Updates and more

Fendig Summer Theater has announced the plays that they will present this summer. Instead of a two-hour musical, they will present two one-hour productions, Xanadu Jr and  Disney's Moana Jr. Each will have a separate cast. The performances will be over four days, Thursday through Sunday, July 8 through 11, and probably outdoors in a park. July 10 is Cruise Night and the performance that day will be in the afternoon.

The new classroom building planned for Brookside Park is being financed by grants from the Jeff Goad Memorial 5K and the Jasper-Newton Foundation. The Rensselaer Republican had full details in this week's paper. 

Did you see the caravan of vehicles cleaning up the City for clean-up week? I will be interested in hearing how much they collected. I would expect that it will be more than usual because there was no clean-up week last year.

The containers in the Walmart parking lot that were pictured in a recent post are now enclosed in a fence. Comments on that post suggested that Walmart will be doing some remodeling.

Paving of the parking lot at the recycling center is finished.

There is a new tenant in the College Mall, Training Elite. I was told that it offers wrestling classes. I recall that a few years ago there was a martial arts studio that briefly rented in the College Mall.

The Smoked food truck will be at the bowling alley every Friday afternoon. It is owned by people who live a few miles from Rensselaer. They may do more days during the summer and expect to be at local festivals. On Saturdays they set up in DeMotte.

Here is a rather bad picture of their menu. 

Work began this week on sidewalks. Below is a cement truck getting ready to pour.

Here is a completed sidewalk on Home Avenue.

I only visited the construction site of the new vet clinic once this week. The day I was there they were installing what appeared to be the sewer line.

The maple trees are shedding their leaves. I have had some young morning doves in my backyard, so the first generation of birds has left the nest. Both signs of spring, but we had patchy frost on Saturday morning and may have more next week. 

The Tourism Commission met Friday. Revenue from the innkeepers tax has rebounded from last year as people are once again staying in motels. The Tourism Commission was a major contributor to the mural that DeMotte will be getting. Cameron Moberg, who will paint the mural, has had his sketches approved by the authorities in DeMotte. They will also get a sculpture that is being done by the same artist that did the bird outside of eMbers. This bird was given to the City but the City has not found a place for it to be permanently displayed.

The Commission had four requests for funds. They approved $175 for new plants in the Court House planters and a sponsorship for the Weston cemetery walk scheduled for September 18. Touch of Dutch is planning a smaller event this year, more a music festival and less arts and crafts. The Commission turned down a grant request and instead agreed to sponsor them at the $1500 level, their highest level. The Commission is trying to move away from grants to sponsorship. It also has increased its funding of capital improvements and to do that has had to reduce what it gives to events. 

The Commission approved paying the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority for the services they provide Jasper County Tourism. The person from South Shore noted that there has been a huge demand for sporting events and that the facilities in Crown Point and Hammond are totally booked. Perhaps that is why the Blacker Fields have had so many events scheduled in its first year.  The tournaments do seem to be filling hotels rooms.