The big Christmas lights donation match

2014 Memorial Circle

Odebolt needed new Christmas lights. They were getting shabby.

Several years ago Shear Magic Salon & Boutique (Rose Bengford Shultz and Janet Hoefling Thomas) started having a Christmas bake sale to raise funds for new lights and had raised a good sum to start the effort. 

This year Sue (Gronemeyer) Beers saw Shear Magic Salon & Boutique's post on Facebook about the baked goods for sale and wondered how much was needed for new lights. She and her brother, Steve, decided to start a matching funds drive to raise the money needed for new lights. All donations up to $2500 would be matched in memory of their parents, P. Dale and Marge Gronemeyer, and their brother, Todd. A Facebook post was made encouraging people to donate to the fund match, and the rest is history!

The City of Odebolt would like to thank Shear Magic Salon & Boutique for starting the Christmas lights fund! And thank you to the Gronemeyer family for kick-starting the challenge! 

Below are those that donated to the fund:
Jon Zeigmann Estate, Jon Ziegmann's Memorial Fund (memorials given in memory of Jon), Angie & Tyson Quirk, Barb (Girvan) & Don Horak, Robert & Karel Mollhoff, Donna Hoelsher (in memory of Tony), Dennis & Joan Jenkins, Linda & LaFontaine Siebrecht, Mark & Mary  Schroeder, Betty & James Sullivan and Marzella Schuldt.

Also, thanks go to Joyce Curtis (in memory of Becky Mandernach), Swanson Insurance and Real Estate, Dan & Jane Snyder, Richard & Bonnie (Girvan) Ekse, Joan Godbersen, and Kim & Kent Schroeder (in memory of Dave Sweeden).

And finally, a BIG thank you to Mark Hansen Rex Chevrolet for a donation of $5,000!
Odebolt IS going to have new Christmas lights next year and we can't wait to see them in 2021 

2020 Memorial Circle

 

 

Gary Johnson, musician from Odebolt

 Some of you may remember Gary Johnson who, I think, graduated with the Odebolt-Arthur class of 1964. He is a very talented song writer and guitarist/keyboardist and is a great singer. At the bottom of this post is an article about him from 1977.

This is an excerpt about Gary from the Iowa RockNRoll Music Association: "His professional career as a vocalist and guitarist began in 1967 and he continued to perform in supper clubs, dance halls and other venues until 1984. He did 150-225 performances a year in Iowa, eastern Nebraska, southern Minnesota, and eastern South Dakota. Most of those performances were done as a solo act, with the exception of three outstanding years when his brother, Dean Johnson, played with him".

Gary has some of his music on-line and he has a channel on YouTube. Most of it is music except the first one. Be sure to use the arrow on the right to click to see all the songs!
Here is the YouTube Link.

 Click the article to enlarge it.

Odebolt School History

Added history from the 1916 school yearbook to the School History page on the Odebolt History Pages

1890s Horse and Wagon

We found the below photo on an auction site. It was taken by Odebolt photographer F.E. West about 1890. We believe it is on the corner of Main and Third Streets, looking north on Main. The photography studio was located at the corner of Main and Third, so this would be just outside it. 

Mr. West took over photography in Odebolt from the Lundquist Brothers, Swedish brothers who were the first photographers. West ran the business from about 1885 to September 1891, when, because of failing eyesight, he sold the business to W. C. Ross, Jr., who soon took in  E. S. Frey as a partner.

 

Read more about Photographers in Odebolt at the Odebolt History Pages.

Below is the same photo made clearer. 

The building on the right is the old photography studio.