More than 50 vendors from area cities and counties, chambers of commerce, schools, nonprofit organizations, parks and attractions joined big-name resorts, hotels and casinos from across the region Wednesday for the March 2011 Community Showcase & Travel Show at Fort Stewart’s Club Stewart. 
Exhibitors offered recently redeployed troops and their families discounts to entice them to spend their vacations in the mountains or at the beach. Local governments educated military residents about their communities and informed them of upcoming events.
Army spouse Monique Myers and her daughter, Riley, 5, browsed each table, receiving goodies and information to help them plan a family vacation.
“My husband is (separating) from the military in about a month,” Myers said. “We’re moving to Indiana and want to get in as much as we can at the last minute … events and festivals before we make the move.”
Myers said hotel information also will help them out on their 16-hour drive to the Midwest, especially traveling with children and pets.
The City of Pembroke and its Downtown Development Authority manned a display table at the showcase for the first time in several years. District 4 Pembroke City Councilwoman Tiffany Walraven said she, Better Hometown Executive Director Marilyn Page and DDA representatives Jean Bacon and Hannah Deloach were running out of brochures halfway into the event.
“We’re promoting our (new) farmer’s market,” Walraven said. “Many of the Army wives are asking about the market, how they can participate, and our Easter celebration.”
The Whistlestop Farmer’s Market will be held from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. every Saturday from April 2-Nov. 19 in downtown Pembroke. Pembroke is located in north Bryan County about halfway between Hinesville and Statesboro.
“A lot of people don’t realize Pembroke has a lot to offer,” Walraven said. For more information, visit pembrokega.net.
The Hinesville’s Downtown Development Authority also was promoting its farmer’s market. The market will be held from 4-8 p.m. each Thursday beginning May 5 and ending Oct. 27.  The market will be on East Commerce Street in downtown Hinesville.
HDDA staffer Zach Claxton said vendor applications now are being accepted. Vendors may sell fresh local produce and agricultural items, plants, flowers, baked goods, specialty and prepared foods and original crafts, Claxton said.
“Vendors taking advantage of the early-bird registration by April 1 will receive a reduced seasonal fee of $150 for general vendors and $225 for prepared food vendors,” Claxton said in a news release.  “After April 1, the regular fee of $200 for general vendors and $275 for prepared food vendors will be charged.”
Costumed actors performing in the Liberty Theatre Company’s “Pieces of Home” play greeted military service members and their families. Angela Eberson, who portrays Rosie the Riveter, and Jasmine Kersey, who plays the role of Francis McRae, are Army wives whose husbands are stationed at Fort Stewart. The script, written by chamber of commerce Executive Director Leah Poole, is based on actual letters exchanged in the 1940s between an injured Camp Stewart soldier and his sweetheart. The two fall in love through their correspondence. The one-show-only production will start at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Liberty County Performing Arts Center. Tickets cost $10 each.
Kersey said Poole has expressed an interest in expanding her script into a folk-life play at some point.
Also this weekend is Claxton’s annual Rattlesnake Roundup, sponsored by the Evans County Wildlife Club.
The roundup will be from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, March 12, and from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, March 13. Admission is $5; children age 5 and younger will be admitted for free.
Fort King George park ranger Jason Baker appeared in the colonial redcoat uniform of a British enlisted man to promote the state historic site’s upcoming Scottish Heritage Day. The event will be held from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. March 19. Fort King George is 3 miles east of I-95 (exit 49) in nearby Darien.
For more information, visit www.gastateparks.org/fortkinggeorge.