Believe it or not, it’s almost time for the local graduation ceremonies.

And it is time to get your congratulatory ads in for The Times’ annual Graduation issue. This is a good “keepsake” edition that will have a shelf-life for many years into the future.

The edition will be inserted into the May 21 edition of The Times. Bundles of extra copies will be dropped off at the high school for students to take home.

Prices start at just $25 for a small student ad, mesuring 2.3” wide by 2.5” high. A full page ad measuring 10 inches by 10-1/2” is $510. There are a variety of sizes and costs in between.

So show that grandchild, son or daughter how proud you are of their accomplishment with an ad in The Times.

Maybe it’s your next door neighbor that’s graduating. You could buy them an ad, also.

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We’re offering a special rate for new subscribers from now to June 30. This June, we will be celebrating our 40th year of publication. As one way of marking the celebration, we are on a drive to get more subscribers.

Thus, we are offering an annual subscription to The Times, that’s 52 issues, for just $25, a 40 percent discount. And that ‘s less than half the newsstand price. There is an ad on Page ____ of this week’s edition that has a coupon in it to fill out and return with a check.

And another incentive to entice you to be a Times subscriber, we will have a contest open to subscribers, both current and new, in which there will be a drawing for prizes. We’re finalizing the grand prize, but other prizes will be Diamondbacks tickets and gift certificates to Fountain Hills restaurants and other businesses.

Remember you have to be a Times subscriber to participate in the contest. So if you aren’t already, sign up today.

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We had an opening party at the River of Time Museum recently whereby donors were invited to a party to see the new P-Bar Ranch exhibit.

The new exhibit features a saddled horse and a desert campfire scene The rear wall is a large reproduction of an actual photograph taken of cowboys on a roundup of cattle on the P-Bar Ranch.

Additional large photos will be installed after the summer when one of the contributing artists, Alan Pape, returns for the season in the fall. He is the museum’s resident artist.

The display was created and other finishing details will be installed by Pape and local cowboy artist Carlos Hadaway.

So what happened to the old display, which featured the front of a bunk house. It was disassembled and the pieces were stacked up on the museum patio to be discarded at a future date.

Volunteer and museum board member Arlie Denomme had other plans for it. She wanted to use the pieces to build a portable bar that could be used for special events at the museum.

But the officials at the museum had concerns about liability in making a make-shift bar from the pieces.

“I just didn’t want to throw it away,” said Denomme.

She made some calls and local handyman Steve Tekesky said he would like to recreate the P-Bar Ranch set in his back yard.

He came to the museum and picked up the pieces last Friday.

“It’s my summer project,

Tekesky said.