Bridgewater, Fontanelle alumni banquets propose combining

Organizers of the Bridgewater and Fontanelle alumni banquets want to see if attendees to this year’s events are in favor of combining them beginning in 2024.

The Bridgewater Alumni Banquet is Saturday, May 6 at the Bridgewater Activity Center. The Fontanelle Alumni Banquet is Saturday, May 27 at Sixteen Oaks.

Organizers of an initiative that continues a years-long conversation of possibly consolidating the banquets say they hope to have an event where all people who graduated from a former or current school that Nodaway Valley is comprised from can come and enjoy themselves.

The group the newspaper interviewed said Nodaway Valley has officially been consolidated for over 20 years now and Bridgewater-Fontanelle was formed over 60 years ago.

Lower attendance has been experienced at recent alumni banquets, which is another factor that has led some to believe it’s time to hit the reset button and reinvent the wheel slightly. The group intends to retain many of the beloved traditions of both existing events.

Sherri Menefee is president and Joni Baier is vice president of the Bridgewater event. Brad Queck serves as president of the Fontanelle event.

“It’s been an ongoing conversation for years,” Menefee said. “Each one has their traditions. Giving those up is hard. It used to be that Bridgewater’s alumni banquet was held at the Williamson Legion Hall. There was a dance and drinks.”

Some of the events of the past have included generational connections, such as a mother or father with a milestone class and a high school graduate being celebrated in the same year. At times there has been special music involved at the banquets.

Peg Scott of Fontanelle, who has also been involved with the planning of Fontanelle’s banquet this year, said she used to enjoy going to the Bridgewater banquet because her mother was a Bridgewater graduate, she is a Bridgewater-Fontanelle graduate, and her children graduated from Nodaway Valley. She is treasurer right now of Fontanelle’s banquet.

Menefee said that while she graduated from B-F, two of her children graduated from B-F and the youngest two graduated from NV.

Curt and Kaye Queck, as owners of Sixteen Oaks, are also involved in many of these talks. Kaye graduated from Greenfield and Curt Bridgewater-Fontanelle.

“Kaye and I have talked about this for quite awhile, and I could go to both, but last year there wasn’t very many who attended the Fontanelle banquet,” Scott said. “We feel that if we bring them together, it will really revitalize it and will bring in the enthusiasm. We kind of need to bring it into this century.”

Brad Queck said that while he’s only been to the Fontanelle banquet a few times historically, he enjoys catching up with classmates, and though he grew up in Fontanelle, he went to church and Sunday School with some kids who went to school in Greenfield.

“When we took a step back and asked how we should approach this, it only made sense for us to update it to look more like what the school looks like now,” he said from the Omaha area, where he resides. “That would incoporate people from the old Greenfield High if they want to come. Based on what we’ve evolved to as communities there, I think there are a lot of benefits to opening it up to all of the people.”

With the Fontanelle alumni banquet this year, tickets will be available online, as well as at the door. It is scheduled for Saturday, May 27 at Sixteen Oaks. The Bridgewater Alumni Banquet is Saturday, May 6 at the Bridgewater Activity Center.

Expected on the agenda at both banquets this year is a measure to combine the two in the future.

“We’ve been Nodaway Valley quite some time,” Scott said. “There are some who may not want to do this but that’s why we’re going to vote on it.”