Thursday June 4, 2015 Vol. 3, No. 15
The Weekly Post
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Volunteers stepped up to continue Strawberry Fest By BILL KNIGHT
ELMWOOD – Despite initial reluctance to take over the long-running Strawberry Festival after organizers Denise Hotz, Diane Ladd and Pat McGuire stepped down in 2014, people volunteered to ensure the June 6 event would take place – and continue. “No one wanted to ‘take over’,” said Strawberry Festival co-chair Amy Davis, who’s also president of the Elmwood Development Association (EDA), “but once we started holding meetings, it brought people together and everyone really stepped up.” The key was delegating duties among the committee of eight and For The Weekly Post
Strawberry Festival • The food tent is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., but there is also a pancake breakfast at the Elmwood Fire Dept. from 6- 10 a.m. and vendor booths are open until 6 p.m.
other townspeople, Davis added. “When we said certain things needed doing, everyone was willing to take on specific tasks,” she said. “It became a lot less daunting.” Davis also credited the founding members of the Elmwood Association of Commerce for their work building the festival over the past 26 years. The combined results should be
Laura hosting revived town garage sale
evident when the event returns this Saturday, and when the familiar strawberry treats featured for years at the big food tent will be augmented by dozens more vendors, she said. “At last count, we have about 90 people,” Davis said. “There’ll be a lot of new booths, mostly actual crafters.” The festival – which functions as part of the EDA, but with independent funding – may be under “new management,” Davis said, but the old features are returning, from all manner of strawberry dishes to a bouncy house for kids and a 6-10 a.m. pancake breakfast at the Elmwood Fire Dept. Continued on Page 2
Strawberry delicacies of all sorts will be on sale Saturday in Elmwood during the 27th annual Strawberry Festival, held at Central Park from the 6 a.m. start of a pancake breakfast to 6 p.m.
GREEN THUMB
By BILL KNIGHT
LAURA – The multi-family garage sale here Saturday won’t be in a garage, which is good considering organizers expect the Millbrook Township Center to be packed with tables selling new and used items as varied as clothing, baked goods, toys and TVs. “We’ll fill the gym up,” says Connie Plumer, who’s helping revive the community sale after a hiatus of almost a decade. “People will be surprised what people have to sell,” she adds. Although the township center hosts activities ranging from auctions to crafts shows in the spring and Christmas, it’s been a while since households got together to offer the ultimate “recycling” program for new and gently used material. “We haven’t had one in eight or ten years,” says Plumer, 57, who was approached by the late Mona Wilcoxen and township official Karen Megan about reviving the
Petersen incentives uncertain
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By MICHELLE SHERMAN
FARMINGTON – The future of an ordinance that would grant Petersen Health Care incentives to locate its new assisted living facility in Farmington is uncertain. A motion to reconsider the controversial measure at a later date failed for Inside lack of a second when • Williamsfield put before will spend the Farming- $25,000 to repair ton City sidewalks and roads. Page 8. Council on Monday. A previous vote on the ordinance, which would grant the company $270,000 in Tax Increment Financing funds over seven years, waive a nearly $30,000 building permit fee and exempt the city from any action that might occur should Petersen not pay its employees prevailing wages, failed 3-2 on May 18. That vote was determined illeFor The Weekly Post
Ava Alford took the lead this year on a hydroponics program at Williamsfield High School. Photo by Cheryl Harlow.
A growing, green classroom By CHERYL HARLOW
WILLIAMSFIELD – You might say that Ava Alford has a green thumb. The Williamsfield High School senior has taken the lead on the new hydroponics program at Williamsfield High School. Hydroponics is the process of growing plants in sand, gravel or liquid with added nutrients but without soil. The project started last January, when For The Weekly Post
Kent Rigg’s ag class toured the Chicago Agriculture Science High School and saw that school’s hydroponics program. Alford was determined to somehow start a similar program in Williamsfield and Rigg was in full agreement. The two did some research and received a $1,600 Illinois grant to buy two hydroponic units. A second grant came from the F.F.A.’s Food for All program. These Continued on Page 10
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