News

Nearly 40 years after hanging out in Vinton with his Washington High School classmates, playing trumpet in the school band and listening to rock bands like the Eagles on the radio, Jeffrey Reed is returning to Iowa to lead a tribute to the 70s Rock & Roll Band – accompanied by orchestra music. Reed will be the guest conductor for the Riverfront Pops Concert in Davenport this Saturday, and several of his high school friends plan to attend.

An important part of each school year is underway now at Vinton-Shellsburg: Orientation of new teachers. The district welcomes several new instructors as the 2016-17 school year is about to begin. At Shellsburg, Tony Church will become the new PE teacher, and Haley Schumann will teach special education and Title 1 classes. At the Middle School, Kari Russler becomes the art teacher.

On Monday at the State Fair,  Kate Hyland earned a Certificate of Merit with her working exhibit on t-shirt bags. Kate is a member of the North Eden Willing Workers 4-H Club.  Kate was selected for state fair participation at the county communication event earlier this summer.

Congratulations to Colonel Dakota Rundlett of Vinton for his success at the Iowa State Fair Beard Contest. Rundlett won three ribbons: 6th Place: Best Groomed 2nd Place: Most Historic Nature Beard 1st Place: Most Unique Beard Design.

Five years after her husband won the Iowa State Fair Cookout contest with his Poor Man's Prime Rib, Dawnette Richards joins Brett as Iowa Farm Burau Cookoff Champion. Dawnette's sage butter turkey won the top overall honor as well as the 1st Place award in the Turkey category. The Richards run the popular Smoken' on the Cedar barbecue catering business.

For the third year in a row, the Pyrotechnics Guild International judges have chosen Scott Anderson of rural Brandon as their Grand Master, honoring him with the top trophy as the "competitor who has best demonstrated an overall excellence with pyrotechnic device invention, implementation, and display for the current year." Anderson, one of the Iowa Pyrotechnic Association (IPA) members who works on the Boomtown displays, won that title by creating a variety of firework displays which were judged to be among the  best at the PGI convention in Indiana last week.

Horseshoe competitors throw their best pitch at Doubles State Championship and Open Singles divisions of the Horseshoe Pitching Tournament held Saturday at the 2015 Iowa State Fair. The State Fair hosts both Championship and Open Class competitions every Fair day. Division winners are crowned daily. All Horseshoe Pitching competitions take place on the clay courts just east of Farm Bureau Pioneer Hall.

Vinton residents who enjoy visiting city parks have already noticed new "Little Free Libraries" that were recently placed at B.L. Anderson, Kiwanis and Jaycee Park. Residents are welcome to take books from any of the three sites, and encouraged to return them (or other books) for others to read. The three small house-shaped boxes are the work of Eagle Scout Ryan Levis, a member of Troop 47.

There were about 60 athletes, playing 3 to a group in Saturday's Special Olympics Unified Mini Golf Tournament at the Vinton Skate Center. "We had over 100 people participating, including the volunteers," says Brian Larkin. The event was sponsored by Koops Outdoor Equipment and Stanley Roofing. The event is the only Special Olympics mini golf tournament held in the state.

Jenna and Nora Grovert won 4th place this year at the Iowa State Fair for the Twins, Triplets and More competition for the 5&6 year old most alike category. They have competed every year since birth and have won the event a few times.