Members of the Wills Point community gathered to hold a special drive-by Thanksgiving parade for the residents and staff of Crestwood Assisted Living Nov. 20. Many of the parade’s participants, which included city officials, the Wills Point Police Department, Wills Point Fire Department, local business owners and WPISD staff and students, decorated their vehicles with special signs to mark the occasion before making multiple passes in front of the facility as residents waved and cheered safely from the sidewalk.

The number of confirmed and probable (those with COVID-19 positive antigen tests) local coronavirus cases saw another sizeable jump last week, increasing from 1,399 on Nov. 16 to 1,539 as of Nov. 20 according to the Northeast Texas Public Health District.

The office of Texas State Comptroller Glen Hegar offered a rosy outlook on the local economy in a Nov. 12 press release, noting that Canton, Edgewood, Edom, Fruitvale, Grand Saline, Van and Wills Point had all exceeded their performance in sales tax revenue collections for the month when comparing against the November 2019 collection totals.

For the 10th consecutive year, Dr. Kimberly Neiman, DDS of Wills Point and students from the Wills Point ISD combined their efforts to collect candy for the Sweets for Soldiers campaign.

The Myrtle Springs Alumni Association received a welcome bit of good news last week, receiving a $9,000 grant from the Wood County Electric Charitable Foundation for needed repairs to help replace the leaking roof of the old Myrtle Springs School Building. Those present for the check presentation included Association President Tresea Stringer and fundraisers Bill and Ida Rusk. Story on 3A.

The Wills Point Community Angel Tree (“WPCAT”) is a community-wide, annual donation program that provides Christmas gifts for children in families facing financial hardship during the holiday season. The goal of WPCAT is to make sure that each child (from newborns to high school seniors) receives a new outfit with shoes and a coat along with some nice toys, and that each family receives a box of food and a turkey, hen or ham.