Christmas in the Village Has Night Parade and Day Events

by Justin Gibson | Dec 13, 2019 | Community, Vicksburg

By Sue Moore

The village of Vicksburg will turn into a wonderland of Christmas lights at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, December 14 for the fifth annual night-time parade through downtown.

Former village manager Ken Schippers hatched the idea of a glow-in-the-dark parade five years ago. It has since attracted huge throngs of visitors to the village. The Downtown Development Authority has been the sponsoring organization for Christmas in the Village since Schippers moved it to the evening parade.

But the parade is just the culmination of holiday activities throughout the day. For those who love homemade baked goods, the Vicksburg Historical Society starts things off with its annual bake sale at the Historic Village’s Depot Museum from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. While customers are munching on cookies and cupcakes, they’re invited to bring the kids to see the O-gauge toy trains running the rails in the old yellow Township Hall on the grounds nearby. It’s a taste of nostalgia for the days when kids were gifted with Lionel train sets under the tree and their fathers could play all day with the setup of rail cars, engines and a caboose and a switch or two.

Events move downtown at 2 p.m. with the 6th annual winter market in the former Hill’s Pharmacy building. There won’t be a whole lot of produce for sale but there will be honey, baked goods, beefalo, Christmas décor and gifts. Another type of craft market will be open at 103 E. Prairie Street for those looking for other kinds of homemade items for sale.

Meanwhile kids, parents, friends and relatives alike will be entertained on the live stage adjacent to Oswalt Park at Prairie and Main. There will be music with the high school choir singing and also strolling the streets while caroling. Dancers from the community education dance classes will perform along with a magician and a story teller holding forth in a heated tent.

The Children’s Elf Workshop, run by staff of the Vicksburg District Library, will invite children to play games in the main room of the Community Center.

The Big Red Machine will kick off the parade at 5:30 p.m. as it moves north from the school’s administration building on Kalamazoo Avenue, west on East Prairie Street to S. Main and thence south to Park Street.

There will be three special visitors this year at Christmas in the Village: Santa Claus will be downtown at the old consignment store before and after the parade. Santa Paws – dog visits – will be at Cuts 4 Mutts grooming, 207 Richardson, during the event, and the Grinch will be at the Troll Marketplace on W. Highway Street. Draft horses hitched to wagons will transport visitors from downtown to the Troll and around the village, then back downtown. The Holly Jolly Trolley will travel in the other direction to take people to the Historic Village on Richardson Street and the nearby Cuts 4 Mutts. There will be horse and pony rides available on the grounds of the Historic Village all day.

The tree lighting ceremony will take place in Oswalt Park soon after the parade ends. Adults are invited to take part in part in the annual Pub Crawl at five of the local drinking establishments, sponsored by the Vicksburg Area Chamber of Commerce.

Lead sponsors for the celebration include Frederick Construction, The Mill at Paper City and the Village of Vicksburg. Others include Grossman Law, Fred’s Pharmacy, Imery’s Perlite, Main St. Pub and Michelle’s Restaurant.

History and Service in the Ladies’ Library Auxiliary

by Justin Gibson | Dec 13, 2019 | Community, Vicksburg

Ladies’ Library Auxiliary co-Vice Presidents Joy Reinstein (left) and Sue Opalewski (right) pose in front of a portrait of Fanny Wallace Bair from 1902.

By Adrianne M. Schinkai, Head of Reference and Circulation Services, Vicksburg District Library

Last year, it was discovered by Joy Reinstein that the Vicksburg Ladies’ Library Auxiliary, of which she serves as a co-Vice President, was a bit older than was originally conceived. Instead of being 125 years old, the organization was closer to 140. And those 140 years hold a lot of history. Like Fanny Bair, who financed the construction of the original Vicksburg District Library building, the Ladies’ Library Auxiliary are women of service in the local area.

“We’re hostesses,” quips Sue Opalewski, another co-Vice President. “We help out with events like the Root Beer Tasting and the party for the kids in the Historical Village,” meaning Party in the Park, held every September.

Reinstein nods. “We do whatever we can to be active within the community for the Library’s sake. Not to replace what [the Library does], but just to reach out within the community. Some people think that our job is to clean the Library and file books and to just do the secretarial stuff…people think we’re just orchestrators of the Library and it’s just not that at all.”

Organized in 1879, the Ladies’ Literary Club (as the organization was originally dubbed) appropriately grew out of a reading club. Founded by Vicksburg, Michigan resident Lucinda Hillsdale Stone, the Ladies’ Literary Club was the first women’s organization in the state of Michigan, and only the third in the United States.

The organization would go through a few name changes over the years, including The Isabella Club in 1891. This name was created due, in part, to the organization’s participation in the World’s Fair. “A gal from Kalamazoo came and indoctrinated us. And to get ready for the World’s Fair, we changed our name. For a while, in preparation for the fair, our name was ‘The Isabella Club’ in honor of the Queen [of Spain]. So they studied Spain. [The ladies] studied other countries in order to be a little more worldly,” Reinstein notes.

By the time Mrs. Fanny Wallace Bair dedicated the Vicksburg District Library building in 1902, the group was known as the Ladies’ Library Association. Like her fellow Association members of the time, Bair was a woman’s woman of the period and a force of community service in the village. Reinstein reflects, “she was very active in the study groups they had because back then most ladies weren’t very prominent. They went home and did their thing, but [Bair] encouraged discussions on cooking, on how to discipline your children, and how to make sure the men were involved.”

“How to be happy-go-married. How to dress well when you had nothing,” Opalewski adds.

While today’s Ladies’ Library Auxiliary has no official mission statement, they live through their work by Bair and Stone’s examples. They actively donate to and work with many local organizations, including South County Community Services, Generous Hands, and Talons Out Honor Flight. Their first service project for the 2019-2020 year took place in October when they donated goods and funds benefitting the YWCA for domestic assault. Both Reinstein and Opalewski agree that sometimes being a part of the Auxiliary is hard work, but that work is rewarding and they have been greatly inspired by their predecessors.

Downton Abbey Viewing a Cure to the Winter Doldrums!

by Justin Gibson | Dec 13, 2019 | Community, Vicksburg

By Eric Hansen, Director, Vicksburg District Library

The Vicksburg District Library will host a showing of “Downton Abbey,” the new feature film released in September, from 2-4:30 p.m. Jan. 2.

Library staff will provide tea and cookies for attendees, and participants are encouraged to dress in 19th and early 20th century clothes or other upscale attire as they wish although it’s certainly not obligatory. Tea to be served will come from Portage’s Chocolatea.

There is no charge to attend and reservations are not needed. The local library is happy to provide a free social event to the community which generously funds it through a millage. They do not have costs associated with showing the film because the library co-op pays for movie licensing.

It was decided that an afternoon showing would be best because the library already has a family-friendly movie one evening per month from 6-8 p.m. There is also an afternoon showing of a film for adults and seniors on one Friday per month from 1-3:30 p.m.

This 2-4:30 showing is meant to allow stay-at-home parents and senior citizens to be at home earlier. The library administration has found that some patrons will not drive after dark and others want to be home for dinner and to help their children wind down for the evening.

Downton Abbey is the story of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants living on an English country estate between 1912 and 1926. The film is a celebration of the popular television show which ran for six seasons. During its run, the show received voluminous praise from critics and won many Emmy awards.

The film occurs during 1927 and details a visit by the King and Queen to the family’s estate in rural Yorkshire. This parallels a real-life visit by George V and Queen Mary to the estate of Wentworth Woodhouse which occurred in 1912. They won’t give away the plot, but the film includes political intrigues against the visiting king, romance, dramatic family strife and conflicts between the servants in-residence and servants of the royal household.

Stephanie Willoughby, the Vicksburg District Library’s Youth Services Librarian, is a long-time fan of Downton Abbey and feels this movie showing is a great opportunity to socialize while sharing a passion for the Crawley family’s story.

She explained that Downton Abbey fans become invested in the characters. For instance, Willoughby is sympathetic towards Lady Edith, wishing her a happy ending after her trials. She also has strong opinions about Lady Mary, whom Willoughby regards as mean, and has enjoyed watching the relationship between Mr. Bates and Anna develop.

She said, “I think people enjoy the show for the drama, the clothes, and the locations the story takes place. You see how hard the ‘downstairs’ staff works to keep the ‘upstairs’ Earl of Grantham and his family comfortable. I think we’d all like to wake up in the morning and have someone bring us breakfast in bed or tea and snacks whenever we wanted. But we also enjoy watching the downstairs staff realize their value and importance and make great strides in workers’ rights.”

This means that visiting the library for this film showing, on January 2 at 2 p.m., will provide a wonderful opportunity to socialize, enjoy tea and snacks, and be entertained. They have a nice projection screen in the basement with a good sound system, as they purchased a new ceiling-mounted projector less than one year ago.

Butter’s Bakehouse Sets High Standards for Its Products

by Justin Gibson | Dec 13, 2019 | Community, Vicksburg

Rebecca Tinklenberg demonstrates her edible art cupcake decorations. Photo by Kristen Bailey Photography.

By Sue Moore

Most of Butter’s Bakehouse edible art creations look too perfect to eat, say her admirers on Facebook. Rebecca Tinklenberg is pleased when she sees that comment; she is a true perfectionist. She is co-owner and founder of Butter’s Bakehouse in 2018, first working out of her approved kitchen at home in Schoolcraft and now out in the commercial kitchen at Windfall.

Becca, as she is known to her family, has been practicing on them for years. Husband Jared and daughters Maven, 5, and Remi, 3, have had lots of fun, dipping into the “botched box” of rejects as she learned the craft of baking. She is self-taught, loves to bake and is more critical of her own work than anyone else could be. That’s because she is truly a perfectionist, according to her husband. Jared is general manager of the Hide-a-Way in Vicksburg.

She opened a retail store inside Windfall restaurant at 625 W. Prairie Street in Vicksburg. She has her own prep in the baking and display area that the Hochstetler family built to house her offerings. “It’s a nice complement to our coffee, breakfast and luncheon offerings,” said Paula Hochstetler, Windfall’s co-owner with her daughters. “Everything is seamless to the customer as they order through us or pick what they want off the retail shelves and pay at the counter. We keep track of everything and Becca can be free to create and bake. It makes for great teamwork.”

Tinklenberg is feeling her way in the retail market, learning how much to bake each week so she doesn’t have to throw anything out because it didn’t sell. She got a head start on that learning curve as a vendor at the Vicksburg Farmers’ Market last summer. She sold out almost every week while making plans to open her own store. The opportunity came along to work within Windfall and she jumped at it.

“I liked the challenge of doing different things, like designs on cookies and different products that you can’t get anywhere else and are unique to use. I opened the bakery because I love to bake and wanted to share it with my community. We are in the honeymoon stage right now, figuring out the demand for retail and custom orders,” Tinklenberg said. “We will keep expanding our concept, especially with classes being offered each month for designing edible creations. Parents can sign up on Facebook for their children to take the classes but they are as much for adults as they are for kids,” she pointed out. Tinklenberg can be reached at 269-501-6018 or on her Facebook page.

The husband and wife team met on a blind date set up by friends in Schoolcraft. He grew up there, the son of Jackie Tully Plankenhorn. He has a degree in business/sales and marketing from Western Michigan University, eventually gravitating to managing the Hide-a-Way for the Plankenhorns. “The bar is dialed in like clockwork,” Jared said. “Baking is a whole different business. I try to work on the business rather than in the business. My wife takes hours and hours to decorate her edible art. She has strict standards. Everything has to be just perfect!”

He talks about how he and the children got to eat out of the “botched box” as Becca was learning the trade. Now there isn’t much of anything for him to eat. “I try to help as she has everything down to a science. She will let me do a few things but one time I used 16 grams of flour when her recipe called for 14 grams and that was the end of my career as a baker.”

December orders are already booked up and Windfall is closing between Christmas and New Years. But Butter’s Bakehouse will still be taking orders.

Hole in One for Dale Arndt

by Justin Gibson | Dec 13, 2019 | Community, Vicksburg

Dale Arndt on the par 3 hole number 4 at Indian Run Golf Club where he hit a hole in one.

By Sue Moore

Dale Arndt was playing the par 3, number 4 hole at Indian Run and looked around to find his ball but didn’t see it. He had hit his drive with a number 3 wood on September 25 on this 173-yard hole. He couldn’t find the ball when he got to the green. “I thought it was a bit short. When I searched for it, I looked in the cup and there it was,” he said.

“I’ve never had a hole in one after playing golf for over 30 years,” Arndt exclaimed. “Now I have my name on a plaque at Indian Run Golf course. I was playing with a couple of older guys that I didn’t even know. I’ve been close before but never like this. My wife doesn’t play golf but does like to ride along in the cart to take pictures.”

Arndt plays once a week in a league at Indian Run and sports close to a 14 handicap. He played in a flight tournament this fall and improved his game enough to register a nine handicap. Golf is Arndt’s pastime as a Pfizer electrician retiree at age 62. He has Type II diabetes and sometimes hires out as an electrical contractor. He has lived at Pickerel Lake for 30 years.

Adoption into a Family and God’s Kingdom

by Justin Gibson | Dec 13, 2019 | Community, Vicksburg

By John Fulton

Kim (Seeds) de Blecourt has released her third book, “I Call You Mine: Embracing God’s Gift of Adoption,” published by New Hope Publishers. De Blecourt is a 1980 Vicksburg High graduate who now lives in Holland, Michigan. She maintains contact with family and friends still living in the Vicksburg area.

She was awarded the Advanced Writers & Speakers Association’s 2019 Golden Scroll Award for the Bible Study Book of the Year for her new book.

Other winners this year included Michael W. Smith for lifetime achievement and Jennifer Kennedy Dean for “SEEK: 28 Days of Extraordinary Prayer.”

“I Call You Mine” is a six-week study focused on revealing incredible spiritual insights to those who embrace God’s heart of adoption. Jesus used stories to engage and teach. The Scripture passages and personal stories in this study uncover truths about adoption as God’s children. Caring for the unwanted is a privilege and is humbling. You will realize anew what it means to be chosen and redeemed, de Blecourt said.

De Blecourt examines adoption through the lens of Scripture, pointing adoptive parents again and again to the truths of God’s Word. “I Call You Mine” weaves the breathtaking costs and life-giving joys that most always come together in adoption. “Adoption welcomes a lonely child into a forever family and is a beautiful picture of God’s love for us,” de Blecourt said.

She became involved with vulnerable kids in high school and noticed a real need. She graduated from Western Michigan University and while there developed a deep sense of social justice. She recognized at an early age because of these formative experiences that being an adoptive parent would be in her future. When she met her husband, Jahn, he too understood the Christian ministry aspects of adoption. Together they have a daughter, Jacey.

In 2003, she began volunteering through Immanuel Church in the Ukraine. In 2010, the dream of adoption became reality when the couple adopted their son, Jake, from Odessa, Ukraine. This turned out to be a long process that resulted in de Blecourt being apart from her husband and daughter for nearly a year while enduring difficult living circumstances in Ukraine. This led her to write her first book, “Until We All Come Home”.

De Blecourt said, “This experience taught me what it means to be obedient to God no matter how daunting his calling is. If we obey Him, He will show us what He wants us to do.” De Blecourt advises us “to pray and not rely on our feelings, but to ask God what He wants. This will take courage, but he will supply the grace and strength to accomplish everything He has called us to do.”

De Blecourt had fulfilled the dream of adoption but did not feel fit to adopt more children due to the post-traumatic stress disorder she suffered following the year-long challenge in Ukraine. She still felt called to do more for other children. This led her to form a nonprofit ministry called Nourished Hearts in 2015. She partnered with Bethel Baptist Church in Yuzhny, Ukraine, to establish and sponsor the Nourished Hearts program, which has three legs under its model of care: prevention, transition and visitation.

De Blecourt is the founder and president of Nourished Hearts. Under the heading of prevention, Nourished Hearts provides medical and dental care, emergency shelter and other services to over 100 vulnerable children and their families, hoping to prevent the children from being sent to an orphanage. There is a staff of nine and 120 volunteers. Under the heading of visitation, Nourished Hearts is also involved in providing wrap-around services for the state-run orphanage in Petrovirivka, Ukraine. It supplies toiletries, Christmas presents, doctor visits and medication for 150 children the state does not provide these services for. Earlier this year, Nourished Hearts began its transition program, with a foster care pilot program.

If you would like more information or how to become involved visit http://www.nourishedhearts.org or http://www.kimdeblecourt.com. Her book was published in 2018 by New Hope Publishers.