Three--make that two--ribbon cuttings

Ribbon cutting for a revived greenhouse

On Wednesday the Rensselaer branch of the Indiana Ag and Tech School (IATS) held a ribbon cutting for the reopening of a green house on the SJC campus. The green house was abandoned when SJC suspended operations in 2010 2017. This year IATS moved its Rensselaer location from the Fairgrounds to the campus and decided to take advantage of the greenhouse.

When I saw the announcement I assumed that they had fixed the old hoop house. They had not. Instead they had repaired a smaller building next to it that included a small greenhouse and a classroom behind it.

The skeleton of the hoop house remains but it will take some work to restore it. That may happen next spring.

Before the ribbon cutting, students who had worked to restore the building spoke. They mentioned that the building was full of mouse droppings and they began cleaning it wearing hazmat suits. They had to replace some of the panels of the green house and there was a lot of work needed to get the hydroponics part of the greenhouse working. They also cleaned, painted, and refinished floors in the classroom part of the building. They were proud of what they had accomplished and deservedly so.

The Rensselaer branch has about 35 students. IATS is a public charter school that draws students from as far away as Clinton County. After the ribbon cutting I had a guide take me through the building and he was an eighth grader from the Rossville area. The bulk of their classroom work is done on-line using Edgenuity, a national provider of on-line instruction. Once a week, on Wednesdays, they meet together at SJC.

Below is a picture of the ribbon cutting. The people on either side of the door are IATS students.

Below is a very short video showing the ribbon being cut.

Below is the classroom behind the greenhouse. There are also some storage closets and a small room used to germinate plants.

To keep the plants from freezing in the winter, the greenhouse has a heating unit.

Those attending were treated to some homemade cookies after the ribbon cutting.

I asked a couple of students why they chose IATS. One girl said she lived on a farm and entered many animals in 4H, but the key to her choosing IATS seemed to be that she was bullied at her regular school. I wish I had talked to more of them and gotten their stories.

Fall fun at Filson Park

A ribbon-cutting event had been scheduled for Filson Park Thursday evening but it was postponed because one of the principals was ill. However, the rest of the planned activities took place including a concert, pumpkin carving, roasting hot dogs, making smores, and the movie, "Hocus Pocus".

The bird that for the past few years has been sitting outside eMbers has a new home. It was given to the City but until now the City had no place to display it.

This ringed globe is new. It was provided by the Prairie Arts Council.

The fire hydrant on the corner has been made into an art piece.

A lot of asphalt patching has been done recently, including around the new sidewalks at Filson Park.

Fire tower dedication

I left Filson Park before the sun set to get ready to go the second planned ribbon cutting of the day. That ceremony began with about 20 minutes of various people thanking the many people who contributed to the planning and building of the fire tower.

There was no ribbon cutting. Instead two hoses were uncoupled. The people standing above were firefighters from Rensselaer with a few from neighboring departments.

Then the best part of the evening began. Those attending were invited to explore the tower, which is constructed from shipping containers. There are many hallways that have white walls. They may not stay white after bales of hay are set on fire as part of training.

Metal stairs take up a lot of the room inside.

I kept climbing until I reached the top so I could take some pictures. The final ascent was on a ladder, not stairs. The bright lights made it hard to get pictures in some directions. Below is the view looking to the east. Notice the partial circle next to the building. That is around a second ladder, this one on the outside of the building. I contemplated descending using it but decided to go back down the way I had come up.

Below is the view of the fire station from atop the fire tower.

Coming back down I left the building to go onto the deck that the firefighters had used for the uncoupling picture. 

After leaving the building, I thought the southeast corner was lit very nicely so I stopped and took a picture. Notice the cage around the ladder mentioned earlier.

The tower will provide training not only for fire fighters from around the state but for other first responders including police and EMTs. One of the reasons that Rensselaer wanted this is to reduce the burden of traveling for training. There is a lot of training needed to become a fireman and if it includes frequent trips lasting a couple of hours, that makes the training burdensome.

Odd and ends

On Thursday morning we had another patchy frost. The first light frost was a week earlier. The first frost damaged some of my garden plants but I do not think it killed any.

Work on converting the old tennis courts at Brookside Park to pickleball courts continues. On Wednesday the foundation was being prepared.

The next step was to put on a layer of crushed stone.

I was asked if I knew what was happening with YNG. I do not know but the large space that they rented in the College Mall is empty. (Update: See comment at end.)

Finally, a picture of Fall.

End of July pictures

Two new murals

While at the Art-in-the-Alley festival on Saturday I noticed work on a mural.

It was being painted by Ryan Preston and Cameron Moberg.

It was replacing a mural that had severely deteriorated. I mentioned that the wall did not hold paint and they said it was because of the water coming off the roof. Below is what the back of the building looked like in April. Notice the new mural keeps one bit of the old mural, the "I'm OK" bubble.

The mural in its prime can be seen here.

Rein Bontreger's mural on the back of Unwind Massage seems to be complete because he has signed it.

More County Fair pictures

In a post last week I had some pictures from the County Fair. Here are more.

This exhibit had pig races. A couple of my granddaughters watched a race and thought they were amusing.

I have always liked Ferris wheels.

This is a picture of one of the two funny little people who were roaming around the Fair.

A view toward the barns from outside the Commercial Building.

ConAgra was giving away popcorn.

One of the booths that was scheduled for the Commercial building but did not show was for the Tri-County Bible school. I asked one of the people at the Tri-County Bible Church booth about it and was told the plan is to open in the Fall of 2025 in the Core Building at SJC.

EDP Renewables, which plans to start construction of a wind farm in Carpenter Township in 2025, was giving away a variety of items. The cow stuffed animals were a big hit with my young granddaughters.

Bob's Bumpy Barrels were back again this year.

On Friday evening 4-Hers were taking their goats to the livestock auction.

Below is a picture of what the Fair Board would like to build, an enclosed show arena.

Here is a video of the steam engine in action.

It had a belt connected to a large saw that was cutting planks from logs.

The Fair ended on Saturday night with fireworks. A video is here.

Art in The Alley

The annual Art in The Alley was the first event to be held in the almost completed Filson Park. The fountain was operating and as far as I know, no one waded in. This year the event overlapped the last day of the Fair, which probably hurt attendance.

One of the scheduled events was an improv performance by members of the Carnegie Players.

Unscheduled was a few minutes of dance by a local line-dance group.

While I was there, the biplane and helicopter rides that the Airport had were almost constantly in the air.

Miscellaneous pictures

Bricks are being placed on Van Rensseler. It will take a while to finish this part of the project.

On one of my trips to the Fair, I saw a deer in a soybean field.

Last Thursday workers were beginning to install batting cages near Staddon Field.

Shovels at SJC, scissors at Plevna

 On Friday there were two events heralding the start of something new. At SJC there was a groundbreaking ceremony signaling the start of the new Building & Trades program. This program, which will train students to build houses, has previously been discussed here.  This sign at the site, (which is not where the first house will be built) lists partnerships and sponsors.

On the left is Ernest Watson, fourth from the left is the chair of the Board of Trustees for SJC Mike Van Eekeren, and on the right is Mayor Phillips. 

A short video showing dirt flying.

I talked to a number of the people attending.  I asked about the prospect of training EMTs and was told that the program needs a medical doctor to be very involved in the program and they have not found one willing to devote the time and effort. The various medical certificate programs will be scheduled a year in advance so prospective students will know when they are coming. The new CDL Academy has started and has had its graduates get their CDL licenses. I met the new CEO and I think we will see a more responsive SJC going forward.

The new signs along the highway have three of the four tracks that the College is offering: Building & Trades, the CDL Academy, and Health Sciences. The fourth is for-credit college courses offered with a cooperating and accredited college.

There is no prospect of the old SJC coming back, but there is a good chance that SJC will become a better neighbor to Rensselaer in the years ahead.

Plevna ribbon cutting and grand opening

The former McAllister dealership is no more. The building is now an outlet for the Plevna Implement Company.

MacAllister was primarily a dealer in Caterpillar equipment and Caterpillar has been focusing more on construction equipment and less on agricultural equipment. MacAllister followed that direction and there is a limited market for construction equipment in Rensselaer. In contrast, Plevna is focused on the agriculture markets, so when they saw a chance to buy the MacAllister building and move to this part of Indiana., they took it. They originally had considered a grand opening in June but decided that was not a good time because planting went late this year. A grand opening during County Fair weeks seemed like a better bet.

There was some miscommunication between the City and Plevna about the timing. The City thought the ribbon cutting would take place at 10:00 but Plevna thought it would take place at noon, when they would start serving lunch to guests. Because the Chamber of Commerce had the ribbon and the Mayor had another commitment at noon, the ribbon cutting did take place at 10:00. At first there was an attempt to line people under the big Plevna sign.

But more people decided to line up by a row of equipment and that is where the ribbon was cut.

Below is a very short video showing the ribbon being cut.

Plevna offers a variety of brands of farm equipment, most brands that are under the AGCO umbrella. In addition to selling new equipment, they service old equipment. Currently they have seven employees and hope to increase that to about 15 in a year. Below is the front of the building, where customers would most likely enter.

Behind the front are storage spaces for parts and a large area for working on equipment. On Thursday it was set up for a lunch. I was surprised at how many place settings there were, but was told that they had sent out 1400 invites to area farmers.

In the back was an enormous combine.

In the supply room I did see one piece of equipment that I could afford.

From the building they have a fine view of airplanes taking off and landing at the airport, which has been very busy this week with crop dusters.

A closing

While the events above celebrate beginnings, another institution announced a closing. The Jasper County Recovery House issued a press release stating that it will be closing because they "could not find adequate employees to keep the center open." The Jasper County center opened in 2018.