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.
Category: Rutland Community Club
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!
The Burger Grill
No, “The Burger Grill” is not a new eatery in the area. The Rutland “World’s Largest Hamburger” grill sign is finally back on its support. The sign received a long overdue paint job this past summer when Tim Anderson worked intensely on the project. He got started in August but during our September heatwave (remember the heat?) he was getting fried like a burger lying there painting the sign. However, he was able to get it finished before Uffda Day. It’s great to see our shiny new ‘welcome sign’ to greet visitors to Rutland!
Community Club
I attended my first Rutland Community Club meeting Tuesday but I am ashamed that it took me so long to get to one. I was one of five people there along with several members of the Envirothon Team. The Team will progress to the national competition in late July and was at the meeting to request community support to help defray their expenses. It was a good feeling to be there to help the Club spend $500 on such a worthy group. The Envirothon Team will be doing some quick fundraising – such as a car wash — to help defray the teams’ travel costs to Arizona. I know my van regularly needs a good wash and it would be another way to support the group. Watch for information on their fundraising efforts!
Other things that the Community Club discussed included the improvements to the Rutland website, the painting of the hamburger sign which should begin this month and, of course, UffDa Day in October.
Rocket to a Cure
The Big “C” … Cancer. That word makes us shiver in our boots. My dad died of lung cancer in 1991 and my mother has successfully beaten cancer of the vocal chord and is now recovering from having her cancerous bladder removed. Practically everyone has some story to tell about their family’s fight with cancer. June 20 is the Sargent County Relay for Life. Pam Maloney (Chairperson), Joan Lee, Diane Smith, Hilary Mehrer and Carolyn Christensen met on Wednesday after work to decide on a name, slogan, fundraising, and advertising among other details, for the Rutland Community Club sponsored Relay for Life team. We are the Rutland Rockets (That used to be our basketball team.) and we will “Rocket to a Cure” as we work toward raising money for research of this terrible, frightening disease. Other members of our team are Larry Christensen, Shannon Mehrer, Taryn and Brianne Maloney and Ione and Val Pherson. We will be making theme baskets to raffle and hope to have the baskets available by May 19. They will be in the Sargent County Bank in Rutland, so make sure you stop by and see what we have to offer. On June 15 we plan on having a diner-type 50’s meal from 5:00 to 7:00 with hot dogs, hamburgers and root beer floats available for a free will offering. It will be at this supper that the names will be drawn for the winners of the baskets.
The Rutland General Store is also sponsoring a team for Relay for Life. Their slogan is “Love Me Tender”. Members of their team are Laurie Greene, Shauna McKinney, Gretchen Van, Debra Liermark, Margie Johnson (Chairperson), Bertha Siemienieski and Renee Cramton. They have begun their fundraising efforts with a garage sale. They also have a canister in the General Store for people to drop change into, if they choose.
Of course, both of Rutland’s teams will be selling luninaries. We are working hard to raise lots of money for cancer research, but we’ll manage to have a lot of fun doing it. [Carolyn C]
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