Surely we’re not the only ones who were tempted to play hooky and enjoy this long-anticipated warm weather today!? We hope you’re reading this while you sip an ice cold beverage and soak up a few rays of sunshine!
In recognition of National Crime Victims Rights Week (April 8th – 14th), local law enforcement offers gathered at Piece Works Quilt Shop yesterday to launch a new program called Caring Quilts. An initiative of Madison County Attorney Matt Schultz, the goal of the Caring Quilts program is to gather quilts that can be carried in the vehicles of Madison County Sheriff deputies and Winterset Police officers and be shared with children who may be experiencing traumatic events where law enforcement have become involved.
Madison County Sheriff Jason Barnes, Winterset Police Chief Ken Burk, Madison County Attorney Matt Schultz, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and several others put their hands to work yesterday and completed nearly five quilt tops. These tops will be turned into finished quilts by the skilled Joyce Franklin, Tony Jacobson and the staff at Piece Works Quilt Shop.
If you have a new or gently used quilt that you would like to contribute to this program, quilts can be donated at Piece Works Quilt Shop or the Iowa Quilt Museum.
This Weekend
Geocaching is a nature based scavenger hunt where people use a handheld GPS (or smartphone) to find the coordinates of hidden treasures in the woods. The goal of geocaching is to find the first box along the trail, deposit a small treasure (paper clip, acorn, pin, etc) and select a treasure to carry on to the next box on the trail. The conservation board will be hosting an Introduction to Geocaching program today, Thursday, April 12th, from 6:00 – 8:00 pm. And since the weather is finally warming up, it will be an awesome evening for a hike!
Preregistration is required for this program if you wish to use one of the provided GPS units. To register for the program, contact the conservation board at 515-462-3536 or e-mail naturalist@madisoncountypa
Re:home of Winterset is open for shopping this weekend and they’ll be showing off the results of the renovation and expansion in their upper level. Shopping hours are Thursday 11:00-7:00, Friday 10:00-6:00, Saturday 9:00-5:00, Sunday 12:00-4:00. You can see a photo album of their current merchandise on their Facebook page.
The Veteran’s Breakfast at the Winterset Legion Hall is Saturday, April 14th from 7:00 – 11:00 am. The menu will include sausage gravy with biscuits and eggs. Adult meal price is $5 and children under ten are $3. The Legion Hall is located at 84 W Green Street, one block north of the square on the corner of 1st Avenue & Green Street.
Saturday, April 14th will bring the first Central Iowa Auto Club Show & Shine of this year. Held from 4:00 – 7:00 pm on the Winterset town square, this event is always free and open to the public. There is no entry fee for cars, either, and there are door prizes for car entrants.
Covered Bridges Winery will host live music by Gina Gedler & Ben Hagen on Saturday, April 14th from 7:00 – 10:00 pm. Gedler will perform wide variety of music including jazz, show tunes, cabaret and everything in between. There is a $5 cover at the door and food will be available from Karam’s Mediterranean Grill from 6:30 – 8:30 pm.
The Legion Hall kitchen is going to be a hopping place this weekend. Biscuits and gravy on Saturday, pancakes on Sunday…yummmm…we love eating to support great causes!
On Sunday, April 15th, 2:00 – 4:00 pm the Winterset Art Center will host a Paint Party with Art Love Studio. This fun and easy beginner class is geared toward adults. Students will be guided step-by-step by instructor Lucinda Sperry from Art Love Studio to paint a beautiful Chalkboard Flowers. All supplies are provided and the class size limited to 20 painters. Cost is $32 for Winterset Art Center Members and $35 for Non-Members. Make a reservation online through the Art Love Studio to guarantee a seat!
In addition to their movie showtimes this weekend, on Sunday, April 15th, at 5:00pm, The Iowa Theater will host musician Elizabeth Moen. IPR has said, “Elizabeth is armed with a jaw-dropping singing voice, tasteful guitar playing, and songs that stay in your head for days.”
I Can Only Imagine (PG) is the true story following the life of Bart Millard, lead singer of the Christian band MercyMe, who loses his father to cancer which inspires him to write the mega-hit song of the same name. This film starring Dennis Quaid runs this weekend at the Iowa Theater. The next Way Back Wednesday film, showing on April 18th, is the iconic 80s flick Dirty Dancing.
Because of it’s popularity, the Winterset Art Center is offering another session of the Fairy Garden Extravaganza on Sunday, April 15th from 6:00 – 8:00pm. Use your imagination to incorporate found objects and plants within a terra cotta planter. All ages are invited, but children younger than 10 will need assistance. Additional hand made specialty items will be available for purchase. Class fee is $25 for art center members and $30 for non-members. Please email wintersetart2016@gmail.com or call Angela Newman at 804-380-8079 to reserve your spot. If you can’t make it this week, the class will be held again on Sunday, April 15th from 6:00 – 8:00 pm.
Each year, Winterset’s seventh grade Social Studies teacher Jim Heithoff leads his students in National History Day competition activities. This year, 13 students or groups choose to create projects and participate in the regional competition. Four of those entries have been chosen to move onto the state competition to be held April 30th. (Awesome!) Madison County Historical Complex‘s Director Jared McDonald and board member Linda Griffith Smith offered their assistance to Heithoff’s students to give feedback on their projects. To honor the dedication of this year’s 13 participating students or groups, their projects will be featured at the National History Day Open House on Monday, April 16th. The open house will be held from 7:00 – 8:00 pm at the Madison County Historical Museum, 815 S 2nd Avenue. Refreshments will be served.
Coming Soon
On Tuesday, April 17th, the Iowa Quilt Museum will open a new exhibit, Playing With Purpose: A Victoria Findley Wolfe Retrospective. Victoria Findlay Wolfe is a Minnesota native, now a resident of New York City, is an award-winning quilter, an international instructor, lecturer and author and a designer for Marcus Fabrics. The Iowa Quilt Museum is open for tours Tuesday – Saturday from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm and Sundays from 12:00 – 4:00 pm. An opening reception for this exhibit will be held at the museum on April 21st from 5:00-8:00pm. Victoria will be at this event and her remarks are planned for approximately 6:15. Tickets to the opening reception can be purchased at the door or in advance ($10).
If you have a child who will be entering Kindergarten this fall, you’ll want to attend the Winterset Schools Kindergarten Parent Meeting on Thursday, April 19th, at 6:30pm. The meeting will be held in the Winterset Elementary Lunchroom; enter from the circle drive through the NW doors.
The Madison County River Alliance is organizing a day trip to the scenic Boone River Water Trail on Saturday, April 21st. The group will meet at Middle River County Park south of Winterset at 7:00 am to organize equipment transport before heading to the Boone River. The group will be canoeing from the Briggs Wood Access to the Tunnel Mill Access which is approximately 11 miles. This scenic river will provide a beautiful spring paddle and rumor has it, this stretch of river is good for smallmouth bass fishing. The planned course has a few drops along the way so this trip is open to Experienced Paddlers Only.
All participants should bring their own shore-lunch & beverages. The Madison County River Alliance will have a canoe trailer with limited space available to aid in the transport of canoes. Advanced notification is requested to for anyone wishing to place equipment on the canoe trailer. For advanced notification, contact 515-462-3536 or e-mail madccb@madisoncountyparks.
The Winterset Stage will hold auditions for Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite on Saturday, April 21st at 10:00 am and again on Sunday, April 22nd at 6:00 pm. Both sessions will be at The Iowa Theater. Plaza Suite is being produced by The Winterset Stage on June 15th, 16th, 22nd, 23rd and 24th. Rehearsals will begin at the end of April and will be mostly weekday evenings. This show has roles for adult men and women of a variety of ages. Those auditioning do not need to have anything prepared; scenes from the script will be provided for reading.
Youth in grades 5 and above are invited to join the ISU Extension in Madison County for a Babysitting Basics Class on Friday, April 27th, from 9:00 am – 3:00 pm at the Madison County Extension Office, 117 N. John Wayne Drive. During this six-hour clinic, youth will learn about child development, age-appropriate activities to do with children, safety, basic first aid, nutrition and food choices, caring for infants & kids, parent expectations, and the business of babysitting. Light refreshments will be provided in the morning and afternoon and lunch will be provided as well. Registration is due on April 20th, and this event is limited to the first fifteen registrants. Contact Nicole Navin at 515-462-1001 or nnavin@iastate.edu to register. Registration fee is $25.
Winterset Elementary is now a participant in a new program encouraging men of the community to become involved as WATCH D.O.G.S. WATCH D.O.G.S. (Dads Of Great Students) is an innovative father involvement, educational initiative of the National Center For Fathering.
There are two primary goals of the WATCH D.O.G.S. program:
1) To provide positive male role models for the students, demonstrating by their presence that education is important and,
2) To provide extra sets of eyes and ears to enhance school security and reduce bullying.
You can read more about the WATCH D.O.G.S program in last week’s post. To sign up to volunteer at school for a day please contact a Building Secretary at the Winterset Elementary 515-462-1551. For additional information email rvaughn@winterset.k12.ia.us. Thanks for your consideration in volunteering!
Finally…
The John Wayne Birthplace & Museum has announced that legendary western performer Red Steagall will headline this year’s John Wayne Birthday Celebration to be held on May 25th & 26th.
In his 45-year entertainment career, Steagall has enjoyed tremendous success as a hit-making singer and songwriter. He also hosts the award-winning RFD-TV show, “Somewhere West of Wall Street,” and “Cowboy Corner,” an hour-long syndicated radio program which airs on 170 stations in 43 states. Born and raised in the panhandle plains of Texas, Steagall champions the rugged spirit and traditions of his forebears, the same spirit exemplified by John Wayne throughout his entire motion picture career. “If John Wayne had been a western singer, he’d have been Red Steagall,” says Birthplace director Brian Downes.
We’ll share lots more information about the John Wayne Birthday Celebration in the coming weeks. In the meantime, visit: www.johnwaynebirthplace.museum or call 515-462-1044 for further information or for reservations.
Thank you for reading The Winterset Citizen. All community announcements are provided at no charge, courtesy of the following sponsors:
American State Bank
Anchored Walls
Angel Wings & CT
Ben Franklin
Blanchard Family Dentistry
Bridges Financial Associates
Covered Bridge Realty
Farmers & Merchants State Bank
Farm Bureau FS, Scot Clark
Groth’s Gardens & Greenhouses
Homefront Real Estate
The Iowa Theater
Johnson Insurance
Lowe Chiropractic Clinic
Madhaus Gallery
Madison County Health Care System
Madison County Historical Society
Madison County ISU Extension & Outreach
McDonald Tree Service
McGowen, Hurst, Clark & Smith, P.C.
Medicap Pharmacy
Midwest Heritage Bank
Montross Pharmacy
Pine Creek Ltd.
re:home
Rusty Stars Alpacas
State Farm, Charlotte Speer
Union State Bank
Village Bootery
White Lions Bed & Breakfast
Winterset Ballet & Dance Studio
Winterset Optimist Club
Winterset Parks & Recreation Department
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