An upcoming outdoor St. Joseph event gives residents the opportunities to find deals and see what’s new downtown. 

Brittany Smith is the Event Coordinator and a First Saturdays Downtown St. Joseph Board Member. Smith said several businesses are participating in the annual Sidewalk Sale event. 

“Everything will be set out on the sidewalks,” Smith said. “It’s not a First Saturday event but (people) can expect art and maybe some facial products and things like that from the different businesses in downtown.” 

Smith said the Sidewalk Sale is a great way to support local businesses. 

“It’s also a great way to explore downtown and maybe see some businesses you didn’t know were down there,” Smith said. “(It) gives people an opportunity to see some new things that have been going on downtown, there’s new construction going on, there’s the Mosaic building center moving into downtown, there’s been some new different structures that were built – there’s a concession stand now that’s there for events that are held at the square.” 

Smith said any downtown residents are also invited to be involved in the sidewalk sale if they would like to sell their items. 

The Sidewalk Sale takes place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 23rd in Downtown St. Joseph. 

For more information, go to the First Saturdays Downtown St. Joseph Facebook page.

Thunderstorms Tuesday morning caused minor flooding throughout the area.

Buchanan, Atchison and Doniphan counties were under a flash flood warning until 9:15 a.m. According to the National Weather service, those counties and southern Andrew County are under a flood warning for small streams until 6:15 p.m. Tuesday.

According to St. Joseph  Emergency Manager Julie Alt, police were at 5300 Stockyards Expressway directing traffic down to one lane to force drivers to slow down while driving through the flooded roadways around 6 a.m. She said once it stopped raining, water quickly receded.

Gary Leftin with the City of St. Joseph Streets Department said crews are still out picking up tree branches and getting wires out of trees but everything was pretty well under control as of 10:50 a.m.

The National Weather Service forecast includes another chance of showers and thunderstorms overnight Tuesday and into Wednesday morning.

A fundraiser later this month will help a Union Star organization meet the needs of local school children. 

Care to Learn is a Missouri organization started in Springfield by Doug Pitt, Brad Pitt’s brother, and now has chapters across the state. 

Care to Learn Union Star Chapter Liaison Mindi Phillips said the organization exists to meet the emergent needs of health, hunger and hygiene for local school children. 

“Our organization serves Union Star R-2,” Phillips said. “Our goal is to help children stay in school successfully through help with needs like emergency food, medicine, hygiene needs, clothing, shoes, things like that.” 

The chapter got started in Union Star three years ago and is the first in northwest Missouri. Phillips said the way it works is teachers, bus drivers or any staff member let’s them know if they notice a child is in need. 

“Maybe they come to the bus with no coat or not the proper shoes for winter time or someone notices that they’re always late for breakfast,” Phillips said. “If there’s any place that we can serve a need so that they’re paying more attention in school (and) their attendance is better… we can provide funding for haircuts, get them to a doctor’s appointment through transportation or paying for a doctor’s bill if their parents are unable to, (or) providing emergency food when needed.” 

Phillips said if a need is identified, they try to turn around and meet that need in a customized way within 24 hours. 

“It’s an individualized need so no child gets clothing that’s too big or too small, too worn out and puts them back in the same sense of low self-esteem,” Phillips said. “It brings them up and shows them immediately that the community is caring, so that they can stay in school to learn and they really benefit from that directly.” 

Care to Learn relies on donations and a fundraiser will be held all day on July 20th at Buffalo Wild Wings in St. Joseph. Customers dining in or ordering carry-out can specify to their server they want to support Care to Learn and 10% goes back to Care to Learn Union Star.

For more information, call Mindi Phillips at (816) 596-0701 or go to the Care to Learn Union Star Facebook page. Donations can be mailed or delivered to:

Care to Learn- Union Star

P.O. Box 76

Union Star, MO 64494

Growing lettuce and helping people with disabilities grow job skills are goals of a new non-profit in Maryville. 

Lettuce Dream is the name of the new project and Jackie Allenbrand is the Director. She said the idea for the project started about three years ago in an effort to give opportunities and local employment to people with disabilities. The project is based around growing hydroponic lettuce and the first phase of the project is building two greenhouses and an operations building at the location near Pizza Ranch and MFA off of U.S. 71 in Maryville. She said building should be completed soon with a test crop put in sometime in August and training beginning in the fall.

According to Allenbrand, they’ve been consulting with Wendie Blanchard who began a similar project in New Jersey. Blanchard started Arthur and Friends for her nephew with Down’s Syndrome. 

“She found that this was a very beneficial program there,” Allenbrand said. “We knew that there was nothing like that here in Northwest Missouri and thought it would be a unique alternative to do some training programs for persons with disabilities. We’re in a good central location and we thought let’s try something unique and give persons with disabilities a chance to learn some training skills.” 

Allenbrand said when it’s available they plan to have their lettuce for sale at various stores in Maryville, Stanberry and Albany. 

Allenbrand was named the director last month, but she said she’s been involved since the beginning. 

“I had been working with a program with farmers with disabilities and was invited to the (first) meeting,” said Allenbrand. “I’m excited about the potential for the trainees, the persons with disabilities, that we’re working with – they don’t have a whole lot of opportunities once they transition out of high school and this is going to give them some training and hopefully some meaningful employment back in their community.” 

For more information about Lettuce Dream and how to donate or get involved visit their website.

The Fourth of July can often be a stressful holiday for pets and their owners. 

With all the festivities and especially fireworks, many pets can get scared by the sudden and frequent loud noises. According to Kappy Hodges with the Friends of the St. Joseph Animal Shelter, Fourth of July means it’s time for fireworks which can be a prime time for pets to escape. 

“They get very frightened, they don’t know what that is,” Hodges said. “They may be doing just fine and then suddenly there’s a loud noise they weren’t expecting and it startles them and then they run off.” 

Hodges said one of the things to do before the holiday, is to get an ID tag for your pet which includes your pet’s name and your phone number. 

“There’s all kind of places that you can get these,” Hodges said. “Get some kind of ID on your pet, so if someone finds your pet, they can get them returned to you quickly and there won’t be any animal shelter involved and fees and things that way.” 

Hodges said another important measure you can take to ensure your pet stays safe during the Fourth of July holiday and throughout the year, is to get a microchip. 

“Because if your dog slips out of its collar, this is a way they can still find you,” Hodges said. “The animal shelter does do microchipping for just $10 and they keep your information on record there so that you don’t have to pay the additional fee to the tracking agency.” 

According to St. Joseph Animal Shelter Humane Educator Jenna Keyes, another safety measure to take with your pets the day of is to keep your pets inside or in a kennel. 

“When it comes to Fourth of July, especially the evening time, if you have a lot of guests over at your house and you plan on shooting off fireworks, find a safe environment for that animal to stay in,” Keyes said. “Maybe a bedroom where they can stay calm and relax or a crate or a kennel if it’s a dog. This will also prevent them from maybe escaping out a door or a gate. (It seems like) every year our numbers of dog intake always go up on the Fourth of July and a lot of it’s due to the fireworks scaring the dogs or maybe a guest lets the dog out by accident. A lot of individuals lose their cats under porches or they go into hiding for a few days. So it’s very important to try and make it a comfortable and safe environment.” 

For more information on keeping pets safe and less stressed during the Fourth of July, contact your veterinarian or St. Joseph Animal Shelter Humane Educator Jenna Keyes at (816) 271-4877.

A Carrollton organization will raise money for veterans through bull riding events.

“Riding For Our Veterans” is a non-profit organization based out of Carrollton that started in 2014. One of the founders, Larry Oster, also a veteran, says the organization came about after a benefit held for his veteran brother who had a rare form of cancer. 

“(My wife and I) set up a benefit to help him with medical expenses,” Oster said. “Unfortunately, we lost him in October, but with the outpouring of support from the surrounding communities, we decided to continue this and help other veterans and veteran organizations. In 2015, we became incorporated and got our 501c3 status and we did an annual benefit last year in Carrollton and helped an organization called Generation of Heroes Ranch and also put some money in the service fund for the local VFW. This year we kind of changed gears a little bit and we’re trying to help more individual veterans out and assist them in many different ways.” 

“Riding For Our Veterans” will hold a bull riding event this month in Chillicothe with proceeds going towards veterans and veteran organizations. According to Oster says some of the organizations they have helped include the local VFW in Carrollton and Welcome Home Incorporated in Columbia. Oster says last year they targeted their fundraising toward one organization near Springfield called Generations of Heroes Ranch. 

“The ranch is set up to bring in veterans of all eras, from World War II up to present and even service members that suffer from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury),” Oster said. “(There is) no cost to the veteran at all and it’s just kind of tailored to that veteran or service member. They help them out in that way using equine and different things and it really works out good.” 

The “Riding For Our Veterans” bull riding event takes place on Friday and Saturday, June 24th and 25th at the Litton Ag Center in Chillicothe. Gates open for the event at 4:30 p.m. each night with the main show starting at 7 p.m. Another bull riding event will be held on September 2nd and 3rd at the Andrew County Fairgrounds in Savannah. For more information, go to the Riding For Our Veterans website.