For the past 16 years, Denise Van Dusen has been helping people at the Ida County Farm Bureau office located at 409 2nd Street in Ida Grove. Van Dusen came to Farm Bureau after operating an in-home daycare while her 4 children were young. She says when the youngest was about to enter kindergarten, she applied for a sales associate position at the Ida County Farm Bureau office. That position allowed her to learn about Farm Bureau and all that it offers our community. It also opened opportunities to other positions within the office.
The 2nd Annual Health and Vendor Fair at Cobblestone Inn and Suites in Holstein presented speakers and many vendors who serve Ida County. The two speakers were from Cherokee Regional Medical Center with topics such as Advance Care Planning. The vendors were such organizations as Horn Memorial, Angels Care Home Health, Cherokee Regional Medical Center, Golden Horizons and many more. All the vendors had give-aways and spoke of their local services to Ida County.
The Rosemary Clausen Center had a host of great musicians and actors in the talent show titled Holstein’s Got Talent. There were a variety of offerings from a piano solo to a flute solo to an array of vocal soloists, which made the show fabulous on Sunday afternoon, March 12. There were also actors in skits, jokes and an after dinner speech that made the audience roar with laughter.
POPS 2023 Concert performed stunningly at the Rosemary Clausen Center March 6 evening. The directors of this amazing event were Mr. Jonah Kistenmacher and Mrs. Kris Kistenmacher. Playing percussion at times was Adam Dreeszen.
To begin the evening, the Jazz Band wowed us with such musical events as Heart and Soul and My Funny Valentine.
The Concert Choir then paraded the stage in their tie-dyed t-shirts and sparkling sunglasses singing tunes like Party in the USA and The Lion Sleeps tonight. Their fondness of the songs showed wonderfully in the event.
An OABCIG winter concert was directed by Mr. Jacob Welper and Mr. Jacob Pedersen March 7 evening at the High School Auditorium. There were melodies the band played such as In a Gentle Rain and A Winter’s Dawn. In a Gentle Rain calmed the audience in a trance that surely soothed the soul. A few of the band members made tinkling soft music by gliding their fingers around the wet rim of some water goblets. It was a nice sound that added to the musical performance.
Jane Hogue, owner of Prairie Pedlar, talked about Flower trends and more at the Odebolt library on March 10. She told us what some of the plants of the year were to large garden organizations such as one noted the 2023 Perennial of the year, Heuchera Dolce “Wildberry Cora Bells.’’ Another noted one was Landscape shrub of the year, the Rose of Sharon. Hogue says that the zone has changed over the years for this plant. It went from 4E to 5A. The flowering shrub of the year is a hydrangea. Hogue says,
A pleasant walk with Dennis Laughlin in Battle Creek shows his amazing art structures. Laughlin says he has to have something to do over the winter, so this is what he does. The first structure he displays in his yard is a beautiful large house of treehouses. It was built on a spruce tree trunk that took a whole summer and part of a winter to think of what to do with the stump, after the spruce had to be cut down. Laughlin had looked at other’s designs of birdhouse structures and then made his own design.
Nathan Weitl showed up to be voted in as Mayor of Ida Grove and indeed was last week. Weitl says that he has done a lot of business over the years and carried sales positions, but it all comes down to that he is a communications guy. Weitl says,
Letters From Home-50 State Tour is an exciting show coming to the Rosemary Clausen Center on March 28 at 7 p.m. This tour honors and uplifts veterans from all generations and will definitely make all who come smile and have a good time. The tour started in Florida in January and then headed west with the Rosemary Clausen Center being the 23rd stop, managing to hit all 50 states by the end of May. The only Iowa stop is special because the proceeds go to the veterans of Ida County.
Jodi Lansink and Jamie Corbin are two sisters that own Rustic Lily. They work together to bring the community a just simply fine flower and gift shop full of wondrous things. A little less than five years ago, the two sisters began knowing that owning their own business would work well with their growing families. They wanted to have something special to bring to the community.
