The noon Rotary Club of West Liberty will host an estimated 40 vintage cars at the Heritage Depot Museum on the southwest corner of West Liberty as an enhancement to the 26th annual Children’s Festival weekend, it was learned Friday at a meeting of the group.
The Quad-Cities/Muscatine River to River Car Club will travel historic U.S. Route 6 to West Liberty to show off their vehicles at the Depot Park area, expected to arrive around mid-morning Saturday, Sept. 16. The organization plans to offer refreshments and other items for those attending. The entire community is encouraged o attend the public event.
Rotarians are looking for volunteers to clean up the Depot area on Saturday, Sept. 9, beginning at 9 a.m. The work will include simply sprucing up the area, including some painting and preparing the steam engine for display.
In other business, West Liberty Chamber Director Charles Brooke said he continues to hunt for new attractions for the community and reported the farmer’s market continues every Wednesday in the community on Spencer Street beginning at 4 p.m. where consumers can find crafts, fresh produce and other homemade local items.
Brooke also talked about the success of RAGBRAI coming through West Liberty just a few weeks ago and said the organizers of the event looked for feedback from the community, but only found “positive” comments. He is “fairly confident” that RAGBRAI will be back in West Liberty within the next five to seven years and is pushing for an “overnight” event, but said that’s a competitive market. “It went super great. Bikers were proud to be here and have always loved West Liberty,” he said.
Rotary noon President Cliff McFerren called West Liberty’s RAGBRAI visit a “fabulous event.”
Bill Koellner talked about the diverse nature of trees in the community and complimented the beauty of the Muscatine County Fairgrounds, calling it a good place to “simply sit and eat lunch.”
Koellner also talked about a University of Iowa – Community collaboration event what will feature several West Liberty educators. U of I College of Education Associate Professor Dr. Carolyn Colvin and colleagues from West Liberty will speak about the success of a program to bring citizenship and more immigrants in West Liberty. Launched as a university-community collaboration program in 1993, the adult literacy program continues with a grant to support civic participation.
The presentation will take place Friday, Sept. 15, from 6-7:30 p.m. at the ICPL meeting room while also being available on You Tube, sponsored by the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council, City of Iowa City Channel 4 and the Iowa City Public Library.
Allie Paarsmith, Director of the West Liberty Public Library, said the front doors of the library are finally open following sidewalk and front entrance construction, She also said new Friday hours started with the first of the month. A number of arts and crafts, Spanish and English workshops and child and family programs are on slate for the month.
Brittany Woodson, communications director for the city of West Liberty, talked about a grass cutting ordinance and the group wondered if there wasn’t a school group, like Rotary’s Interact youth group, that might be interested in helping out homeowners by mowing and trimming lawns. The group would investigate that possibility.
The noon Rotary Club of West Liberty meets every Friday at noon at Liberty Public House in downtown West Liberty.
The Rotary Club of West Liberty will host their regular monthly meeting this Thursday, Sept. 7, beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the West Liberty Country Club. District Governor Dennis Draeger of Marshalltown will be addressing the group in his annual visit, presenting several Paul Harris Awards to members.