The next HOA meeting is scheduled for May 21st @ 10:00 AM at the Dogwood Lodge. The meeting will also be available to attend virtually, via Zoom. The link and information needed to join virtually is provided below.

Topic: HSB HOA - Regular Meeting May 21, 2022

Time: 10:00 AM Central Time

Link To Join Zoom Meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82898819399

A meeting reminder, with the link to the meeting, will be sent out by email to all HSB residents on the day before the meeting. We hope many of our HSB residents will be able to join our meeting!

We will be grilling hot dogs and serving up chips and drinks, along with ice cream treats for all! Feel free to bring your own picnic lunch if you prefer. Fun outdoor yard games will be set up for both the adults and kids to enjoy!! Please bring your own chairs and/or blankets, fishing poles, or other items to enjoy for some outdoor fun!

Please note that the boat ramp will be closed due to this event from 10:30-1:30 on May 28th. If you are planning to launch a boat on the boat ramp on this date, please plan accordingly around this event.

Hope to see everyone there!!

Horseshoe Bend is becoming Firewise!! Your Safety and Security Committee has taken the first steps to making Horseshoe Bend a Firewise USA™ recognized community! Over the next few months, our HOA newsletter will provide valuable information that you, the home/property owner, can use to improve and protect your property from fire!

Firewise Program: Zone 2

The first topic we’re providing is Home Ignition Zones and Defensible Space. Last month we covered Zone 1. This month we are going to cover Zone 2, the Intermediate Zone.

ZONE 2 – INTERMEDIATE ZONE
The intermediate zone is the area 5-30 feet from the furthest exterior point of the home. Within this area, careful landscaping and creating breaks in the vegetation can help influence and decrease fire behavior.

• Clear vegetation from any outbuildings, propane tanks, or other infrastructure in this area.
• Keep lawns ‘lean, clean, and green’.
• Remove ladder fuels, or vegetation under trees) so that a surface fire cannot reach tree crowns. Prune trees up to 6 feet from the ground. For shorter trees, trim branches so they do not touch the ground but do not exceed 1/3 of the overall tree height.
• Create space between trees and tree crowns.
• Break the continuity of fuel across the landscape in this zone. Limit vegetation to small clusters of trees or shrubs and create fuel breaks with flower beds, driveways, or walkways/paths.

Creating and maintaining defensible space is crucial to improve your home’s chance of surviving a wildfire event. This is the “buffer” area you create between a structure on your property and the grass, trees, shrubs, or wildland areas that surround it. This space, when properly maintained, will slow, or stop the spread of wildfire and could protect your home from catching fire. Defensible space is also important for the protection of the firefighters defending your home.

WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU….
As part of the program, our community must invest a minimum of $28.50 / or 1 VOLUNTEER Hour per dwelling unit (aggregate) in its Firewise USA™ program. For us, that’s about 100 hours, and the good news is that any work you have done or do yourself counts! This would be mowing, clearing brush, cutting down trees (both personal and commercial), blowing out gutters, cleaning your roof, etc.).

Please email safety@hsb-hoa.org with any “volunteer hours” for work you do, or pay to have done, so that we can meet the requirement of the program.

Click here to view the Risk Assessment Report that Texas A&M Forest Service did for Horseshoe Bend.

To view the assessment data for HSB, click here.

Information cited in this article, and much more, can be found https://texaswildfirerisk.com/firewise

Originally established by a group of local artists and concerned citizens in 2001 as Trails Country Center for the Arts, the art center’s name was changed to Winnsboro Center for the Arts in 2009 by its Board of Directors. In fact, the earliest beginnings of this vision for an arts center in Winnsboro started with former residents of Horseshoe Bend! Many long-time residents at HSB still recall packing up their lawn chairs and going to Al & Myrna Stillman's house in HSB to hear concerts on their property. In fact, it has been said that local favorite singers, Adler & Hearne, may have performed some of their earliest concerts right here at Horseshoe Bend! How cool is that?

Enjoy the video below that outlines the rich history of Winnsboro Center for the Arts, beginning with Al Stillman's vision, to truly become the cultural arts center, not just for Winnsboro, but for all of East Texas!

To learn more about the history of WCA, make plans to visit their current retrospective art exhibition, Prelude & Promise: WCA Celebrates 20 Years of Art, on display now through June 11th. The Prelude & Promise exhibition features multiple artists from WCA’s past, present, and future in a variety of art mediums including painting, pastel, sculpture, and photography. The exhibition includes works from some of WCA’s founding members including Tracy Hopkins, Grahame Hopkins, Al Moore, and Georgia Moore. It will include photos from the first official WCA photographer, George Hitz. Works by Linda Lucas Hardy, Donna Page, Shirley Gordon, Nancy Beauchamp, Spring Parnell, and Jim Willis, as well as many others will be featured.