LAKEPORT, Calif. – The 26th annual Lakeport Holiday Lighted Parade takes place on Saturday, Nov. 30, on Main Street. 

The parade participants will line up this year in the Fifth Street parking lot next to the launch ramp at Library Park. This is a change from lining up at the fairgrounds.

Entry forms have been mailed to prior participants and the form is now available on www.lakecochamber.com . Deadline for entering the parade is Monday, Nov. 25.

The stage for the parade judges will be located between Second and Third streets in front of the Lake County Special Districts office.

Mendo Mill Lumber & Home Center is providing the stage as they have for many years. Savings Bank of Mendocino County is once again the major sponsor for this 26th annual holiday parade, which for the last 11 years has been a lighted parade.

Activities during the afternoon of Nov. 30 sponsored by the Lakeport Main Street Association will include free craft children’s activities, a visit with Santa at Bicoastal Media, located at 140 N. Main St. from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. (photos available for $5), an Elf Treasure Hunt and a booth selling funnel cakes, snugglers and hot chocolate.

Hospice Services of Lake County will take to the stage following the parade with their Light Up A Life Celebration, singing Christmas carols, serving free hot chocolate and cookies. Historic walking tours will take place at 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.

A new addition to this year's festivities is a Festival of Trees, sponsored by the Lakeport Main Street Association. Various businesses will decorate Christmas trees and the public is invited to vote for their favorite tree. Voting closes on Dec. 9.

Following the close of voting, all the trees are being donated to Lake Family Resource Center, which will present the trees to families who would not otherwise have a tree for the holiday.

This year the Lakeport Kiwanis decorated the Lakeport Christmas tree in front of the museum. The evening's festivities culminate with the lighting of the tree on the lawn of Museum Square.

WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-5) on Monday voted to pass H.R. 2061, the Digital Accountability and Transparency (DATA) Act of 2013.

This bill requires information on all federal spending to be posted to a single, comprehensive and searchable Web site, www.USASpending.gov .

The DATA Act also limits federal agency travel expenses to 70 percent of their fiscal year 2010 travel costs, limits the allowable costs of agency conferences and requires extensive new reporting and public disclosure of conference costs and activities.

“Taxpayers deserve to know their money is being spent wisely and effectively on smart investments that create jobs, grow our economy and move our country forward,” said Thompson. “This legislation will increase transparency, help make sure taxpayers are getting the most bang for their buck, and allow us to hold agencies and individuals accountable for wasteful spending and lavish junkets funded by hard-earned tax dollars.”

In 2012, the General Services Administration (GSA) held a lavish $823,000 conference in Las Vegas and former GSA executive Jeffrey E. Neely spent $40,000 on a trip he and his wife took to Napa.

The extensive new reporting and public disclosure of conference costs and activities would help prevent these kinds of abuses from occurring in the future.

In addition, the bill expands the role of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board that was created by the 2010 stimulus law to oversee stimulus spending.

The DATA Act will require the board to help make sure tax dollars are being spent wisely and effectively by detecting waste and fraud at all levels of federal spending.

H.R. 2061 passed the House and will now go the Senate for consideration.

CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – The Lake County Stonewall Democratic Club will host its monthly potluck on Monday, Nov. 25.

The group will meet in the social hall of the Clearlake Oaks United Methodist Church, 12487 The Plaza, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

This meeting is open to the public and the community is encouraged to attend.

Please bring a canned or other nonperishable item to the Stonewall Club meeting.

All donations go to support Community Care HIV/AIDS Program Food Pantry here in Lake County.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Barbara Flynn will be the speaker at the Soroptimist meeting at Howard’s Grotto in Clearlake at noon Thursday, Nov. 21.

Flynn will talk about business opportunities for women in Lake County.

She was born in Lakeport, raised in Sonoma County and has lived in Lake County since 1972.

Since 1972, Flynn has worked as a real estate agent, owned three restaurants, two inns, a store named Country Classics in the Santa Rosa Plaza, as well as an antique shop or two.

She has always loved the Cobb community, and produced the Cobb Jazz and Blues festival which ran for five years.

She also is behind Cobbtoberfest, and Halloween and Christmas in the Village at Cobb.

Flynn is a director on the Lake County Chamber of Commerce and on the board for Lake Family Resource Center. She currently owns and operates The Brick Oven Pizza, Pasta on Cobb and Bellissimo! Wine Country Catering.

She recently opened Trends Salon and Day Spa with her daughter, Marci, in Middletown.

All interested persons are invited to attend this talk by Flynn.

For more information, please call Wanda Harris at 707-987-9027.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport Main Street Association will host “Very Merry Main Street” in downtown Lakeport on Saturday, Nov. 30.

The event will take place from 2 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

There will be arts and crafts, and a merchants' open house.

Santa Claus will be on hand, and the light parade will take place beginning at 5:30 p.m., with the Hospice Light-Up-A-Life Tree Lighting and Festival of Trees also featured.

For more information call the Lakeport Main Street Association at 707-263-8843.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake Co-op announced that its online shopping store and overage site in downtown Lakeport will be closed for the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holiday weeks.

The co-op is encouraging customers to stock up for the holidays in the weeks prior to the closures to ensure a robust supply of holiday favorites and local gifts.

The last window of opportunity to order for the Thanksgiving holiday will be Sunday, Nov. 17 at 12:01 a.m. through Tuesday, Nov. 19, at 12:30 p.m.

The co-op online sales and overage site at 307 N. Main Street in Lakeport will be closed Nov. 28 and Dec. 26 for the holidays.

The co-op prepares for these closures by offering seasonal favorites in the weeks leading up to the closures.

Customers will find the organic fruit and veggie boxes filled with treasured and traditional favorites and the local farmers and producers offer fresh organic seasonal products including winter squashes, pumpkins, chard, kale, collards, specialty baby lettuce mixes, walnuts and persimmons.

Lake Co-op also helps customers prepare for holiday shopping by offering multiple healthy and locally-sourced selections, including gift certificates, gift-packaged products, subscription orders and donations to local charitable organizations.

Customers of Lake Co-op can easily purchase a gift certificate in any amount online through the Co-op's website ( www.lake.coop ). The recipient receives an email with a code that gives them a store credit in the amount of your choice.

“It's a simple and effective way to say I love you. I care how you treat your body.” shared JoAnn Saccato, Lake Co-op's Interim Manager.

“Also, local producers package their products in attractive ways that lend themselves perfectly for gifts,” Saccato mentioned. Customers can purchase Lake County organic walnuts, specialty olive oils, exotic and traditional teas (not local), specialty mushroom fudge, sea veggies from Mendocino County, local made organic health and beauty products and more. These products can be found weekly during the Lake Co-op's normal order cycle (Sundays, 12:01 AM through Tuesdays, 12:30PM).

“We also offer an extremely easy feature for our customers who are either too busy to order each week or like the same products on a regular basis,” remarked Saccato. She refers to subscription ordering where a customer can pick and choose from all of Lake Co-op products and ask that they be sent automatically each week. “Whether it's Lake Co-op's Organic Fruit N' Veggie box (featuring a variety of local and beyond seasonal fruits and vegetables), a favorite cheese from Petaluma's Spring Hill Farm or one of a treasured selection of Main Street Bakery's organic breads, our subscription service keeps it simple,” she furthered.

Year round Lake Co-op offers their customers the opportunity to donate to community projects related to food security and the local food system, including the Friday Night Farmers' Market, Walter's Community Garden in Clearlake, and local food security organizations, such as the NCO Community Action Agency and the Hunger Task Force. “Another great holiday idea that supports our community,” reflected Saccato.

For more information about Lake Co-op, their products, producers and holiday information, visit www.lake.coop or call 707-513-5226.