By BARBARA GREEN

For Montague County 2016 is all about roads as the commissioners enter the final year of a three-year grant program funding road repairs from energy production, while Nocona is working to improve its festivals and continue to bill itself as a tourism destination.

Along with the infrastructure grant, the court is still waiting on the federal disaster assistance funding to be finalized to help repair more than $7 million in repairs from the May and June 2015 floods.

When asked what 2016 has in store for county government, County Judge Rick Lewis said they will be “digging in” to get the County Transportation Infrastructure Fund grant work completed in its final year. They also await the arrival of federal disaster relief money to make additional road repairs.

Over in the City of Nocona, city officials are still trying to make recovery from multiple years of drought and declining sales tax payments. The Nocona Chamber of Commerce has turned its primary efforts to tourism growing its festivals, which draw thousands of people to town. It is paying off as the Mardi Gras Nocona Style, now in its sixth year. Read the full story on the new year and what it may bring in the weekend News.

(Left) Red River Station Inn open in late 2015 and the new pizzeria restaurant next door is under construction. (Photos by Barbara Green)