Villisca

A limited time offer for Villisca t-shirts for the bikers visit on July 20

Hi all, There has been some interest in some tees in the infant/toddler sizes and so we have talked to the company printing the shirts and we can special order some smaller sizes and they will be available by RAGBRAI. So, we have decided to place an order. If you would like to order a smaller size, we will need your order by Monday, June 22 at 5:00. You can order by e-mailing ragbrai@villisca.com., by calling Sandy Wainwright-Rossander at 826-7682 or Roxanna Sieber at 826-7812. We will collect payment on these special orders when we deliver them since time is short. The tee-s will be $11.00 and they come in 12 mo., 18 mo. 2T, 3T, and 4T. Add $4. if you want them shipped to you. The shirts are 6 oz, 100% cotton. I'm attaching a photo of the logo in case you have not seen it. Because of its simplicity, we've been told it will translate well in a smaller design area. We will probably loose Jordan Wyatt's signature and a bit of the biking route but that would be all. We are glad to be able to make this offer but we will place the order Tuesday morning, June 23 so ordering time is limited.

The logo can be seen on www.villisca.com/Ragbrai.h

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The Villisca Ragbrai T-shirts in youth sizes sm, med. and adult sizes small, med. large, x-large, xx-large and xxx-large will arrive on Saturday. In town they will be available at City Hall. Hopefully by Monday we will have an online store up so those of you from out of town can easily order online at a secure online store. A link to the store will be on villisca.com.

If you know of some who are not a part of this group but would be interested in this offer, please quickly get the message to them.

Villisca Schools has education positions to fill

In this week's copy of the Villisca Review Stanton Viking, Villisca schools have posted a number of positions in our school system that need to be filled.  The classified page has been uploaded on www.villiscareview.com - you can find a link to it on the sites front page. We are looking for the best of the best.  As you may have already heard, the Villisca and the Corning school districts have a verbal agreement for the shared superintendent position.  News of that is also in the Review.

A couple other reminders - The Horizon's Community Meeting is coming up on June 14. All community members are encouraged to attend.  It will be held at the High School.  The 2009 All-Class Reunion is coming up soon. Details at www.villisca.com/2009All-ClassReunion.htm.  And Ragbrai will be here July 20 - we are looking for volunteers to prepare for their visit and for hosting them the day of.  If you can help, please send your information to ragbrai@villisca.com  Details of the community activities can be found at www.villlisca.com/RagbraiforVilliscans.htm.  Details for Riders have been posted at www.villlisca.com/Ragbrai.htm

Memorial Day

A thank you seems to be so lacking in impact when we it comes to expressing our appreciation to all those who have served in the armed forces to preserve for us the freedoms we so often take for granted. There are those who gave the ultimate - their lives. For their families who lost their loved ones far to early, we want you to know we know the sacrifice you have lived. 

For a time after 9/11, our honoring of our armed forces was heightened - but like so much from those days, we've settled back in to the ordinary. For a short time, on the Villisca Review Website, we have uploaded the Celebrate the USA page. It has on it a wonderful article on the meaning of Memorial Day and a bit of the history of decorating graves on Memorial Day. It also has pictures of some of our Villiscans who have served during the War on Terror.

My words are not elegant and certainly there are others who have expressed these sentiments far better than I have here but do not let that diminish my thank you for all you have given.

Thanks to our Villisca Entrepreneurs

Our nation is celebrating National Small Business Week May 17-23, 2009. Our rural economies would not survive without many entrepreneurs who own and operate their businesses in our communities. Villisca is no exception. On the occasion of this week honoring small business, I would like to express my appreciation for each of the business owners who have made the choice to make Villisca the home for their businesses. Without these business owners, we would not have such diverse services and products available to us. We would not have jobs for residents. We would not have the dollars circulating in our local economy and we would not have the tax dollars that pay for so many things within our community. Thank these risk takers for what they bring to our community by doing business with them.

 It never ceases to amaze me how many businesses call Villisca home. A list the businesses can be found on the business page of www.villisca.com. It is not a comprehensive list – every so often I learn of yet another business missing from the list.

          With changes in technology, businesses which at one time needed to be located in metro areas are now able to call communities like Villisca home. I would encourage all of us who live here to watch for opportunities to suggest Villisca as a great place to grow a small business.

VHS Bluejay Hall of Fame nominees announced

The first class of the Villisca Bluejay Hall of Fame was announced at the VHS Commencement, Sunday, May 17, 2009. by the Villisca Alumni and Friends Association (VAFA) president, Jeff Focht, ’76. The nominees are:
Laurent Lee Gourley ‘62
 Patrick Jackson ‘86
Lynn King ‘26
Colleen Means Dempsey ‘69
Paula Means Lund ‘68
Roger Poston ‘59
Phil Wertman ‘67
 Gerald Ziehe ‘50

These people will be inducted in the first class of the Hall of Fame in a ceremony to be held during the summer’s all-class reunion. Subsequent classes will be inducted every four years in conjunction with the all-class reunion (2013, 2017 …).

          In his presentation of those selected to the VAFA board, George McVicker said that the criteria he used in evaluating the names submitted was “the footprint they left in Villisca, the heart they had for Villisca and the legacy they left.” The selection committee was George McVicker, Jake Grasmick and Mark Skahill.

          VHS family and friends were invited to nominate individuals with a written explanation of the outstanding achievements justifying the candidate’s possible induction. To be eligible a nominee must have graduated from VHS or served VHS prior to 1989. The achievements could be in - but not limited to - the field of sports, music, academics, or achievements following graduation. An emphasis was placed on alumni but former teachers, coaches, and supportive citizens of the Villisca School system were also considered. Biographies of the inductees may be found on the alumni page of www.villisca.com.
          VAFA’s mission is a commitment “to enhancing and supporting the educational (both academic and extra-curricular) facilities, programs and opportunities in the Villisca community.”

          In commenting on the introduction of the Bluejay Hall of Fame, former VAFA president James Robinson ’67 said “Students become alumni and what they do as alumni is to an extent a reflection of their school years. The VHS Bluejay Hall of Fame gives alumni an opportunity to remember some of those who made those school years stand out.”

          VAFA was created in 2006 following the successful 2005 All-Class Reunion. In recalling their memories at VHS and acknowledging the value of their educational experience, a group of alumni wanted to put an organization in place that would support and encourage the ongoing quality education at the Villisca Community Schools.

Villisca goes to state again ... and again

This week Villisca has two of their track team going to State:  Courtney Auxier will be competing in the 100 M dash and the long jump and Cody Hardy in the 400 M dash.  Congratulations to these two students who have excelled in Track and Field.

Three of our Large Group Speech teams received nominations to perform at the All-State Festival:  Radio Broadcasting, Readers Theatre and Ensemble Acting.  In this week's Villisca Review Stanton Viking, Melissa Feilmeier, the speech sponsor, wrote: "In the Southwest District, out of 107 schools that performed at state only 25 received at least one All-State nomination. In terms of those in the Southwest District receiving the most amount of nominations (remember, there is no class distinction, we compete against 4A, 3A and 2A schools) this is where Villisca ranked: 1. West Des Moines(4A), 2. Des Moines Hoover (4A), 3. Bondurant-Farrar (4A), 4. Des Moines North (4A), 5. Des Moines Lincoln (4A), 6. VILLISCA (1A)."

In the Individual Speech category, Sawyer Johannes received All-State nomination for After Dinner Speaking and Leah Robinson received All-State nomination in Storytelling.

Ms. Feilmeier's article in the Review is a good read - far to long to include here.   Congratulations to all our students who have represented Villisca well in the numerous competitions.

t's for All-Class Reunion

We are indeed busy here in Villisca.  Good things happen every day - so many there's no time to post them. The All-Class Reunion committe announced that they had chosen a logo for the t-shirts for the All-Class Reunion happening this summer on the July 4th weekend. It is a great design created by one of our own teens, Sawyer Johannes.  If you are not going to be able to attend the Reunion but would like one of the shirts, there is an order form that can be downloaded from www.villlisca.com/2009All-ClassReunion.htm.  They are $10.00 and if you need to have them shipped to you, there are postage and handling charges.  If you are going to be at the Reunion, order them with your registration and plan to pick them up at the Reunion. They come in youth sizes sm, med, lg and adult sizes sm, med. lg, xx-large. Here's a graphic of the design.  It may still receive a bit of tweeking but basically, this is the design. 

Looking for rocky ground

For those of you who don't read the classifieds in the Villisca Review - this week there is a notice from Clarence Peterson:

Rocks needed - Baseball to football size to line the stream bank on the south end of Villisca’s walking trail from the bridge to 1st St. Please call Clarence Peterson @ 712-826-7512.

We have a Ragbrai theme!

Villisca – there’s only one is the theme chosen for the Ragbrai’s stop in Villisca. Now we need a graphic design that illustrates the theme. The Ragbrai Advisory Committee would like a graphic design that shows where Villisca is on the Iowa map – perhaps just a map of SW Iowa, showing the 2009 Ragbrai route. Following is what the committee would like to be incorporated into the graphic.

*Be creative in print & shape of letters and your ideas.
*Use 3 colors that would work on a white or a light bright colored t-shirt.

*Make the colors vibrantly explosive

* Do include a bike in the design

*Include “villisca.com” or www.villisca.com in the design
*Do include location of Villisca in  SW Iowa map outline
*The word “Ragbrai” cannot be used in the design, the number  “37” or XXXVII can be used (this is the 37th year of Ragbrai).

The graphic will primarily be used on t-shirts that will be sold to raise money for the costs associated with hosting the bikers the morning of July 20. It may also be used in primt promotions so it may need to be used in a smaller format and in black and white.

Villisca will be having colored ribbons, signs, etc along the road from Stanton to Villisca and on our streets long the bike route in town. We want Villisca to stand out as riders approach and are in town by making colorful memories!

Submit by sending it by .jpeg format to ragbrai@villisca.com or submit to Sandy Wainwright, Janet Scholey,  or leave at the High School or the  Enarson Elementary School offices by May 14th.

Congrats Rundles

Today Kelly Rundle posted to his facebook page “Four years after its first release on DVD, we have just received another large order for "Villisca: Living with a Mystery" DVDs from Netflix! http://www.villiscamovie.com/reviews.htm”

 

Tammy Rundle posted to her facebook page “NETFLIX ordered more of our documentary VILLISCA: LIVING WITH A MYSTERY and the sun just came out! A splendid day indeed! http://www.villiscamovie.com/”