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Thumbs up for celebrating music. If you love music and love supporting young musicians, please consider taking some time this Saturday afternoon to listen to some fine young musicians at the Harris Music Contest Concert & Awards ceremony at the Hormel Historic Home. The concert takes place at 3:30 p.m. and will feature beautiful performances by some of our most talented young musicians.

Thumbs up for Progress. Our annual Progress edition came out last Saturday and while this might seem like a shameless plug (it really is), it’s more of recognition of the fantastic stories we get to tell from our area. We sincerely hope you get the chance to read about how good your neighbors are.

Thumbs up to author visits. This past Wednesday, Minnesota author Allen Eskens returned to Austin for a meet and greet and book talk regarding his newly released book, “The Quiet Librarian.” It was another example of how Austin advocates for reading, as a number of authors visit Austin throughout the year, including a whole assortment of varied writers coming to the Austin ArtWorks Festival.

Thumbs up for cultural exchange. On Friday, students at IJ Holton Intermediate School got the opportunity to dive headlong into the cultures that make up Austin through its Culture Day, put on by success coaches giving lessons on their cultures. It’s an exciting chance to learn about the fantastic people from different cultures that make up our community.