The weather was absolutely beautiful. Why would anyone want to be inside on such a lovely afternoon? Lots of people, if you consider the crowd that attended Rutland’s annual Fun Nite. The Town Hall was packed with people playing Bingo or trying their luck for prizes at the variety of games available. The competition at the Cake Walk was pretty intense and some people went home with 3, 4 and even 5 cakes. I worked in the kitchen serving pop, lemonade, coffee, hot dogs, nachos, walking tacos, bars, ice cream sundaes & root beer floats. My co-worker and I were sure kept hopping. Kids went home with full sacks of loot, maybe a bit of a sugar high and a big smile on their faces. The adults were also smiling after spending a nice afternoon visiting with friends and participating in the games with their children. Thanks to Diane Smith and Hilary Mehrer for putting together another great community activity.
Author: rutlandramblings
Money to Spend!
There will be a meeting of the Screening Committee/Action Plan Chairpersons on Tuesday, November 18 at 7:00 p.m. at Nordland Parish Hall. The Steering Committee will be discussing the suggestions for the use of the $8,500 we received for successful completion of the Horizon Project.
Rutland residents have provided input through the suggestion boxes at the General Store and Cafe. Suggestions included:
- A new projector for town usage
- Housing (4) (sump pump, water leaks)
- Roof repair for Legion Hall/Fitness Center
- New pump for fire truck that broke down during Hal Nelson’s fire (4)
- Welcome package to welcome new residents
- Welcome sign at 2-mile corner
- Sign at 2-mile corner listing local business, churches, etc. (3)
- Dishwasher for General Store – Clean dishes benefit everyone!
- Cell phone tower in town
- Playground & swingset/slide for the kids (2)
- Re-do tennis court (3)
- New software for city for comp billing
- Recreation & advertising
- Pay 25% of furnace for town hall
- Money into Fitness Center
- Invest in savings bonds to earn money for city needs down the road
- Buy freezer for Community Club
- Money toward Town Hall projects
- More advertising of Rutland, like in ND magazine.
- Big sign at 2-mile corner
Publicizing Rutland
Last week I took it upon myself to get some free promotion of Rutland. Today I received word that our town is included in the Roadside America website. If you are not familiar with the site, Roadside America offers maps, directions and tourist attraction details as a convenience to its users. The website authors knew about the Rutland grill sign but it was not on their site. It is now! Click here to check out Rutland’s entry at Roadside America.
Hal Nelson Benefit Fund
As many of you have already heard, Hal Nelson of Rutland was seriously injured Saturday, October 18, when his house exploded. If you missed the broadcast you can view it at WDAY-TV which shows what little is left of his home. You can link to Hal’s CaringBridge site to keep updated on his steps to recovery or to post your words and thoughts for Hal and his family.
A benefit fund has been established for Hal to help him with the costs that will be incurred on his road to recovery. Donations can be sent to any Sargent County Bank (link for address) with a memo area notation “Hal Nelson Benefit.” Cash donations are being accepted in a donation jar at the Rutland General Store as well for the Fund.
City Hall Renovation Needs
At the Rutland Community Club meeting earlier this week one of the items discussed was the bathroom renovation which had been in the planning stages for several months – or is it years? The discussion brought up the issue of all the needs in the Town Hall including a new heating unit and insulation in addition to handicap accessible bathrooms. We were told that if some maintenance is not done on the building soon we could lose it. It is estimated that the cost to update the building would be close to $100,000.
The City of Rutland does not have the funds to do what needs to be done. Residents are writing grants and planning fundraisers but that will not be enough. Letters have been sent to current and former Rutland residents informing them of these needs and to ask for donations for a maintenance and rehabilitation fund for Rutland Town Hall. As seen above, the building looks good from the outside and appears clean and white but as we know looks can be deceiving.
Donations are asked to be sent to the Rutland Community Club, PO Box 65, Rutland ND 58067. If anyone knows a potential source of large funding for a city building renovation, please let us know. During these tough economic times we need to identify and approach any and every available source.
Rutland ND website
The Rutland ND new and improved website is set to be launched hopefully within the next month. Our Community Club President was finally able – after nearly a year – to reach the right person to release the domain name for rutlandnd.com so we can keep the same web address. The new Rutland ND website will include past favorites and will have new features and updated photos. Rooster Crows columns, that are on the current site will be included and we hope to expand to include past print columns. The new site will include current and historial photos and features such as a calendar to keep residents and others informed about community happenings. In addition, Bill Anderson has agreed to periodically provide his insights and continue with the Rooster Crows column when he sets his mind to it. Bill promises to provide a column soon. I know many will look forward to finally seeing this new and improved web presence for Rutland. It’s a good way to advertise what this community has to offer to residents and visitors!
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