The Hastings Area Rotary Club held their Festival on the River event at Levee Park on Saturday August 16th. The festival ran from noon until about 9:00 PM with a variety of musical acts, a mad scientist show, and jugglers for the kids. The Hastings Police Department invited area agencies to run demonstrations with their K-9 units, there was an inflatable bounce house, arts and crafts, and food trucks.
The day started with classic rock band Rizer at noon, Ability 2 Believe had their inflatable bounce house set up, Hastings Prescott Arts Council had an arts and craft station, YMCA provided Gaga ball, and the new Hastings Superintendent of schools, Dr. Kristine Wehrkamp Herman was on hand to meet with district families. At 1:30 p.m. Journeys jugglers took the stage followed by a mad scientist show. After the mad scientist show, Hastings, Inver Grove heights, Rosemount, and South Saint Paul K-9 officers ran their dogs through a variety of challenges as a demonstration. After the demonstration was over the kids on hand were able to meet and pet all of the dogs. At 3:00 p.m. the music started to be more of the focal point of the festival with the Joe Flip band, a nationally recognized Blues artist. Flip played a variety of both originals and covers including ZZ Top and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Local band Ashland took the stage at 5:00 performing a variety of hits throughout the decades. Ashland was followed by a speaker from the Hastings area Rotary Club. Scott Northward took the stage to explain how Rotary works, what the Hastings area Rotary Club has done throughout Hastings since its inception. The final musical act to hit the stage was long term, Hastings area favorite, Heartbreaker who wrapped up the festival after 8:30.
One of the major discussions around Rotary is, does the general public truly know what Rotary does? The club meets every Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. at the 2nd Street Depot. That is the fellowship portion of the club. Those meetings often have a guest speaker with some days dedicated to club business. Locally, Rotary has done some truly amazing things in the community, especially when you take into consideration there are less than 40 members. The most noticeable is the Rotary Pavilion in Levee Park. It is not just a name; it was a project spearheaded by Rotary where they raised over 500,000 dollars for the project. The pavilion project was a huge piece of the riverfront and downtown revitalization. Other physical projects funded and worked on by Rotary are the observation deck at Carpenters Nature Center, the pedestrian bridge over the Vermillion River that replaced the old train bridge, the observation deck along the Mississippi River under the highway 61 bridge with the binoculars, and the trail signage around town for the bike path. Aside from the physical projects, Rotary also sponsors the student of the month program at Hastings High School. The student of the month is selected from the senior class and is nominated by high school staff. Each student of the month receives a small scholarship and recognition at a Rotary meeting.
The Hastings Area Rotary Club also began two key volunteer run programs in Hastings. Cycling Without Age (CWA) and Hastings Rivertown Fishing and Boating. Both programs were created to help get seniors and physically disabled people out and about either on a trishaw bike or a pontoon. CWA utilizes volunteer pilots to operate custom trishaw e-bikes to pick up patrons all over town. The rides come primarily from the various nursing homes in Hastings but are available to anyone. The bikes themselves are produced in Denmark and cost in excess of 15 thousand dollars. Hastings CWA currently has six trishaws with a seventh on the way. Recently, we shared the story about the CWA shed that was built as part of the High School’s extensions program. Students in the industrial arts classes helped build the trishaw storage facility at the Tilden Senior Center. This facility is a great central location with added security and a custom design specifically for the care and maintenance of these life enhancing bikes.
Hastings Rivertown Fishing and Boating has a similar story for getting seniors and others out on the Mississippi and St. Croix Rivers. This program, as the name suggests, offers both fishing excursions and leisure cruises throughout the summer. The pontoon is owned by the program and maintained by volunteers to ensure a safe, fun time for guests. Fishing equipment and bait is provided by donors and volunteers help guests as needed with the actual fishing process.
Rotary International has millions of members worldwide and their biggest goal is to eradicate polio; they are 99.9 percent there with polio only being found in two countries in the middle east. Rotary members have contributed more than $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly three billion children in 122 countries from this paralyzing disease. Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by governments to contribute more than $10 billion to the effort.
The members of the Hastings Area Rotary Club are the definition of a group that is ‘small but mighty’. To learn more about Rotary, visit www.hastingsmnrotary.com.