Rotary club celebrates centennial with fairgrounds festivities

The Wilbur Smith Rotary Club of Texarkana will celebrate a century of service to the community on Tuesday.

Held at the Four States Fairgrounds Entertainment Center from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., the evening’s festivities include a Naaman’s Championship BBQ dinner, dancing to the music of Chasing Rita, a social hour, bar, commemorative CD and much more. This birthday celebration is open to all.

“We’re doing a 100th birthday bash,” said Andi Darby, co-chairman of the Wilbur Smith Rotary Club’s Wilbur 100 Committee.

Darby’s dedicated the past year to research and gather the club history to put all of this information into a CD with photographs that tell the Rotary Club’s story. “It’s quite extensive,” she said. It will be running during the program, too, to give all a sense of the club’s accomplishments.

“Every couple that comes that wants one will get a commemorative CD,” Darby said, calling it “the history of our club for the 100 years.”

Rotarians from other Rotary Clubs bring their banner when they visit another club, so for this occasion the Wilbur Smith Rotary Club had a banner especially made for this birthday celebration. Fifty of them will be ready for visiting Rotarians.

The night’s schedule includes a welcome, invocation, pledge, special introductions, proclamation, club highlights, special recognition and, of course, the Four-Way Test that’s recited at all Rotary meetings.

Dinner starts at 6 p.m. with a program at 7 p.m. That’s followed by dancing and socializing. You can even have your photograph taken in front of a 6-foot by 8-foot banner depicting Wilbur Smith himself. Dress is business casual.

Chasing Rita performs music from the 1970s to today (rock, funk and R&B) with two acoustic guitars and hand percussion, putting the lyrics front and center in this music listening experience. The band features three great area musicians with both Scott Stuart and Tracy Davis on guitar and vocals and Wade Fowler Jr. backing them up on percussion.

Serving on the Wilbur 100 Committee are Alice Coleman, Andi Darby, Kathy Graves, Brian Goesl, Becky Law, David Orr, Larry Oxford, Richard Reynolds, Skylar Rogers, John Stroud and Camille Wrinkle. The Wilbur Smith Rotary Club meets Thursdays at noon at Texarkana Country Club.

(Tickets: $25. Sponsorships are available from $100 to $1,000. For more information or to buy a ticket, call Andi Darby at 903-244-4282.)