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Ocracoke School Halloween Carnival
This Friday, ghouls and goblins haunted the Ocracoke School for the annual Halloween Carnival. The Halloween parade kicked off the evening events, followed by games, a haunted Howard Street spook walk, and Quizo (Ocracoke’s Bingo). Funds raised go to support school programming. Here are some pictures of this year’s parade participants.
Deviled Egg
Philip Howard Hosts Open House
Over this last winter and spring, Philip Howard has been renovating the historic Bragg/Howard house on Lawton Lane. Originally constructed by Thomas Bragg in 1865, the house was purchased and moved to its current location in 1893 by James and Zilphia Howard (Philip’s great-grandparents) as a wedding present for Homer and Aliph Howard.
The high waters of these past couple hurricane seasons prompted Philip to raise and restore the house in order to protect it as a contributing historic structure of Ocracoke Village. This last Saturday, Mr. Howard hosted an open house so that visitors and residents could tour the new/old house.
One of the most important dignitaries to visit the house over the weekend was Philip’s Aunt Thelma. Thelma (Lawton Howard’s sister) stayed in her childhood room and then headed back to her home in Grapevine, Texas. We enjoyed hearing her stories of growing up on Ocracoke and renewing our family ties with her daughter Becky, and Becky’s husband James.
Captain's Chair from the Shipwrecked Ariosto (Christmas Eve 1899)
Given to the Keeper of the Life Guard Station, James Howard,
by the Captain of the Ariosto
Outer Banks Community Foundation Holds Informational Meeting at Howard’s Pub
On Friday morning, the OBX Community Foundation hosted a “meet and greet” session at Howard’s Pub. The Foundation was founded by Andy Griffith, David Stick, Eddie Green and others in 1982 as a public charity to help meet local needs in Outer Banks communities from Corolla to Ocracoke Island. Since that time the Foundation has grown in membership as well as in assets and contributions.
The organization has recently made concerted effort to include more Ocracoke Island non-profits in its roster of supported organizations and has encouraged greater membership participation from Ocracoke residents and visitors. The Community Foundation mission supports the areas of Health and Human Services, Education, Arts, and Environment through grants and scholarships.
The Foundation has around 400 members that contribute annually, although the largest portion of its assets come from charitable trusts released to the foundation through patrons' wills. The Foundation’s funds have grown from $80,000 the year of its inception to over 5 million dollars in 2005. This year the foundation gave $10,000 to the Ocracoke Child Care for new construction, and about $4500 to the Ocracoke Preservation Society for the development of a climate controlled storage facility for artifacts.
For more information on the Outer Banks Community Foundation visit their website at http://www.obcf.org.
Off Island
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Here are some upcoming Molasses Creek/Ocrafolk Opry dates both on and off Ocracoke.
November 4 -- Gary and Fiddler Dave perform for a retreat of the Environmental Educators of North Carolina, 4-H Center near Columbia, NC. For more information on the organization visit their website at www.eenc.org. (Private event)
