Middle school boosters lead refurbishing of concession stand

Making concessions at Nodaway Valley’s middle school sports have always been a struggle because the fields did not have a concession stand. But they do now.

That’s because the Nodaway Valley Middle School Booster Club stepped in to find a way to make improvements to an existing concession stand that some say hadn’t been in use for about 20 years.

“We decided we kind of need something out here, so we mentioned it as a middle school booster club to see if we could do that,” said Lisa Rardin, a parent and booster club member.

Once items being stored in the structure were removed following a surplus sale earlier this spring, the booster club members went to work, giving the building a fresh coat of paint. Signs were locally crafted by Brenda and Mackenzie Meisenheimer and installed on the concession stand. A new water line was installed. On the inside, new built-in shelves were put in, as were new appliances that make serving food much easier than before.

The group applied for and received funding from the Empowering Adair County Foundation for the project, which they say greatly helped the project financially.

“I think this is just really nice for our kids, our communities, other schools, so they can utilize this, have something open and running,” said Molly Herrick, another NVMS booster club member.

In addition to the concession stand project, Schildberg Construction donated gravel to be spread in the dugouts as flooring. The middle school students did the work during a community service day toward the end of the school year.

Next steps for the group in sprucing up the middle school fields might be new fencing for the softball field and relocating the restrooms closer to the fields.

“The parents, the kids, they love it a lot,” Rardin said.

“Especially having something cold on these hot days, to have running water, it’s good to see it be able to be used again,” Herrick said. “It was needed for sure.”