(972) 227-2579

May 2012 – April was a very busy month of activities for your Lancaster Area Chamber, with three straight week-ends of "happenings". ... Saturday, April 14th brought a record number of riders for the Lancaster Country Ride put on by the Greater Dallas Bicyclist Club and coordinated locally by our City, Ellen Clark and volunteers from the Chamber. ... Over 1,100 riders registered and more joined the ride later. ...Sandwiched around the Country Ride, the local Boy Scouts provided a delicious pancake breakfast before the ride (with pancake mix donated by Chubby's Restaurant), and afterwards the Town Square merchants and invited vendors hosted the public for a special "2nd Saturday on the Square". There was food, music on stage by Bill "BeDazzled Entertainment", and of course, lots of fun vendors' booths to browse. ... The OktoberFest "BratMoblie" did a brisk business all day Saturday as well, serving Kuby's knockwurst, bratwurst, and just plain hot dogs.

How many of you drive a Hyundai or Kia? Those of you that do, will at some point be receiving parts for your car that were distributed from Lancaster. What do I mean, I'm sure you're asking. Lancaster is the NEW home for MOBIS, the parts distribution partner for Hyundai/Kia Motors. MOBIS has purchased 442,000 square feet of unoccupied distribution space at Houston School Road and I-20. This will create nearly 50 jobs initially, and continue to broaden our tax base.

The past few months have continued to reveal solid indicators that the development market is warming up. Additionally, the Lancaster Wal-Mart will undergo a renovation soon, so we await the new look of that store. In case you haven't heard, Lancaster ISD was selected to receive a $4.8 million STEM grant (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) from the TI Foundation and Educate Texas. I want to encourage our business community to continue partnering with our school district from internships to in school demonstrations which will enhance the educational experience for our youth. I wish you well in April. Please be mindful of the current water restrictions in Lancaster. As always you can refer to our new city website at www.lancaster-tx.com

Marcus Knight, Mayor

City of Lancaster

When my children were growing up, in our house we had a wall's edge dedicated to measuring height. My children's friends were in on the act and regularly contributed to the wall, rendering it a mess of lines, initials and dates. Sometimes there would be amazement at how much someone had sprouted up since their last measurement, and other times it seemed the only difference in the lines was based on someone's hope and a slanted ruler.

On I-35E, going north from Belt Line Rd to Pleasant Run Rd, on the Lancaster side (East) there are the following existing or platted restaurants – making this Lancaster I-35E corridor truly a destination for restaurants and eateries- a Restaurant Row: