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Today’s Activities

The Badin Sunshine Club meets this morning in the fellowship hall of Badin Baptist Church at 10:30 a.m. Everyone is invited to come for the program given by special guest and bell ringer Catherine Hilton.

A covered dish lunch will follow. Please bring a dish to share.

Children are invited to the Badin Library for Storytime and Crafts at 10:30 a.m.

Badin Elementary

It’s Title I STEM Night at Badin Elementary this evening from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Bring the family and enjoy hands-on science activities at a variety of stations.

Field Day is April 25. Times vary by grade level. Kindergarten to second grade events are from 9-10:30 a.m., then third to fifth grade events are from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Children will get wet and should bring a change of clothes. Parents and friends are welcome to attend and view the activities from the spectator’s area.

Congratulations to the Watts’ Battle of the Books team — seven students plus coaches — who were named 2024 champions of the recent county-wide competition. And to four other Badin Elementary students who were winners of the Stanly County Arts Council’s Bookmark Contest. Great job, everyone.

Badin VFD Community Outreach Day

Everyone is invited to the VFD Firehouse on Lou Donaldson Boulevard for Community Outreach Day in Badin, May 4 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

This free event is another way Badin VFD seeks to serve this community. Meet firefighters and first responders, observe firefighting demonstrations and get medical checks.

Face painting and bounce houses will be available for the kids, as well as food stands.

Limb & Brush

Limb and brush pickup is May 7. Please have yard debris curbside by 8:30 a.m.

Better Badin and Litter Patrol

Better Badin Litter Patrol is looking for manpower to spruce up the streets and sidewalks of Badin before the Loch Badin Celtic Festival. Anyone who can help may meet at the town gazebo May 10 at 8:30 a.m. Bring a trash-grabbing tool. Gloves, vests, and bags will be furnished.

Volunteers for two-hour shifts are also needed for the Loch Badin Celtic Festival.

Membership in Better Badin isn’t a requirement.

Anyone interested in helping may email contact@better-badin.org.

Palestine Community Church

The Badin Backpack ministry continues until May 22. Some of the food items needed are peanut butter, jelly, snack crackers, graham crackers, pudding or fruit cups, Chef Boyardee cans, single serving cereal boxes.

Loch Badin Celtic Festival and Highland Games

This year’s expanded festival and games will take place at the 1913 Badin Inn, 107 Spruce St., and offer free public entry.

The festival opens at 10 a.m. and closes at 6 p.m. Bring chairs and blankets. Visitors may park in the Alcoa lot on Lou Donaldson Boulevard. Shuttles will be available. Note, only ADA service dogs will be permitted.

The schedule of events on the grounds of the Badin Inn is as follows:

• Highland Games will be throughout the day;

• 10 a.m. – Festival Opens;

• Cellar Creek Highland Cows are available until 2 p.m.;

• 10:15 a.m. – Dancers from Annandale Center for Scottish Dance;

• 10:45 a.m. – Pipe & Drum Processional with NCSU Pipes & Drums and An Gorta Mor Memorial Pipes & Drums;

• 11 a.m. – Opening Ceremony;

• 11:30 a.m. – Annandale Dancers;

• noon – Raglan Road, guitarist and vocalist Trip Rogers and multi-instrumentalist Neil Anderson;

• 1 p.m. – Pipe & Drum Performance;

• 1:30 p.m. – Mountain Muse, traditional Celtic folk tunes with fiddle and vocals;

• 2:30 p.m. – Military Appreciation Council Parade presented by the Scottish American Military Society;

• 3 p.m. – Raglan Road;

• 4 p.m. – Mountain Muse; and

• 5 p.m. Awards.

Tour of the Narrows Dam

In conjunction with the Loch Badin Celtic Festival, a rare opportunity will be given for public tours of the historic Narrows Dam.

Better Badin offers shuttle rides from Falls Road at a cost of $5 per person, from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Children 10 and under may ride for free. Employees will provide tours of the powerhouse.

Badin and Palestine News is by Jo Grey. Announcements for the next column may be emailed to jo.greync@gmail.com.