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Today is Thursday, Aug. 7, the 219th day of the year. There are 139 days remaining in 2025. Below is a collection of news items found in the Creston News Advertiser for this week in history.
5 years ago (2020)
Union County Extension along with Adams, Taylor and Ringgold extension offices have announced they are coordinating efforts to collect items for storm relief for those who were and continue to be affected by the storm that hit on Monday.
Eight News Advertiser area players made the Iowa Girls Coaches Association all-state teams, released Thursday. Lenox’s TJ Stoaks, Mount Ayr’s Sam Stewart and Creston’s Sara Keeler each made the first team in Class 1A, 2A and 3A, respectively. Creston’s Gracie Hagle cracked the second team for Class 3A. East Union’s Mallory Raney and Kaylin Lack, along with Murray’s Emma Decker were third-team selections for Class 1A. Rounding out the group is Mount Ayr’s Alexa Anderson with a third-team selection in Class 2A.
On Aug. 31, The Strand Theater in Creston will reopen under new ownership. While the building will keep its iconic moniker out front, it will now be known as Creston Theaters. Jennifer Baucom of Creston said Nick Foltz, who owns The Lobby bar, purchased the building and the theater’s physical assets, and Baucom will be the owner/operator of the theater and will be renting building space from Foltz. Currently, Baucom is exploring grants and has established a GoFundMe account to help raise the capital necessary to update the theater.
15 years ago (2015)
Eighteen days after Creston concluded its softball season with a third-place finish in Class 4A at the State Softball Tournament, the Panthers were finally crowned outright champions of the Hawkeye 10 Conference. With a 14-0 win over Red Oak July 3, the Panthers clinched at least a share of Hawkeye 10 Conference championship.
Madison Phelps, a 2015 graduate of Creston High School, has been awarded the F. William Beckwith Scholarship through the Iowa Grocers Education Foundation for the 2015-16 academic year. Phelps was chosen for the $2,000 scholarship from an applicant pool of more than 400 students.
Ten Southwestern Community College baseball players were recently named to the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference academic teams. The first team consisted of student athletes earning a 3.5 or higher grade point average. SWCC athletes making first team included John Bisignano of Windsor Heights; Rafael Eigenmann of Waterford, Michigan; Omar Frias Herrera of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Bradly Lopez Rabelo of Cayey, Puerto Rico; Angelo Rivera of San Sebastian, Puerto Rico, and Samuel Vega Batista of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico.
The excitement is starting to build. Preliminary drawings for a new expansion at Gibson Memorial Library are complete and have been released. These drawings were produced following a two-day design charrette last week whereby architects from FEH Associates of Des Moines “camped out” in the library’s genealogy room and gathered input from the community about the design.
A pair of 2014 Creston graduates teamed up to win the Crestmoor Invitational Best Shot here Saturday and Sunday. On the strength of a second-round 62, Carson Whittington and Trey Thomsen posted a five-stroke victory in the championship flight of the tournament, shooting 121 over the two-day event.
30 years ago (1995)
The second big week of Easter’s “summer circus sale,” features one dozen large eggs for 49 cents.
Brandon Swadley of Creston placed 10th in a national motocross 125 B Class race in Rochester, Minnesota, July 29-30. Swadley, the son of David and Debbi Swadley, recently won the Jumpin’ June and July race series held at Lamoni’s motocross track.
A way of life may have passed for legions of nomadic fans who followed the Grateful Dead. The band’s guitarist, composer and singer, Jerry Garcia, 53, died at a drug rehab center Wednesday in Marin County, California. “Whether you were 18 or 16 going through it, or 40 and still going through it, he was aware of that pain,” Dr. Sidney Weissman said of Garcia’s ability to capture the angst of the Vietnam War era, and in a larger sense the struggle of growing up.
The Creston Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors held a ribbon cutting this week at the new location of New Image, 105 S. Sumner Ave.. The business is co-owned by Shelly McIntire and Erma Damewood.
Spencer attorney Patrick Maloy Carr, 45, was one of two new district judges appointed July 13 to the bench by Gov. Terry Branstad. Carr graduated from Mount Ayr Community High School in 1968. He is the son of Judge and Mrs. James Hughes of Lenox and the late Edward J. Carr.