OAKHURST – Yosemite High School Badger Band and Percussion has a new leader as they march into the 2014-15 school year. Long-time YHS band instructor Randy Hyatt retired in June and officially handed the baton over to Francisco Marquez, an educator and conductor who graduated college Magna Cum Laude with a degree in music education. At any given time, Marquez ...

COARSEGOLD – The Coarsegold Rodeo Association has announced the availability of grant applications for donation or funding, open to any local nonprofit youth group or individual. “Every year we accept grant applications from any Eastern Madera County youth for their 4-H animals and FFA animals,” explained Jill Satterfield, vice president of the Coarsegold Rodeo Association. “We will accept the grant ...

Submitted by Robin Ward OAKHURST – The Yosemite Colts Baseball team ended its 2014 baseball season with James Gillaspy managing the team along with coaches Mike Howell and Cody Walden. The team has traveled as far down the state of California as Kingsburg, and as high up as Pismo beach.

OAKHURST – Branches Books and Gifts will host author Andrew J. Stillman on Wednesday, Aug. 6, from 5:30 – 7 p.m. Stillman is a 2007 graduate of Yosemite High School who will be signing his novel, Immortality Awaits: The Objects of Inwit, Book One.

OAKHURST – Opera lovers and others looking for a cultural treat that is appropriately relaxed for summer while being simultaneously free of charge, here’s a good bet. Two area students, Jocelyn Boe and Hunter Murphy, performed last weekend with Cal Opera, sponsored by the California Opera Association (COA) at the Fresno Art Museum (FAM), and plans are set for them ...

NORTH FORK – Sierra Mono Indian Museum has announced that the 44th Annual Indian Fair Days and Pow Wow, previously set for this Saturday, Aug. 2, has been rescheduled due to poor air quality as a result of the French Fire burning on the Sierra National Forest. That’s the bad news, and there’s also good news. The event has now ...

YOSEMITE – NatureBridge and Alcoa Foundation announced the 2014 NatureBridge Alcoa Scholars program. Twenty-four high school students were selected from more than 160 applicants from Alcoa communities around the world, representing 18 countries. This summer, these Scholars will participate in a 10-day program immersed in the wonder and science of Yosemite National Park while building connections with each other.

OAKHURST – Are you ready to stomp your feet, clap your hands, and sing along with the Yosemite Jazz Band? They’re entertaining at the Pizza Factory in Oakhurst on Thursday nights, now through September, from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. The band whose repertoire includes a mix of Dixieland, early swing, gospel, and traditional jazz is now celebrating 20 years in ...

YOSEMITE – Park Ranger Kari Cobb wants visitors to know that the Yosemite apple picking event set to take place in the Park on Wednesday, July 30, has been postponed. The 16th annual Apple Picking was previously scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Curry Village in Yosemite Valley. Ranger Cobb says the fruit plucking will be ...

AHWAHNEE – A group of like-minded individuals gathered at Ahwahnee Hills Regional Park on Monday, July 29, to break ground on the newest phase of renovation for the Oak Acorn Center, an interpretive community facility. Plans call for an existing building to be torn down, with portions of the old wood re-purposed and built into a new structure designed to ...