News

Scores of visitors to Vinton stores sampled wine, cheese, popcorn and other foods available locally, and saw a variety of local art pieces, during the Taste of Vinton event Saturday evening.  Many artists had their work on display, and a few of them, including Elaine Hansen Conrad, allowed participants to watch them work. The artists are making plans for a public art display next month (more details coming in the near future).

The Vinton Lions Club and recycling business partner, A-Line, collected a large amount (and a wide variety) of scrap metal, at the fund-raiser culminated Saturday in Vinton. Many Lions Club members helped unload pick-up trucks and trailers full of bicycles, appliances, and many other metal items, including a small boat.  The final tally of number of pounds collected and amount raised will take a while to compute, and a few more items remain to be collected.

Fifth grade students from Benton Community and Central Lutheran (Newhall) visited Rodgers Park for Conservation Day on Thursday. Despite occasional rain, the students learned to identify what they see in ponds, and other lessons including: Archery, atlatl, amphibians, recycling and others.  Johnson and Linn County conservation personnel helped Benton County naturalists Karen Phelps and Aaron Askelson with the presentations, along with others.

The members of the newly-formed Vinton Fine Arts Guild hope to promote the arts and grow the area's art community. They also want to use their talents to help others. Several members of the group have donated paintings, stained glass and other art work to a fund-raising campaign for the King family. Young Amillianna King has been fighting leukemia for two years -- roughly half of her young life.

Take an opportunity to experience a "Taste of Vinton" on May 10th from 4pm - 8pm throughout town.  You will taste everything from cheese to wine to dips to sweets.  Not only will you taste this great products, you'll also learn a little about each item.  Be sure to sign-up by visiting the Vinton Unlimited website here and don't hesitate to pass it along to your friends & family!     This will be a fun event for the entire family and a great gift for Mom during this special holiday weekend recognizing everything she does for you.

  The Vinton-Shellsburg High School Jazz Band invites everyne to our Spring Jazz Show to be held this Saturday, May 10, at 7:30 p.m., on the south lawn of the Benton County Courthouse. This is a free performance in conjunction with Vinton Unlimited's "Taste of Vinton", which will be ending at 8:00 p.m.  The concert will feature seven songs ranging from 1930's Big Band Swing to New Age Funk.

Vinton Unlimited's Destination Vinton committee was excited to welcome Lois Reynolds of the Iowa Trust-Centerville Bank and Diane Clester of the People's State Bank - Albia and their bus group of 50 people from south-central Iowa Centerville and Albia to Vinton this past Tuesday.    Our visitors had the opportunity to experience many great activities in Vinton including: the Iowa Braille & Sight Saving School, Brian Parr Carvings (with a live demonstration), Wall Dog Murals, Lunch at the Vinton Country Club, Shopping, A tour of the Vinton Train Depot, and a tour of Old School Produce.

Students from all of the Benton County school districts -- Vinton-Shellsburg, Benton Community and Belle Plaine, sent their third-grade students to the Benton County Fairgrounds on Wednesday for the annual 3rd Grade Ag Day.  Extension personnel, along with area FFA members from the three school districts, shared basic information about livestock, tractors, horses, and what products farmers product.

The Vinton-Shellsburg Community School District is joining with other communities throughout Iowa this spring to honor its elected school board members during Iowa School Board Recognition Month during May. This year’s theme —“Educate! Advocate! Celebrate!”—recognizes that Iowa’s volunteer school board members are providing leadership, through responsibilities ranging from strong financial stewardship to ensuring high-quality curriculum, to make sure all students are prepared for a bright future when they graduate.

The Iowa FFA State Convention was held in Ames, IA from April 27-29, 2014. The Vinton-Shellsburg FFA Chapter had 43 members and several chaperones attend the convention. Drew Wiley, Class of  2017, went to state to compete in Creed speaking. “Receiving a gold was my goal and I achieved that goal, so I am very happy,” said Drew, who was recognized on stage for this achievement.