Grapevine iReporter

 The Grapevine High School Fabulous Fillies Dance Team passed the whistles to the 2012-2013 dance officers at the annual Fillies banquet held in April and the dance officers officially assumed their new duties at an Induction ceremony held on Tuesday, May 8, at Grapevine High School.  Next year’s dance officers are Jennifer Janicki, Captain; Haley Folkes, Laura Renfro and Molly Smith, Senior Lieutenants; and Mady Bauer, Junior Lieutenant.

“Most of the officers have been dancing for years, but being a dance officer is about much more than being great dancers,” KayLynn Renfro, Fabulous Fillies Director, explained.  “These ladies are leaders in dance ability but also in academics, school involvement and community spirit.  These accomplished young ladies will represent our team at football and pep rally performances in the fall and during contest season in the spring.”

To be selected as a dance officer, each candidate must satisfy eligibility requirements; submit a resume and self-evaluation; and, then before a panel of judges, complete an individual interview; perform a solo routine; perform a captain’s routine learned that day; and present and teach their own choreography project.

The Fabulous Fillies Dance Team was established in 1975 to encourage quality performances, high academic standards, fine personal qualities and loyal school spirit among its members.  Nationally recognized for its performance and dance technique, the Fillies strive to earn their “Fabulous” status each year through team work, performance quality and member dedication.

Article submitted by Jill Janicki.

BubbleLife has a new look and feel, more reader-friendly features and a state-of-the-art design to bring you the most comprehensive neighborhood news from communities across North Texas.

The new design is featured on all BubbleLife Media sites in a format that is original, easy to use and adaptable to whatever device you are using to read neighborhood news.

“Our commitment is to gather up all the neighborhood news and get it to where people like to read,” said Saffie Farris, Publisher of BubbleLife. “We have no paywalls, lengthy subscription forms or exclusive content. We’re open and free, serving the neighborhoods we call home.”

The biggest change to the BubbleLife website is something that is not immediately obvious to the eyes but will make using BubbleLife easier and more satisfying. BubbleLife sites now employ “responsive web design,” which means the site will respond differently to individual users based on what platform they’re using, their screen size or the orientation of their mobile device.

Boston.com, website of the Boston Globe newspaper, uses responsive web design for its market-leading site. The major benefit of the responsive design concept is that it enables site pages—layouts, fonts and images—to adjust automatically to different screen sizes. A combination of HTML5 and CSS3 design technologies helps extends BubbleLife’s digital publishing effort to the rapidly expanding tablet and smartphone universe.

Simply put, rather than creating a different design of BubbleLife for an ever-increasing number of web devices, the new “responsive web design” will treat them all as facets of the same experience. BubbleLife will look and feel different for each user, but each user will still receive an optimal viewing experience without making any sacrifices.

One of the most noticeable changes of the new look of BubbleLife is the display breakdown of stories on the site. Instead of just a long list of local stories, the stories are slotted under sections – sections devoted to news, education, real estate and other topics. This will make finding a particular story easier and relevant to you.

Each BubbleLife site will now also have two main featured stories at the top of the site instead of just one. These featured stories are changed and updated constantly and represent what the editors believe to be the top stories in the neighborhood.

Our iReporter feature still functions as it always has, making it easy for readers and viewers to report on any news that happens in their vicinity. As before, any person wanting to post in iReporter will need to have an account and be signed in. We welcome all contributions.

The new look and feel of BubbleLife compliments our other reader features, such as the email share feature, Sunday Magazine and distribution to Facebook and other social media platforms.

BubbleLife’s new look also extends to the Neighborhood Marketing Center on the site, where local merchants are able to access new web-based marketing and content tools to drive results, such as new business leads, and track and optimize their marketing performance.

“BubbleLife will continue to grow and change in order to bring readers the latest in neighborhood news,” said Farris. “We’re once again raising the bar for neighborhood news.”

Grab a slice of summer in the heart of Historic Downtown Grapevine at the 28th Annual Main Street Days – A Pizza Experience May 18, 19 and 20! Taste wines from across Texas, the West Coast and Italy, as well as premium craft beers. Savor the Pizza Piazza, indulge in other tantalizing festival foods and enjoy non-stop entertainment at this three-day, fun-filled festival perfect for the entire family. 

What’s your pizza pick? Whatever your pizza preference, you can find it under the lights of the Pizza Piazza at Main Street Days! Like popular pizza toppings? Prefer specialty slices? Are you a connoiseur of cheese creations? Then head out to the Pizza Piazza to sample some of Grapevine’s best pizza possibilities. Located in front of Grapevine City Hall, the Pizza Piazza is also home to the brand new Pizza Piazza Pub featuring a selection of premium and craft beers and wines. This year’s pizza participants include: 

• Amore's Pasta & Pizza 
• Boston's Gourmet Pizza 
• California Pizza Kitchen 
• Cliff's Star Grill 
• Farina's Winery 
• iFratelli 
• Napoli's Italian Cafe 
• Palio's Pizza Café 
• Papa Murphy's Take n Bake 

And after you’ve sampled all the pizza yumminess, vote for your favorites for the coveted title of People’s Pizza Pick! Will last year’s winner repeat as this year’s champion pizza purveyor? Find out during Main Street Days May 18, 19 and 20. In addition to pizza, festival food fans will also find a full lineup of culinary choices including funnel cakes, corn dogs, lemonade and more. 

And, new for 2012, more pizza fun for the kids! Parents, bring your children to the brand new Roma’s Pizza Toss Academy. On Friday, May 18 and Saturday, May 19, kids ages 10 and under will have the chance to learn how to toss pizza like their favorite pizza pro! Roma’s Pizza Toss Academy is located at the corner of Main and Texas, directly across from the Palace Theatre. Session times vary and space is limited, so visit grapevinetexasusa.com for more information. 

The 28th Annual Main Street Days – A Pizza Experience opens Friday, May 18 at 10:00 a.m. and admission is free until 5 p.m. Festival hours are Friday, May 18 and Saturday, May 19, 10 a.m. – 11:30 p.m. and Sunday, May 20, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. After 5 p.m. on Friday, adults are $7 and children 6 – 12 and seniors are $5. Weekend passes are $15 per person. Souvenir weekend passes are $20 per person. Free shuttles run continuously from area parking lots. For more information about Grapevine or Main Street Days, call 800-457-6338 or visit www.GrapevineTexasUSA.com/MainStreetDays. 

Press release c/o Grapevine Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The deadline to take the Grapevine-Colleyville ISD's "Parent Satisfaction Survey" has been extended through May 25.

If you have a child attending a GCISD school, then be sure to take the 20-25 minute survey online. All the information given will be confidential and the information will be used to improve the schools and the entire district.

The survey will remain open until 5 p.m. on Friday the 25th.

Click here to take the survey.

The Grapevine Heritage Foundation will meet Wednesday, May 16 at 4 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Wallis Hotel.

On the agenda:

• A membership report
• Recommendation for the Nash Farm fence gate style and locations
• Nash Farm activity report
• Liaison reports from the Grapevine Historical Society and the Grapevine Convention and Visitors Bureau

For the complete agenda, click here.