'Party in Port A' is Friday at Civic Center
CHECK AT CHAMBER FOR TICKET AVAILABILITY

CHUCK BORDERS CITIZEN OF THE YEAR

A few individual tickets to the "Party in Port A" scheduled for tomorrow, Friday, Nov. 9, may still be available. Check with the Port Aransas Chamber of Commerce-Tourist Bureau, which sponsors the event, for availability. No tickets will be sold at the door.

Highlighting the evening will be recognition of Chuck Borders as the 2007 Citizen of the Year.

Doors to the Civic Center, 710 W. Ave. A, will open for a social hour at 6:30 p.m. Dinner and the program will begin at 7:30 p.m.

The "island casual" party, amid decorations that recall Port Aransas of yesteryear and contrast it with Port Aransas now, welcomes longtime residents to mingle with the city's newer inhabitants.

After a dinner of hamburgers, hot dogs and boiled shrimp, Borders will be honored for his long service to the community that has impacted Boy Scouts, city council, school board, Little League, soccer and more.

Then, the party begins. Music will be by Flashback, a dance band that plays music from the 1950s to today.

The "Party in Port A" replaces the annual Port Aransas Chamber of Commerce-Tourist Bureau's banquet, a move toward a more casual, affordable evening for all residents of Port Aransas.

Ann Bracher Vaughan, executive director of the chamber-tourist bureau, which sponsors the Citizen of the Year award, said the award recognizes individuals for past and current service in several aspects of the community. These citizens have records of giving back to the community in volunteer time without expectation of personal or professional gain. The number of nominations a single individual receives has no bearing on the selection as Citizen of the Year.

Nominations are reviewed to determine that all nominees are eligible based on the criteria for the award. The Citizen of the Year is selected from the list of eligible nominees.

The chamber initiated the Citizen of the Year Award in 1991.

Recipients have included Dale Bietendorf, the late Lillian Graham, Mark Creighton, Una Farley, the late J.C. and Wanda Barr, Georgia Neblett, Mike Hall, the late Barbara Sheppard, John Thompson, the city's first responders in 2001, George Horner, Pam Greene, Betty Crawford, Charlie and Linda Zahn and Richard Safford.