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What a week it was last week. A time for celebration — our own Barrett Leverette becoming Mrs. Marcus Edge at First Baptist Church last Saturday. A time for sorrow, as we said goodbye to an amazing woman, Millie McDonald, who impacted generations of young people across our county and beyond. A time for jubilation, as months of hard work spent learning song lyrics and dance choreography, of sewing costumes and building props, culminated in three nights of theatrical magic on stage at The Ritz for “The Greatest Show Yet.”

As Nancy Idland, director of “Putting on the Ritz” mentioned on Facebook, people who think nothing ever goes on in a sleepy little southern town need to think again. Spring continues to abound with activities and opportunities to enjoy right here in our community and our county.

Hard to believe that May is already here, which means that Relay For Life is literally just around the corner — as in this Saturday, May 4, at the Butler County Fairgrounds. For me, Relay exemplifies what a community can do when it comes together for a common cause — in this case, the fight against cancer. As our sheriff Danny Bond pointed out at last week’s Survivors Luncheon, cancer does not discriminate. It affects us across the board, regardless of our age, race, sex, socio-economic status and other factors. We’ve all been impacted by it in one way or another.

If you haven’t already donated to team fundraisers, or contributed a sponsorship, or purchased a Luminaria or Torch of Hope, please consider doing so in the next couple of days. All cancer survivors are encouraged to come on out Saturday to be a part of the Survivors’ Walk kicking off the event. I and many others will be there to cheer you on, and I surely would like to capture your smiling face for posterity. 

I know some survivors will miss the opening part of Relay for a very good reason: they have children or grandchildren performing in “Junie B. Jones The Musical” at the Ritz Theatre at 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

Sonia Crigger and our local elementary school do a great job with this spring musicals and moving to the fabled stage of the Ritz last year just seems to inspire the kids to really “bring it” with their performances. I will be photographing their 1 p.m. performance on Friday for the schoolchildren.

And speaking of our schools and stage performances, this Sunday, the wonderful Montgomery Ballet returns to Greenville High School with another performance at 2 p.m. Tickets to these professional productions are only $12, far less than you would pay in the big city, and it is truly a treat to have these fine dancers performing in our own hometown.

Nothing goes on in this sleepy little town? Hardly! See you around and about.