Town comes out for Batavia Days

BATAVIA – Nothing brings the town of Batavia together more than its annual festival of Batavia Days.

The event has gone by different names over the years (such as Happy Days), but the goal has always been the same: to celebrate the rich history of this rural community of nearly 600 people.

Tycene Weber, the chief organizer of the event, said she was pleased with the turnout considering how this year's event was scaled back from previous years.

'I was serving at the ice cream social Saturday after the parade, and we had a nice crowd,” she said.

Weber said the Colorful Canvas painting event on Sunday was well attended, and she was pleased to see so many donations at the Batavia Fire Station. Throughout the weekend, the fire station collected crayons, coloring books and DVDs to donate to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital in Iowa City.

Heidi Belzer

The Ledger caught up with Batavia resident Heidi Belzer while she ate lunch at the Batavia Fire Station after the parade. Belzer grew up in Batavia, moved away after college and then moved back to town 10 years ago to be close to family.

Children in Belzer's generation had to attend school in four different locales from the time they started until graduation day. From kindergarten through third grade, Belzer attended Batavia's elementary school. She liked being able to walk to school with her friends, or walk home for lunch if she wanted to.

'And we had fantastic teachers,” she said.

Batavia kids spent grades four through six in Eldon, and the next two at the middle school in Agency before enrolling at Cardinal High School north of Eldon.

Belzer recalls how Batavia was much busier back in those days.

'We had a newspaper office, barbershop, grocery store, tire store, hardware store and laundromat,” she said.

Belzer said her favorite part of Batavia Days is reconnecting with friends.

Heidi Frescoln

Heidi Frescoln grew up in Batavia, too, but the elementary school in town had long since closed by then. Frescoln said the best part of growing up in Batavia is that she got to know everybody in town, and everybody knew her.

The Ledger asked Frescoln about the advantages of raising her boys, 6-year-old Preston Lennox and 8-year-old Parker Lennox, in a town like Batavia.

'I know that they're safe,” she said.

Frescoln said Batavia Days is a good opportunity for her sons to reunite with their friends over the summer, since they've been out of school for more than a month.

'I love how the community pulls together,” she said.

Frescoln's father Robert Frescoln was raised in Batavia until fifth grade when his family moved closer to Fairfield.

'I lived in Miami for a few years, but I missed this area so I came back,” Robert said. 'It was a culture shock to my wife, to come from a major metropolitan area, but she likes it now, I think.”

Robert said he moved back because he has farms in the area.

'And because this is home,” he said.

Robert enjoyed his time at school in Batavia, and riding his bike all over town. In his youth, the town was able to support two grocery stores.

'Now it's kind of a sleeper community,” he said. 'We're able to attract people because of our affordable housing.”

Don Teninty

Don Teninty grew up in the countryside outside Batavia, and has lived in town for almost 50 years.

'It's been good to us, and it's a good little town,” he said. 'At one time, we had four churches.”

Batavia once had an Allis-Chalmers dealership, run by Deb Johnson. Don Eakins acquired the building from Johnson, and then Teninty purchased the building from Eakins.

'My grandfather bought a combine at that dealership in 1939,” Teninty said. 'It was a 5-foot wide pull-type.”

Teninty said the dealership once sold the Model T, which Ford produced from 1908 to 1927. When Teninty took over the building, he didn't sell farm implements from it but rather used cars.

Teninty said he likes Batavia because it's a nice town full of friendly people.

Jack Jackson

Jack Jackson grew up on a farm between Eldon and Bloomfield, but has lived in Batavia since 1970 when he got out of the U.S. Air Force. He's been the pastor at People's Church north of Batavia for the past 29 years.

'I used to know a lot of people in town, but I only know about half of them now,” he said. 'It's a small quiet town. I enjoy it.”

Jackson said Batavia Days, then called Happy Days, drew such a crowd that 'you couldn't get a parking place.” Jackson's next door neighbor was the mayor at the time, and he enlisted Jackson's help with the parade and festivities.

Dena DeVore

Dena DeVore is a born-and-raised Batavia resident who attended the town's elementary school before graduating from Cardinal High School. DeVore moved away for six or seven years, living in Carthage, Illinois, and Washington, Iowa.

Why did she move back?

'I like that it's a small town, and everybody relies on everybody else,” DeVore said.

That fact was never truer in DeVore's life than Friday night, when she needed the town's support most of all. It was the night of her mother's funeral, Jean DeVore, who died at age 85.

'People you might forget about come out for that, just like they come out for Batavia Days,” she said. 'It's amazing the amount of support small towns give you.”

DeVore said her mother was a life-long Batavia resident who knew everyone in town. DeVore said even she herself can hardly go anywhere without being stopped for a chat. On one occasion, DeVore took her car to a mechanic in Fairfield, and while it was being worked on she walked along Burlington Avenue to a shop down the road. In that short span, two different cars, driven by people she knew from Batavia, pulled over to ask if she needed a ride.

'It's nice to be where people know me,” she said.