Entertainment
Published Weekly      Balch Springs, Texas          Phone: (972) 926-8503        Fax: (972) 450-1397

Balch Springs Sentinel    Balch Springs, Texas  Phone: (972) 926-8503      Fax: (972) 450-1397
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Entertainment
Women’s Business Expo Draws Record Crowd 

David Ross
Staff Writer

  Dozens of clothing designers, manufacturing representatives, organizations, realtors, financial companies, home, personal  and other products and services exhibitors catered to hundreds of shoppers at the recent  3rd Annual Women’s Expo that was held at the Balch Springs Civic Center / Library-Learning Center. Sponsored by the Balch Springs Chamber of Commerce, the expo offered an opportunity to focus community awareness on businesses in Balch Springs.
  “This is about the biggest crowd that we have every drawn,” said Balch Springs Chamber president Sandra Wood, as shoppers filled the two facilities to capacity.
  Among the exhibitors were: Accion Texas, American National Bank, Balch Springs Visual & Performing Arts Alliance, Balch Springs Senior Center, Celebration Station, Cheldan Homes, Cowboy Church, Elegant Beauty Supply, Everlasting Waterless Products, Fresh Start Janitorial Service, H&R Block, KB Home, Nkisi Roots Collection, Persnikety Two, Scentsy Wickless, Searchlight Publications, Spence Park Baptist Church, SuzyQ Jewelry Designs, Tatika’s Treasures, The Avon Man, Tupperware, U.S. Small Business Administration, Weekend Reader Book Shop and X-Pressions Designer Baskets & Fashions.
  Besides shopping, visitors also helped themselves to food samples and product giveaways. Music, a youth karate exhibition and dancing rounded out the expo festivities.
Disney On Ice’s Tetona Jackson Skates into Metroplex in March and April

DALLAS - Tetona Jackson has plenty to celebrate right now. After years of skating, voice and dance classes, the Los Angeles native has landed a principal role in the newest show from Disney On Ice, Disney On Ice presents Let’s Celebrate!  Feld Entertainment’s latest ice production features a magical montage of Disney characters celebrating holidays and festivals from around the world.
   This will be the first time audiences see the characters of Princess Tiana, skated by Jackson, and Prince Naveen, live on ice, from Walt Disney Pictures’ The Princess and the Frog. When asked how she feels about bringing this particular character to life on the ice, Jackson replies, “I am excited to be able to portray the new character of Princess Tiana. I love the music and the skating choreography is so much fun!”
   Jackson, an artistic champion and overall bronze medalist at the 2006 National Showcase, a theatrical skating competition sponsored by the United States Figure Skating Association (USFSA), originally joined Feld Entertainment in 2007, skating the role of Taylor McKessie in Disney’s High School Musical: The Ice Tour.
   “I’ve been very fortunate,” says Jackson. “I’ve been able to do what I love and bring joy to millions across the country, what’s not to celebrate?”
  Disney On Ice presents Let’s Celebrate! combines classic and contemporary Disney songs, an original storyline, brilliant costumes and high-energy action that will have audiences celebrating some of the world’s most popular events right in their hometown-from Halloween with the Disney Villains, to a Valentine’s Day Royal Ball featuring the Disney Princesses.
   In a fun-packed, ice extravaganza, more than 50 characters from 16 Disney stories will converge and take audiences on a thrilling world tour to exotic destinations like Brazil for a Carnivale parade, Hawaii for a luau party and Japan for a Cherry Blossom festival.
  “Disney On Ice presents Let’s Celebrate! gives families a reason to celebrate no matter what time of year it is,” says Producer Kenneth Feld. “This uplifting and unforgettable spectacle showcases different celebrations around the globe, and families will walk away remembering to celebrate the everyday joys and successes in their lives.”
   You can catch Jackson and the entire cast of Disney On Ice presents Let’s Celebrate! at American Airlines Center, March 24-28, and Fort Worth Convention Center, April 2-4.  With prices ranging from $15 to $75, tickets are available at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 800-745-3000.  Tickets may also be purchased at Ticketmaster Retail Locations, including Macy’s and Fiesta stores, or by purchasing them at the arena’s box office.
Article to right: This will be the first time audiences see the characters of Princess Tiana, skated by Tetona Jackson.
Article to right: Ladies speaking at one of the booths for Women's Business Expo.
VINTAGE LURES STILL CATCH BASS  Luke Clayton

You might say I trained as an apprentice fishing guide as a kid. My Mother was an avid bass angler but back in the fifties and early sixties, her fishing tackle was limited. She fished with a steel rod and level wind reel. Her only lure was a battered old Baby Lucky 13 plug. If my memory serves me correctly, it was red and white. I was a regular tag-along on these bass outings, I was usually dunking live minnows under a floater for largemouth and crappie. When Mom’s lure wound up in the limbs of a willow or snagged on a stump, I was her on-board retriever. She was a pretty good caster but even in the best of hands, those old level wind reels were hard to cast accurately. I spend a good amount of time retrieving the lure and… placing her bass on a stringer! Through the years, she caught a ton of bass on that old lure and Dad regularly sharpened and replaced the hooks.
Just this past week, I had the opportunity to head down to Trinity County to spend a couple days hunting, bass fishing and photographing wild hogs with my buddy Mark Balette. Mark offers hunts for hogs and exotics on his ranch and fishing for trophy bass on a 20 acre lake situated back in the woods. Mark and I usually engage in a good natured fishing ‘contest’. We do keep track of who catches the most bass and the winner enjoys bragging rights around the evening campfire.
  We arrived at the lake just after sunup, screwed the Torqeedo electric motor on the transom of his aluminum boat, and headed across the lake to a stump field that was situated a few yards from the deep creek channel that feeds the lake. The setting called for top water fishing. I watched a heron take wing from the shoreline, there was obviously baitfish up shallow; the bass should be receptive. “Let’s tie on some top waters and see what happens,” Mark suggested. As an outdoors writer, I am kept pretty well supplied with the newest innovations in fishing lures and as I removed a brand new ‘sure fire’ top water plug from its container, Mark grabbed a vintage old plug from the bottom of his tackle box.  He added “Think I can outfish you with this old antique?” It was a Baby Lucky 13, red and white, just like my Mother used to use! “I replied with something like “No way, these modern day bass won’t ever go for that old  antique, they want ‘cutting edge’ baits, like the one I’ve got tied on!”
My plug hit the water first. I let it set about 30 seconds then, began a ‘walking the dog’ retrieve. About the time I was making my second cast, Mark’s plug hit the water. One jerk of the rod and the lakes tranquil surface exploded! My buddy was hooked solidly to a chunky 5 pounder. During the next couple  hours, until the bright skies pushed the surface feeding bass into the vegetation, I watched the old plug catch 3 bass for every one I caught with my ‘state of the art’ lures. Feeling a bit sorry for me, I guess, Mark insisted I fish with his vintage lure. I was happy to learn it was the bait, not the fisherman’s presentation that the bass preferred. My Mom’s favorite old lure worked just as well last week as it did a half-century ago on the farm ponds where we fished.
  Lake Fork guide Larry Large concurs that old lures still catch bass. “Many plugs such as the Jitterbug and Hula Popper are in production today. The old baits still catch fish, most modern-day bass anglers stick with the more highly publicized and advertised ‘modern’ lures. It could be that today’s bass are attracted to the old baits simply because they haven’t gotten accustomed to them.” says Large.
Large uses a wide variety of baits to keep his clients in the action but says he still prefers the old  Devil’s Horse, manufactured by Smithwick Lures. “I’ve fished with the Devil’s Horse since I was a kid. You never see anyone fishing with them here on Fork but they are absolutely deadly when bass are on a top water bite.”
The Jitterbug is another old but productive top water plug that I am pretty sure is still in production. With a concave cup or bill in the front, the Jiggerbug creates quiet a ruckus when retrieved. When pulled through the water at a fast clip, the bait stands up in the front and wiggles from side to side. I no longer have any of my older Jitterbugs but plan to order a few for my next trip bass trip. I remember well hard a surface feeding bass hammers these noisy little plugs. 
  If you are a newcomer to bass fishing (when you’ve fished as long as I, a newcomer is someone that has taken up the sport in the past 20 years!), give these old lures a chance to prove themselves. Chances are pretty good they will work as well for you as they did for my Mom 50 years ago.  My buddy’s Lucky 13 did a great job making this point crystal clear last week!
Outdoor tip of the week: Baitfish are spawning now in shallow water along the shoreline. During the first couple hours of daylight each day, a smorgasbord of gamefish move shallow to feed. A ‘sure fire’ method of collecting enough white bass or catfish for a big fish fry is to use a small throw net during early morning to catch shad. Simply thread the baits on a wire crappie hook with a split shot crimped about 8 inches above and keep the baits within a few yards of shore. I use 17 pounds test for this type fishing; the wire hooks are easy to pull loose when they hang up on brush and roots. A 4 foot castnet (opens to 8 feet) is pretty easy to learn to throw and makes catching bait easy. As a rule, game fish move shallow in schools, they push the shad into and out of the shallows into deeper water. Spinning rigs work well for this type fishing. It’s important to make long casts when the baitfish/white bass or catfish move out from shore. Luke Clayton
Listen to Outdoors with Luke Clayton Radio at www.catfishradio.com. Contact Luke at lukeclayton@prodigy.net

Mark Balette used an old Baby Lucky 13 plug to prove vintage lures still catch bass.  Photo by Luke Clayton  (story to the left.)
Designers Display Competition

Thank you to everyone who came out and supported the First Annual
Designers Display Competition! We had a BLAST! Our 2010 winner was
Alice Stella Thomas! She will be attending Couture Fashion week in New
York City. The second place winner was Shawn Florence/ /and third
place went to Mario Alberto Gallegos Jr.! These guys were awesome! The
competition was stiff. The other designers showcased some INCREDIBLE
PIECES! It was a great time had by all!

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