St. Joseph Branding Initiative. Photo by Sarah Thomack.
After two days of brainstorming and creative sessions, community members came up with three concepts for a St. Joseph brand.
The sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday brought together 12 community members who work in creative fields such as graphic design, music, photography and more. They were tasked with coming up with a vision and concepts for a brand for St. Joseph.
The St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce, along with the St. Joseph Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, the City of St. Joseph, the Downtown Partnership and other area organizations came together to put on the sessions.
According to to St. Joseph Chamber Director of Communications Kristi Bailey, three ideas were presented by the groups at the end of the sessions.
Bailey said the next step is to present the ideas to focus groups to get feedback from the public. She said they hope to be done with fundraising and designing and be able to launch the finished brand concept in January 2017.
Over 3,000 cans of food have been donated so far to the Second Harvest Community Food Bank over the past few weeks.
The Canned Film Festival is a nine week event that started May 31st and features 18 movies. The price of admission is a can of food for the local food bank. The festival is put on by KKJO 105.5 and sponsored by Midwest Data Center. K-JO Morning Personality Gregg Lynn says about 1,000 children have attended each week with over 1,400 attending this week.
The festival kicks off at 9 a.m. every Tuesday and Wednesday with movies starting at 10 a.m. at the Regal Hollywood Stadium 10 Theater in St. Joseph.
2015 Women of Excellence with Jean Brown. Photo courtesy YWCA St. Joseph
More than 50 women and businesses will be recognized at a YWCA event on Thursday.
The YWCA St. Joseph puts on the Women of Excellence Luncheon each year. According to YWCA Executive Director Jean Brown, it’s important to have a special event recognizing and celebrating women of excellence.
“Each year, we recognize a woman of excellence in the workplace, one in support services, a woman in volunteerism, an emerging leader, who is a woman under 40, a future leader, which is a graduating high school senior and an employer of excellence,” Brown said. “In the last few years, we have added the Lifetime Achievement Award and we recognize two women in that category each year.”
The women are nominated each year by community members and are all recognized at a reception in May. Brown said the nominees are then evaluated for the categories by a group of anonymous judges.
“We’re looking for women who have demonstrated leadership, sustainability, in terms of the length of their service, and their ability to serve as a role model and mentor other women,” Brown said. “So we’re looking for, not only their contributions in the workplace or in volunteerism, but, again, their willingness and ability to support other women in their journey as well.”
Brown said they expect over 1,000 guests at the 15th annual event at the Civic Arena and will also be celebrating 128 years of service in the community, their 35th anniversary of providing emergency and protective shelter, 30 years of providing child care and the 5th year of Bliss Manor providing supportive housing for women impacted by domestic violence.
For more information on the Women of Excellence Luncheon, click here.
A fundraiser takes place Friday for a local volunteer group that helps the elderly and disabled.
Faith in Action is a group of local church congregations that provides volunteer services to help elderly and disabled residents stay as independent as possible.
According to Faith in Action Director Nadienne Hoffman, they help people with everyday things.
“So many of our elderly here in St. Joseph live just over the poverty level, so they are not eligible for a lot of the state or national help that’s out there,” Hoffman said. “So when it comes to simple things like getting a ride to the doctor’s office, affording that can be difficult. We also build ramps. Quite often people hear about us because of that, if someone is in need of having a ramp to make sure that they can come and go from their home safely, we have volunteers that can provide that.”
A spaghetti dinner with a free will offering to raise funds for Faith in Action will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday at the Huffman United Methodist Church in the Enrichment Center. The event also includes a silent auction.
For more information about Faith in Action or being a volunteer, call (816) 271-7279.
St. Joseph Branding Initiative, June 14, 2016. Photo by Sarah Thomack.
A brand for St. Joseph – that’s the topic of conversation during a two-day session among some local creative minds.
The St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce, along with the St. Joseph Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, the City of St. Joseph, the Downtown Partnership and other area organizations is holding a “Design Charrette” or planning session Tuesday and Wednesday.
The purpose of the 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. sessions over two days is to come up with a brand for St. Joseph.
According to St. Joseph Chamber Director of Communications Kristi Bailey, when they talk about branding, it’s not just going to be a new logo.
“We’re wanting to do an entire campaign – a long term, ten-year campaign,” Bailey said. “So it’s going to be a logo, a website, a billboard, potentially and a social media campaign. It is going to be that answer (to) ‘Why do you live in St. Joe?’ We want to give people that answer, that ‘top of mind’ and they will remember that because of the brand and and the different media outlets we get it out in.”
St. Joseph Branding Initiative, June 14, 2016. Photo by Sarah Thomack.
As part of the branding process, a group of 12 community members were brought together for the brainstorming sessions this week. The group includes local graphic designers, musicians, photographers and more. Bailey said they chose local people because they wanted the branding to be authentic.
“We could have put our budgets together and hired a Kansas City or Omaha firm to tell us why St. Joe is great, but we want authentic,” Bailey said. “Our residents will not buy it if it isn’t real. So the best way is with our own creative talent and it’s not just with one advertising agency. That’s why we brought together people from different ad agencies, different employers in the community to work this out. So we are not only spending our budget locally but we’re getting the best use out of our money to get this brand that is authentic, real and hopefully very creative.”
Each small group at the sessions is coming up with concepts and at the end of the sessions on Wednesday, the plan is to have a vision formed and then design logos, a website and more from that vision for the community.
With almost 100 degree temperatures predicted this weekend, the St. Joseph Health Department offers safety reminders for area residents.
Connie Werner with the City of St. Joseph Health Department said hot summers happen every year in Missouri but now is a good opportunity to remind everyone of how to stay safe.
“During this time period, the temperatures can get to the point that can cause damage to the body,” Werner said. “So what we want to avoid are extreme heat reactions – that would be reaching heat exhaustion and then heat stroke. Heat exhaustion is that in which your body is becoming stressed under the heat conditions – that would be the extreme perspiration, the red face – That is your body telling you that you’re heading into a medical emergency. The first thing that you need to do is to get yourself cooled off – that could lead into a heat stroke and that is a medical emergency.”
Werner said some tips to remember during this upcoming hot season include:
Stay hydrated – your body needs more water than usual
Try to stay as cool as possible – try to stay in air conditioned areas
Avoid direct sunlight, wear light colored and lightweight clothing, have something over your head
Remember to check on individuals at high risk of getting overheated including elderly individuals, anyone without AC, those with chronic medical conditions, anyone working outside, children and pets
Also, in a press release, the Brown County Sheriff’s Department reminds motorists to never leave children alone in a hot vehicle. Ten minutes is the amount of time it takes for a car to reach deadly temperatures. For more information click here.
This year’s pieces in the Sculpture Walk will be unveiled this weekend.
According to St. Joseph Allied Arts Council Executive Director Teresa Fankhauser, 17 pieces will be part of the annual walk.
“The sculptures are, once again, a wide mix of classical bronze and then more abstract art,” Fankhauser said. “Then we have one of my favorites, ‘Cow and Calf,’ and it’s made with iron and boulders. It’s just incredible.”
Fankhauser said each year they put out a call to artists, inviting them to submit their works for consideration for the annual walk.
“The artists come in June and install their work and then that work is here for an entire year,” Fankhauser said. “At the end of the year, that work goes away and we have a new group come in. It’s all about helping downtown St. Joseph be a place of interest and where things change. It brings new people and even the same people down each year to check out the sculptures and see what all is going on downtown.”
A free walking tour will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday beginning at the clock tower near Coleman Hawkins Park at 8th and Felix Streets.
For more information on the Sculpture Walk, click here.
Artist’s rendering of the new scoreboard. Courtesy Missouri Western State University.
The largest video scoreboard in NCAA Division II is coming to St. Joseph on Thursday.
The scoreboard is being transported from Corona, California, via 10 flatbed trailers. It left the west coast on Monday and will arrive on campus on Thursday.
According to Missouri Western Director of Athletics Kurt McGuffin, the scoreboard is part of the $7.9 million Spratt Stadium renovation project. A large part of the scoreboard funding came from Steve Craig, founder and CEO of Craig Realty Group and benefactor of the Craig School of Business at Missouri Western.
The $2.6 million scoreboard structure is 78 feet tall and 138 feet wide. The scoreboard itself boasts a 2,500 square foot display and will have its debut on September 1st, when Griffon Football hosts Nebraska-Kearney.
Artist’s rendering of the new scoreboard. Courtesy Missouri Western State University.
McGuffin said the scoreboard is the final piece of the stadium project.
“I think as you go to more and more sporting events, other than what’s on the field, what’s being played, the experience factor also comes about by the sound system and the scoreboard – the video board – that can bring highlights and bring a little more experience to the whole sporting event or if you have a concert, ” McGuffin said. “So I think that’s a big piece and more and more Division II schools are getting them and it was just a thing that we needed to add. We didn’t expect it to be this big, but when you have a donor step up like Mr. Craig, it ended up being a pretty big ordeal.”
McGuffin said the scoreboard will be pieced together on the structure and the project is slated to be finished at the end of next month.
A celebration and press conference will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday in the Spratt Stadium Hall of Fame Room which is on the second floor of Spratt Memorial Stadium.
The annual eight-day bicycle tour of Kansas is underway and will be rolling into the area this weekend.
According to the Biking Across Kansas website, the routes change each year. Since the start of the annual ride in 1975, nearly every corner of the state has been visited by cyclists. This year bicyclists are traveling along the northern part of the state. Bikers began on June 4th and will be traveling from Marysville to Sabetha on Thursday, to Troy on Friday and from there to Elwood on Saturday.
The trek covers about 500 miles this year.
For more information about Biking Across Kansas and photos from the event, go to the BAK Facebook page.
Police are searching for a driver involved in a hit and run car crash early Tuesday morning.
According to the St. Joseph Police Department, a vehicle traveling north struck a parked car and then a tree near 10th and Francis Streets. The driver fled the scene and the passenger was transported to the hospital with minor injuries.
Anyone with information regarding this incident can contact the the Tips Hotline at (816) 238-TIPS.
