by Justin Gibson | Jun 13, 2018 | Community, Vicksburg
Jasper and Vincenza Matranga are seated in front of their extended family of Anthony, Piera, Bob and Julia Fagaly, at Via Gelato on Portage Rd.
By Sue Moore
Vicksburg natives Piera and Bob Fagaly have opened Via Gelato, an Italian restaurant which features gelato and other delicacies. The couple comes by their Italian heritage naturally. Piera is the daughter of Jaspar Matranga and niece of Carmela Renda, both well-known as entrepreneurs in the Vicksburg area.
The Matranga family immigrated to Vicksburg in the 1960s. They opened businesses such as Jaspare’s Pizza and Renda’s Carpet and Tile store. “This is the best country in the world,” said Matranga. “You can work day and night as long as you pay Uncle Sam. It was easier to make it in the 70s and 80s for an immigrant. Lots are surprised and impressed we made it here, as that’s not normal.”
Matranga has had success in buying buildings and transforming them, so it was natural that the Fagaly family would choose to occupy one of his investments that shares a parking lot with Erbelli’s Pizzeria at 8390 Portage Road.
The new restaurant was totally Piera’s idea, her dad said. “We only had pizza places. She wanted something else. I had an uncle who was the first to sell gelato on the streets of Sicily. It’s an Italian dish, soft and creamy. Piera was intrigued by her great-uncle’s idea. She and Bob went to a Chicago school to learn how to make authentic gelato. She did her research.”
Fagaly said that all of her family is involved in the store. Her husband, Bob, makes the gelato after his regular work day is done as an IT guy for a Kalamazoo firm. Daughter Julia, a Vicksburg High School graduate in 2017, is home from Grand Valley State University and working in the store for the summer. Son Anthony is a VHS freshman and helps out when he is out of school.
“The basic difference between gelato and ice cream is that they use less heavy cream. There is milk in the mixture but it has less fat and air content. It is churned at a slower pace and becomes denser that way,” Fagaly said. They also have a small café menu with paninis which are toasted sandwiches, flatbreads and piadas, which are like a toasted Italian wrap, and salads. “It’s a combination of American and European with a concentration on Italian desserts. Her sister makes macaroons, her mom makes tiramisu and cannoli from scratch.”
Fagaly said her mom, Vincenza, is a fabulous cook. “It’s hard to beat my mom as all the recipes are in her head. She has a passion for cooking and helps us out but she is not an employee. We had to sit her down and go through each step and then write it all down.”
Although Via Gelato was opened in 2017, they decided to close for the winter when it seemed that most folks were not as interested in this warm weather treat. They reopened in April with hours of 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, open until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Sunday hours are 4-9 p.m. Phone 269-459-6745.
What’s the Difference Between Gelato and Ice Cream?
1. Gelato has less heavy cream than ice cream.
2. Gelato has less air whipped into it making it denser and giving it a stronger flavor.
3. Gelato is served at a slightly higher temperature than ice cream to allow better taste to come through rather than numbing the tongue.
4. Gelato is presented differently and served with a spade rather than scooped.
by Justin Gibson | Jun 13, 2018 | Community, Vicksburg
The two families that have started the Village Works, are seated inside the lobby area of their remodeled building at 102 S. Main Street in Vicksburg. From left to right: Veronica and Scott Levin, Lupe and Ron Smith.
By Sue Moore
The entrepreneurial and artistic spirit runs deep in the families of Ron and Lupe Smith and Scott and Veronica Levin. They have purchased the former Dr. Bob Dornbos building at 102 S. Main Street in Vicksburg.
What they plan to do with the building has somewhat changed from their original idea. For the time being, the front walk-in area displays Lupe and Veronica’s art work, which is for sale. In a small area off the main entrance, Mary Ruple of Pet Emporium has bath lotions for pets and humans for sale following closure of her store at 108 S. Main. In what was the dental practice toward the middle and back of the building, Brittany Hovious has opened her doors as the Shear Beauty Salon & Spa.
The mother and daughter team of Lupe and Veronica have been creating art for many years. Smith paints abstracts using acrylics and is an accomplished potter. Levin creates jewelry and giclée prints with vibrant colors made with fancy ink jet printers using alcohol ink on synthetic paper. Their vision was to create a space to sell the art work while having an area where friends and customers could drop by for coffee, tea selections and coffee cake in the multi-use space. They envision wine and paint parties with no regular time schedule, just a place to get together and meet.
Smith said her kids went to high school while she went to college in Urbana-Champaign’s University of Illinois campus. She is originally from Ecuador, where she met Dr. Ron Smith, who had graduated from Vicksburg High School and Michigan State University as a veterinarian. He was serving in the Peace Corps and had his eyes on this beautiful woman who was working in her dad’s shoe store.
Lupe’s father was an entrepreneur and owned a movie theater, a shoe store and a bank building. At the same time, Ron’s parents Gerald and Lorene Smith owned and operated Smith Radio and TV store in Vicksburg, where he was raised. They moved to Vicksburg from the university, where he was a professor in the College of Veterinarian Medicine. In 2006, Ron became treasurer of the Vicksburg Historical Society and joined the Lions Club. He has been a member of the village Council since 2012. His mother had served on the Council in the 1980s.
Lupe is a gardener of great renown as she helped to start the Vicksburg Community Gardens some 10 years ago. She is a formidable cook and uses much of the produce to make exotic dishes, her daughter explained.
Veronica has been a free-lance graphic artist for many years, having taught at Washtenaw Community College while the couple lived in Ann Arbor. They came from Anchorage, Alaska where Scott was a journalist and technology guru for the Anchorage Daily News. He now works for MLive as a tech guy. They moved to Vicksburg with four-year old son, Whitman, in 2017.
Veronica’s brother, also named Ron Smith, is a software architect and has his own consulting company in the Chicago area. Lupe was from a family of 12 children, many of whom have immigrated to the U.S. Her mother is still alive, living in Ann Arbor with one of her children. She is 90 years old now and a U.S. citizen.
by Justin Gibson | Jun 13, 2018 | Community, Vicksburg
Brittany Hovious of Shear Beauty salon & spa.
By Sue Moore
Brittany Hovious, ready to operate her own beauty salon, needed a place to call home. She found just the right fit at 102 S. Main street, in a building previously owned by Dr. Bob Dornbos, who recently retired.
Dr. Dornbos had sold the building to the families of Ron and Lupe Smith and Scott and Veronica Levin two months ago. They are renting to her.
“It was perfect for my needs, with space for three hair stylists, all the plumbing we needed with counters and built-in cabinets. All I did was buy salon fixtures. I’d been saving for a long time as it’s been my dream to have my own place since I started in the business nine years ago,” Hovious said.
She began work right out of Vicksburg High School with Jackie Stevens for five years, then with Mandy Miller for a year, Kemi Laing for two years and most recently at MSpa in Portage. She has been mentoring Yezmene Vanderbor, who graduated from VHS this June. Through the school’s Education for Employment, Vanderbor has already finished her beauty schooling. She will be one of the Shear Beauty stylists as well as seasoned veteran Michelle Cheesebro who had her own shop on Main Street for many years. Dawn Rygwelski, a certified lash extension lady, has also signed on with Hovious to rent a booth.
The business will have one person specializing in eyelash extensions and it will have two pedicure chairs in a private setting, Hovious said. She is certain that there is room for a new salon in Vicksburg. “There were eight salons when I started and we are down to only two and several one-person businesses out of their home.
“We each do our own booking and will also offer booking online at shearbeautysalongspa.com. The phone number is 269-888-3633.” The salon opened on June 1.
Hovious’ fiancé, James Stephens, urged her to try stepping out on her own. She has prepared for the challenge by completing business courses at Kalamazoo Valley Community College. She essentially has been running her own business for the last nine years, renting a booth from each of the previous owners she has worked under. “I’ve built my business by referrals from family and friends and word of mouth. I love doing color. In two hours I can totally change a person’s experience and looks. You have to know the client’s hair to formulate what chemistry is needed for their color.”
“I knew from when I was in middle school that I was going to do hair. I would help all my friends do braids and other styles. It came natural to me and I love it,” Hovious said.
by Justin Gibson | Jun 13, 2018 | Community, Vicksburg
The construction committee for the Indian Lake playground equipment were from left to right in front: Garrett Patnoude, Trevor McClish, Jeff Kidney, Dustin Barrett, Shawn Wayne. In back from left: Chris King, Grady Ellis, Kody Fruehauf, Megan Ellis, Colin Ellis, Ruth Hook.
The Indian Lake Elementary PTSO has been raising funds for replacing playground structures this year. They have put on multiple fundraisers to support the ongoing efforts to replace all the wooden structuresthat had been around for more than 25 years.
Principal Ruth Hook was grateful for the construction team which was led by Shawn Wayne who gathered a group of Vicksburg community people to help with the building of this fun playground addition. Playworld Inc. delivered the items on a Friday while Shawn Wayne and his team worked all day to prepare the area for building the new structure. The team then arrived early on Saturday to begin the building and completed it by 5 p.m. “Our students were excited to play on this piece Monday when they returned to school,” exclaimed Hook.
by Justin Gibson | Jun 13, 2018 | Community, Vicksburg
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Gary Belden, in the middle, visited Vietnam with friends from his platoon. Joe Oncay is on the left and Bob Lingren on the right. They paid a special visit to “Wendy” shown in the print dress. The other person is Chau, a Buddist nun.
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The bridge, Tu Cau, that Gary Belden’s Golf Company was sent to guard during the Vietnam War and where “Wendy” lost her left arm in October of 1968.
By Sue Moore
It’s been said that one can never go back to an old haunt, especially one with memories of war. But many veterans do so. One was Gary Belden of Vicksburg, who went back to Vietnam where he had served in the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, fighting to keep a strategic bridge open to traffic seven miles south of Da Nang.
His unit was assigned to keep the bridge open at all costs. He fought in a bunker next to Lewis Puller, Jr. his second lieutenant in the platoon. He fought in what came to be called the “bridge battle” in January 1968.
His platoon had been befriended by a young girl the platoon named Wendy. She lived near the bridge and had been considered a Viet Cong. She spoke no English but would bring fruit to sell to the hungry soldiers guarding the bridge each day. She got to be their mascot as they were stationed at the bridge every third month during Belden’s tour of duty. “She was sweet, so we looked after her. Then one day she was wounded in a firefight, losing her left arm, and my buddy, Joe Oncay, saved her life. He took her to the medics for help. This is the battle where I received a combat promotion as a machine gunner from PFC to corporal with a commendation for courage and composure under fire in August of 1968,” Belden said.
Shortly after that, Puller lost his legs in a battle that made him somewhat famous. He was the son of General “Chesty” Puller, the only man in the Army to go from private to general and the most decorated Marine in history. His son has written a book about his experiences in Vietnam.
Members of Belden’s unit have held reunions through the years and even visited Vietnam about 10 years ago. In February, Belden and Joe Oncay decided to visit Wendy on their second trip to the country. She had been unable to work because of the lost arm but she put on a big spread for them. They took her out to dinner and managed to leave her with hundreds of dollars when the visit was over. “Now when we go back, the people are so nice. It’s in their nature. She has a son and daughter-in-law but is divorced and her husband is deceased.”
Belden was later stationed in San Diego, Parris Island and Quantico, where he trained officers in jungle warfare who were studying to become Green Berets. He mustered out as a sergeant and went to work for Hoekstra’s Meat Co. in Kalamazoo. Shortly after that he got a job with Mead Paper Company and after six years there became a tower boss.
He went on to obtain an associate’s degree from Southern Ohio business college and then an electrical degree from University of Cincinnati. He is a boiler expert and can fly single engine aircraft. His final job before retiring and returning to Vicksburg was running the power plant at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Cincinnati for nine years.
He left Vicksburg at the age of 17 right out of Vicksburg High School in 1967 to join the Marines. He suffers from diabetes, which he believes is the result of being exposed to Agent Orange. He has had his remembrance of the bridge battle published in a book entitled “We Remember II”. His home on Sunset Lake has a room reserved for memorabilia from the Vietnam War along with some special items from World War II and the Korean War.
by Justin Gibson | Jun 13, 2018 | Community, Vicksburg
Members of the Victorian Garden Club gathered at the Community Pavilion for lunch after pulling weeds, raking leaves and cleaning debris from around the buildings in the Historic Village this spring. They are from left to right standing: Kristina Powers Aubry, Margaret Kerchief, Patt Brumleve, Bill Brumleve, Phil Smoker, Terri Clark, Karen Hammond, Nancy Wolf. Seated from left: Wendy French, Nancy Smoker, Kay Anderson.
By Sue Moore
For people who love to garden, there is a place for you in the Victorian Garden Club, said Nancy Smoker, president of the group for 2018. “We never do the same thing twice. We have a lively group of folks who have a common interest in plants and a love of gardening.”
They are looking for more members with activities that usually take place on the 4th Monday of each month. Coming up are a tour of a hosta garden and tree nursery, a program on succulents and an evening of making a glass piece at Gloria Badner’s glass studio in Mattawan. An annual Christmas luncheon will end the season.
The group’s purpose is to help maintain gardens in the Historic Village.
Recent activities included learning to paint flowers on note cards, led by local artist Ruthie Dorrance, and a trip to Paulette’s Potting Shed in Decatur for a container gardening demo.
Dues are $10. Smoker is the contact person at 269-806-4985.
