The 10th annual Kings Prairie benefit concert has been scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 8, at the historic school building and community center. Duke Mason will be back to headline the show.

The benefit concert, which is the main event of the year for the Kings Prairie community southeast of Monett, raises money for the upkeep and improvement of the 1948 school building that is used for various club meetings and group functions.

Area residents are getting ready for the next major holiday -- the Fourth of July.

The communities of Mt. Vernon and Marionville are planning major events.

With Marionville’s Applefest just around the corner, it is time to award the Betty C Cook Memorial Scholarship and come up with a theme for Applefest 2009.

Betty Cook was one of the original founders of Applefest 21 years ago. Every year Applefest committee members pick a theme and encourage Marionville students to write an essay pertaining to that theme and award the scholarship.

A summer food program is once again scheduled at the Verona School.

Officials note the program provides free breakfast and lunch for all children age 18 and under; anyone else may purchase breakfast for $1.50 or lunch for $2.50, said a school spokesman.

The Lawrence County Historical Society Museum opens for its 2009 season Sunday, May 24.
A special exhibit of school photographs, scrapbooks and memorabilia will be set up that day for those in town for the Mt. Vernon Alumni Reunion, as well as the general public, said a spokesman.