About Town with LaVern Johnson

Another week gone by. It was really nice weather until Tuesday. Now it’s snowing and cold. LEAVE THE WATER RUNNING SO PIPES WON’T FREEZE. February is supposed to be the coldest winter month.

Thanks to all who sent in pictures of Lyons’ sunsets last week. So beautiful!

Thanks to Julie Vasquez, leader of the many elementary students who attended Cheer Camp and performed at the Lyons Girls’ Clear Creek basketball game. It was great.

Thanks to all who attended the art show at NOW Gallery that included Sally King’s work based on her travels floating down the Grand Canyon for 21 days. Delightful!

UNIQUE DATE: 02/02/2020 is the same backwards. Only once in many years.

ART SHOW will be held at the Lyons Town Hall (The 20s is the theme). Opening reception was Wednesday, February 3. The art will be up for three months. Stop by and enjoy. At the Lyons Community Library is a display of paintings by Larry Cohan. Be sure to see it.

WORKERS ARE NEEDED TO TAKE THE CENSUS Call 855-562-2020 or apply online at 2020census.gov/jobs

The School District needs school bus drivers and custodians. Call 303-776-6250.

THIS WEEKEND – Jedi School at the Labyrinth off Highway 7 at 2p.m. on Saturday. To sign up, contact http://aminoapps.com/c/Jediball. Membership is $11 per month. All invited.

THIS SATURDAY – WINTER WONDERLAND in LaVern Johnson Park from 2-4p.m. with ice skating, cocoa, and cookies by the Lyons Middle Senior High Band, and music by Jesse Garland. Last one of the season. Thank you Town, Recreation Department, and all who donated.

THE HIGH STREET CONCERT will be held this Saturday at Rogers Hall, starting at 8p.m. with the Blue Canyon Boys. You will enjoy this. Get tickets at www.highstreetconcerts.com – $20.

WIDE SPACES COMMUNITY INITIATIVE is sponsoring an evening of singing this Saturday, February 8, at 5:30pm at the library. All invited. The Initiative is also sponsoring line dancing on Thursday, February 22, at 5:30p.m. at the library. Fun!

FIRST THURSDAY SENIOR FILM & DISCUSSION, February 6, 5:30pm. Showing “Bookshop” at Walt Self Senior Center. In 1959 England, a free-spirited widow follows her lifelong dream by opening a bookshop in a conservative coastal town. While bringing about a cultural awakening through the works of Ray Bradbury and Vladimir Nabokov, she earns the polite but ruthless opposition of a local grand dame and the support of a reclusive, book-loving widower. As her obstacles accrue, she reminds herself that a town without a bookshop is no town at all.

THIS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 10am – Old Man Winter Bike Ride.

Information needed – Kayann Short, Lyons author, is seeking information about the Blue Birds, a Chicago women’s group that came to Colorado from 1910-1960. Jean Sherwood, who taught at the early Chautauquas, founded the group, and she appears in a photo with Charles Cox and another art teacher and Blue Bird, Matilda Vanderpoel. A picture of the three of them hangs in the Chautauqua community hall, but all we’ve had for Cox was his name until now. You’ve probably eaten at the Gold Hill Inn, and that was their original dining hall built next to the old hotel that they bought and used as their lodge. Do you know anyone with connection to the Blue Birds? Kayann writes: “I haven’t found anything so far, although they took excursions up the St. Vrain to Estes and might have stopped in Lyons.” Kayann is doing a lot of research at the Carnegie and also at the Gold Hill Museum, but it’s a big project over all those years. Please e-mail kshort@greenspeedisp.com if you have information.

Who knew…that we needed ANOTHER library in Lyons? Check out the newest “Little Library” installed on the Fourth Street side of the Botanic Gardens site (near the Bohn Park pedestrian bridge). The focus is on subjects of nature. Donate a book, or borrow and return one that interests you.

Also, the Gardens continue calling for volunteers to work Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays from 10a.m. to noon. Weeding and mulching are taking place in the grasslands and riparian areas, which are due to be planted first in spring. Fence posts are up, but chains are not yet in place. People are invited to enjoy walking the paths (please do not step in garden beds). Please leave four-legged friends and bicycles outside the Gardens.

SCHOOL NEWS: The Honor Band played at Longmont High School on Monday, and Lyons’ Honor Choir joined the St. Vrain District Honor Choir in a concert at Mead High School.

Tuesday – Girls & Boys Basketball at Dawson-DH; and Friday at Union Colony-Greeley DH; Thursday – Wrestling Tri-Meet at home vs Estes Park and Resurrection Christian 5:30pm; Parent-teacher Conference 3:40-7:00pm.

Baseball and Track Registration at school office. Parent-Player meeting February 10, 5:30p.m. Practice begins on March 2. Contact herman_lori@svvsd.org; Baseball Coach: rosales_kenneth@svvsd.org, and Track Coach: roberts_mark@svvsd.org.

Nominate your favorite teacher by February 5 for the Tribute to Teachers Award. Go to efsvv.org to nominate your favorite.

STUDENTS – sign up for the SATs at the School Office.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17 – Presidents’ Day – Town Hall closed.

MARCH 7 – Old Time Square Dance – 7pm, Oskar Blues. You will enjoy it.

THE LYONS PARKS & RECREATION Commission (PRC) will hold their monthly meeting this Monday, February 10, at the Old Depot at 6p.m. The public is invited. The agenda is: Updates: Flood Recovery, Park Operations/Projects, Community Events, Other; Transferring or Increasing Parking Passes; 3. Draft Tree Ordinance; 4. BOCO Open Space and Trails Request; 5. PRC Long-term Goals – a. Pedestrian Improvement Plan (Sidewalks, Crosswalks, Trails, etc.); b. Weed Management Plan? – Goals for 2020? c. Operations and Maintenance Review – FY 2020 Funding Projections?

Happy Birthday to Linda Backup’s father – Age 98 – He lives in Oregon.

OBITUARY:
Margaret Jane Mercer, 74, of Lyons passed away on January 22 in Lyons. She was born on March 25, 1945, to Alvin and Ardis (Debban) Vantine, in Elwood, Nebraska. Margaret moved to the Longmont area in 1953. She attended Lyons High School. In 1964, Margaret married Donald Mercer in Glenwood Springs. She was a cosmetologist, and retired in 2010. Margaret enjoyed reading, flowers, bird watching, and shopping. Margaret is preceded in death by her parents and two sisters, Lola Boone and Barbara Webster. Margaret is survived by her husband Donald Mercer, a daughter Audra Veik, a brother James Vantine, two grandchildren Lacey King and Justin Veik, and four great-grandchildren, Peyton Veik, Caleb Veik, Evelyn King, and Otis King. A celebration of life will take place at a later date. Share condolences at www.ahlbergfuneralchapel.com (Published in Longmont Times-Call on January 26.)

Remembrance: Kathy Gereaux Werness of California sends us her memories of her brother Stephen Gereaux, who died in a car accident as the car veered off the highway near Shelley’s Cottages on July 9, 1973. He was born January 31, 1950 to LaVerne & Huga Gereaux, and a sibling to Kathy, Ronald, and Wendy. Many of us remember him. Gone but not forgotten.