Community invited to many events

MT. PLEASANT — During the Mt. Pleasant Area Chamber of Commerce Alive After 5 event hosted by Etc. Boutique, the community received invitations to Iowa Wesleyan events, the chamber encouraged small business of year nominations, and the space filled with community.

The community filled the shop as they happily chatted with one another, enjoyed food made from products in the store, and sipped on cocktails.

Early on in the evening, beloved Iowa Wesleyan University Professor DP Wilson personally invited those at the Alive After 5 and anyone with connections to IW to attend a celebration, April 14.

“I invite all of you to a celebration at Iowa Wesleyan April 14,” she said. “We are going to be meeting from 5-7 p.m. for an open house type thing.”

Wilson rejected the idea of calling the celebration a retirement party.

“It is going to be a celebration of all of you,” Wilson said. “It's going to be a celebration of Mt. Pleasant.”

“So you're all invited. Everybody is invited,” she said. “You have given our students, our faculty, and our staff a home by your friendliness. You have welcomed them for 181 years, and no, I wasn't there for all of them, but you were there.”

“…It may be hard to show, but we have to celebrate the great things that I see back there that have made such a difference at Wesleyan and made a home for people who didn’t have a home and didn't know Southeast Iowa,” Wilson passionately said.

Wilson still encouraged those interested in attending to RSVP to the Director for Alumni Engagement will receive RSVP’s at diane.davis@iw.edu to ensure she is able to provide enough refreshments for the event which is not funded by the University.

Chamber Director of Membership Delaney Van Ness also made a plug for an upcoming musical performance May 7 with Iowa Wesleyan’s music department.

“Everybody's invited to come back and make some music with us,” Van Ness said.

According to IW Director of Choral Activities Blair Buffington, the department is still working on finalizing details, but they hope to make more information available shortly.

Chamber President-elect Matt Donnolly reminded the gathering of the approaching deadline of April 12 for Small Business of the Year Nominations.

To make a nomination visit the chamber website and fill out an application.

Surrounded by copious amounts of Easter décor, Main Street Director Lisa Oetken cheerfully invited the group to attend the community egg hunt this Saturday, April 8.

“Our Easter Egg Hunt should have been last Saturday,” she said. “But we always schedule it a week in advance so we can move the date. So, we moved it to this Saturday.”

“So, go to the fireman's pancake breakfast on Saturday morning, then come to Central Park at 10:00 for the Easter Egg Hunt,” Oetken said. “We have 10,000 eggs, so bring your children. It's zero through fifth grade and starts at 10 a.m. It doesn't take long. It's like little vacuums in the park.”

Oetken also took the opportunity to announce a new grand prize for Main Street’s Cinco De Mayo celebration.

“The grand prize is $3,500 gift certificate to Your Dream Home Furniture,” she announced. “And you can pick out the furniture you want. We're not picking it out for you. You can customize it.”

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com