Local events highlight basic truth of Fort Bend County

Greetings! It's been a few weeks since I've written a column. I hope that you haven't missed me TOO much. In my place, however, we've run columns by Lynn Ashby, who's written for our sister paper, The Leader in the Heights/Near Northside area, for many years.

You may remember Lynn from his time as a columnist, and later Editor, of the late, lamented Houston Post. As a matter of fact, reading his column as a young person was one my inspirations for going into journalism, so it's a great honor to welcome him into these pages.

While we had some rather dreary weather over the past week, you'll recall in the weekends just prior the weather was spectacular. That worked out well, as I had a family member visiting from out of state, and we were able to enjoy some great family-friendly entertainment offerings that I could also cover as stories for the paper. During that period, we were able to take in Missouri City's second annual Chalk Fest, the city's foray into the global street chalk- art movement that has been going on for about two decades. Expanded to two days this year, the event was impressive for the wide variety and caliber of artists it attracted.

The next weekend, we chalked up (get it?) two events in one day. First up was Missouri City's Edible Earth Fest, a celebration of learning about and protecting the environment which has been held for several years but has been growing by leaps and bounds. Next we headed over to Sugar Land's Crown Festival Park for the International

Ken Fountain, Managing Editor

Arts & Kite Festival, which drew hundreds of people from all over the Houston area and beyond. I'd been to the event once before, a few years ago, and it has expanded tremendously. The next weekend, I covered the inaugural In- novation Spark Fest at Sugar Land Town Square, dedicated to new technology, innovation and encouraging young people to consider pursuing careers in the STEM fields. Again, it was a beautiful day, and there were all kinds of people having a great time. Why do I bring all this up, you ask? Well, these events help illustrate a theme I've written about before, one that bears repeating from time to time: Fort Bend County is a great place to be, with much to offer in terms of cultural diversity and quality of life. And in this week's edition of the Fort Bend Star, you should find a copy of the latest version of The Guide, our occasional magazine celebrating all that is Fort Bend County. My colleagues and I worked hard putting The Guide together. While we may think we know the big picture of life in Fort Bend, getting a handle on all of it and breaking it down into an easily digestible publication was, I'll admit, a daunting prospect. But with great contributions from my editorial colleagues Landan Kulhmann and Laura White, plus the advertising support of John Sazma, I'm very proud of the finished product.

I hope you found a copy of The Guide in your newspaper. If not, you can find it at any of the places that your regularly pick up the paper. You can always contact us directly if you want to get some more copies. Contact me with any story suggestions, news tips, or if you just want to give me your take about what's happening in our fair county.