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AHOSKIE – What was a simple stroll down a farm path in Gates County turned into cash for a local family.

A calendar inserted inside this week’s edition of the Gates County Index is an annual effort by Roanoke-Chowan Publications where we solicit local photographs snapped by local folks. Those snapshots – which depict people, places, or things within the four counties of the Roanoke-Chowan area – began to arrive to our office via email in late October. By the time the submission deadline arrived during the third week of November, 133 photos were in our possession.

It wasn’t an easy task to narrow those down to the 15 photos we needed to fill the pages of the 2025 calendar.

In the end, a photo snapped by Paige Lilley of Gatesville was chosen as the overall winner, meaning it was selected for the calendar’s cover, which came with a $250 cash prize.

That photo was of Lilley’s two young daughters – Annabelle and Clara – walking along the farm path, surrounded by fluffy white cotton, along with their dog, “Benny.”

“We were walking to an area in a field near our home where the cotton was being harvested on our family’s farm,” explained Lilley. “The girls and Benny were out ahead of me and the way the farm path curved through the cotton field made for what I thought to be a great photo opportunity.”

She was right!

Meanwhile, other snapshots were deemed worthy of publication fill the other pages of the calendar. They are as follows:

January – Hare’s Millpond near Winton, home of the Roanoke-Chowan Wildlife Club. Photo by Melissa Holloman

February – Geese gather for a swim on Lake Vann at Chowan University in Murfreesboro. Photo by Grace Woodard

March – The sun sets over a field of winter wheat along the Walter E. Martin Road near Conway. Photo by Ronnie Woodard

April – Three old tractors sit idle on a farm near Roxobel in Bertie County. Photo by Wendy Bishop

May – Carter Bright shows off his technique as he rides a mechanical bull at the annual Gates County Rodeo. Photo by Lauren Bright

June – Sunflowers welcome the arrival of the warm summer months in this field in Gates County. Photo by Jo Hofler

July – Clouds cast their reflection on the Chowan River near the Sand Banks area of Gates County. Photo by Samantha Anderson

August – Local fraternity and sorority organizations gather for a Voter Education Summit at Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church in Bertie County. Photo by Linda McNair Moore

September – The night comes alive in Squirrel Park on the Chowan University campus, the home of the annual Hertford-Gates Relay for Life. Photo by Grace Woodard

October – Mallory Nichols, the daughter of Kayla and Brandon Nichols of St. John, celebrates her first Halloween. Photo by Sandra Nichols

November – The lights of a North Carolina – Virginia Railroad train peer through the fog on a fall morning near Rich Square. Photo by Troy Smith Jr.

December – Dressed in his Christmas lights, “Conway Twitty” awaits Santa’s arrival at his Murfreesboro home. Photo by Grace Woodard

Two other photos were also chosen for publication:

Donkeys pass the time by peering through a fence on a farm in the Hobbsville area of Gates County. Photo by Jo Hofler

A drone captures a bird’s eye view of cotton being harvested on the farm near Conway in Northampton County. Photo by Ryan Byrum

We hope you enjoy your free copy of the 2025 Calendar. We encourage you to hang it on your wall, on your refrigerator, or keep it handy at your worksite to enjoy throughout 2025.

We encourage you to pay close attention to the local businesses that supported the calendar through their advertisements. Please consider giving them your business.

Additional copies of the calendar are available at the News-Herald office, located at the intersection of Main Street and Catherine Creek Road in Ahoskie.