing economic development activities that are likely to benefit local businesses as well as offer opportunities for low income populations to improve their financial stability

Link: United Way

The new Corsicana/Navarro County Chamber of Commerce website has been in the planning and developing stage for about one year. Now the redesigned and functionally enhanced site is ready to launch. Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Paul Hooper decided on January 30th 2008 as date to switch from the old to the new website.

Concept, design and functions for the website were developed in close cooperation and almost daily communication between the Executive Chamber President Paul Hooper, and the web development agency Enantiomeric, represented by Thomas Pfueller. Paul Hooper's main focus was to make the website attractive for local residents as well as people who want to inform themselves about the area, be it because of a visit, or because they want to relocate to Navarro County.

The redesigned and restructured Members Area along with the Members Directory provides local business with the opportunity to "get the word out". New features that can be utilized by Chamber members include a short business description, upload of business logo plus up to three additional pictures, and additional text sections for detailed description of business and services. Furthermore Chamber members can submit tags or keywords that are attached to their listing. This, along with generally enhanced search functions, is another way for website users who browse the directory to find businesses through these keywords. It is up to the Chamber Members in how far they want to utilize the Members Area - they are now in full control of their listing.

Another focus of the new website is the Events Calendar. While already existing on the old website, the new version of the Calendar is more user-friendly, especially if someone wants to print out events: A monthly calendar can be pulled up customized for print, with the events listed with the single days, and contact information for these events separate on a second page. Ideal for example just to print and stick to your billboard!

With so many new sections, not all content/sections can be filled initially, but more and more content will be added in the weeks after the new site goes online. We are looking forward to hearing from you, no matter if it is feedback that you enjoyed your stay on the Chamber website, or if you have suggestions what we can improve or which functions you would like to see added.

Your Corsicana Chamber of Commerce Staff

Email: Corsicana Chamber of Commerce

Welcome to Corsicana, a growing community, rich in heritage and flourishing with friendly people. We call Corsicana the place where "Country Meets Culture." Simply stated, that means you?ll find everything here from armadillos to antiques, from rodeo to rare cival war documents, and from fruitcakes to fine western art. Whether you spend a day, a weekend, or a lifetime in Corsicana, you?ll find it a great place that offers a chance to escape the fast-paced city life.

Discover the arts and live entertainment at the Palace Theatre and Warehouse Living Arts Center, or spend hours touring the Pearce Civil War Museum or Western Art Gallery. While there, take in the shows at Texas? largest planetarium at the Cook Education Center on the Navarro College campus.

If you prefer outdoor recreation visit us in April for our annual event, Derrick Days. And take advantage of our wonderful community parks or make the short trip to Richland-Chambers Lake considered "Texas? Newest Coast," with 330 miles of shoreline.

Link: Online Visitor Guide