Andy Hallman

Gene Copeland, left, and the Rev. Nate Nimes light candles at the Easter Vigil service Saturday night inside the labyrinth by First United Methodist Church.

A new business opened in Fairfield in late March, and its sales are already through the roof.Memory Laine is a consignment shop specializing in furniture, wall ornaments, handcrafted items, small décor, collectibles and other antiques at 601 S. 23rd St., in the same building as Creative Edge Master Shop. Michelle Higdon manages the store.The store opened March 19. Higdon said it?s the first consignment shop she ...

Rebecca Bachar teaches children to fly by flapping their ?wings? made of sheets during storytime Thursday at the Fairfield Public Library. Bachar teaches dance lessons in town, and said the movements the children learned were based on a dance by Isadora Duncan.

Emily June Breffle, left, purchases a bottle of honey from Charles Newton at a recent Fairfield Indoor Farmers? Market. Newton said he has raised bees to produce honey for 30 years. The indoor farmers? market is held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Saturday in the Fairfield Senior Citizen Center through April.

The Fairfield City Council passed the third and final reading of an ordinance Monday designed to improve safety and clarify rules pertaining to Bonnifield Lake.The ordinance allows swimming in Bonnifield Lake while prohibiting swimming in all other city-owned reservoirs. Swimming is only allowed from sunrise to sunset in designated areas at the lake. The swim season will last from April 1 to Oct. 31, but the ...

Niel Cale, top, and LeRoy Thornburg of Bovard Studio install stained glass windows Monday above the entrance to St. Mary Catholic Church in Fairfield. Cale and Thornburg took turns steadying the glass panels on their toes while the other person climbed to the next level of scaffolding to receive the panel and repeat the process.

Smithsonian Magazine has named Fairfield the seventh best small town in America to visit.Fairfield will be featured in the April edition of the magazine along with the other small towns that made the top 10 list.Smithsonian Magazine sent a writer to Fairfield for the weekend of Jan. 26-27. Fairfield Area Chamber of Commerce director Nancy Morrissey gave the writer, Susan Spano, a tour of the town when she came ...

Jefferson County?s unemployment rate rose marginally from January 2012 to this past January.The county?s unemployment rate was 7.2 in January compared to 7.1 the year before. Other counties in southeast Iowa saw their unemployment rates rise significantly.Van Buren County?s unemployment rate rose from 7.4 to 8 percent. Lee County?s rose from 9.1 to 10.9 percent, making it the highest in the state. Des Moines ...

Edward Hipp bags Chinese cabbage and lettuce after weighing them on his scale at a Fairfield Farmers? Market in February. Hipp said he goes to the farmers? market year-round, including the winter, because the vegetables he sells are grown in a greenhouse. The market is held 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays at the Fairfield Senior Citizen Center.

Kathy Davidson, right, delivers a meal to Audrey Doud Wednesday at Wagon Wheel Senior Housing. Davidson has worn bunny ears all week as she has delivered meals around town.

Jefferson County ranks among the top counties in Iowa for its residents? health, according to a report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, which studied the health of residents in every county in the nation.Jefferson County ranks No. 21 out of 99 counties for its overall health outcomes. Jefferson County residents report experiencing fewer poor ...

Hundreds of little children will scurry throughout Chautauqua Park Saturday morning in search of hidden eggs containing edible treasures.The Easter Egg Hunt starts at 10 a.m. sharp. Christy Leazer, Fairfield Park and Recreation Department aquatic superintendent, is in charge of the hunt.Leazer said children will hunt for eggs in a particular part of the park based on their grade.?We?ll have big signs that will ...

Fairfield Community School District superintendent Art Sathoff told the school board Monday about events occurring at the state Legislature that could affect the district.Sathoff mentioned the tourism industry in the state is attempting to force schools to open after Labor Day.Sathoff said teachers are not fond of that idea. He said most teachers believe the students are easier to manage in August than late ...

Local elementary schools have begun to meet with residents from SunnyBrook Living Care Center on what they hope is a monthly basis.The program is known as ?adopt-a-grandparent,? which had its inaugural event on Thursday, March 7. Children from Washington, Pence and Libertyville elementary schools helped the residents make bracelets from beads. Kayla Calvert, a staff member at the center, took the bracelets with ...

A 16-year-old boy led local law enforcement on a high speed chase on the outskirts of Fairfield Wednesday night, which included traversing dirt roads.Trent Wade Dunbar, of Fairfield, was arrested in the 400 block of East Madison Avenue at 9:14 p.m. and charged with eluding a law enforcement vehicle (an aggravated misdemeanor), reckless driving, excessive speed and failure to obey a stop/yield sign.Jefferson ...