Today’s edition of the Lampasas Dispatch Record includes the 2012- 2013 Guide to Lampasas magazine.

Last year’s guide marked a “first” for the semi-weekly newspaper when it moved to a glossy, full-color magazine format.

Color advertisements and/or stories and photographs appeared on each of the 2011-2012 edition’s 32 pages when it rolled off the press.

This year, the magazine has grown by 50 percent to a 48-page publication. The Guide to Lampasas features winning entries in the Dispatch Record’s recent photography contest, as well as other top photos submitted.

The magazine cover photo, which won the contest, was taken by Sharon Newsom of Lometa. It shows Mrs. Newsom’s husband, Ted, crossing School Creek.

The guide is geared toward newcomers and visitors to Lampasas. The magazine includes demographics about the city, a calendar of events for the year, historically related stories and photographs, plus information about the Lampasas Independent School District and Lampasas County Higher Education Center.

But there’s more.

Readers get a good look at the local hospital and medical clinics. And there are a raft of stories, advertisements and tidbits on recreational opportunities: Hancock Park Municipal Golf Course, outdoor activities, area parks, the Hanna Springs Sculpture Garden, and the Rex and Linda Johnson Park under development where volunteers plan to create a bird and butterfly habitat on the 19.4-acre site in the heart of Lampasas.

Four Texas-sized murals on the exterior walls of several Lampasas buildings capture the community’s history and culture, and we chronicle the development of this local art form.

Inside the pages of the newest Guide to Lampasas, readers will find an extensive directory of restaurants, retail establishments and churches that serve the area.

There are mini-features, too, on the Riata Roundup at Lometa Regional Park – an annual rodeo that in 2012 will celebrate its 11th year-- and the Hancock Springs Free-Flow Swim Area. With its water temperature an exhilarating 72 degrees, it is one of the oldest artesian spring-fed pools of its kind in Texas.

Special events abound in Lampasas, and they get their due, too.

The Bloomin’Fest – which spotlights springtime gardening, exhibitors, arts and crafts, food booths and plenty of entertainment – is highlighted in the magazine. Ditto the Keystone Square Museum’s Needle Art and Quilt Show, and the fall Herb & Art Fest on Courtyard Square and in Campbell Park.

The Spring Ho Festival, the city’s highly touted weeklong event in July, receives attention, as does the Hometown Holiday Celebration in December.

We also tip our hat to agriculture, which has been an influential part of the county’s landscape and economy since the 1850s.

We hope you enjoy our Guide to Lampasas, and we want you to take advantage of the many wonderful opportunities this area has to offer.