There’s always something going on at the First Street Community Center in Mount Vernon, Iowa!
We hope that your family and friends enjoy a relaxing time together this Thanksgiving. After Thanksgiving, if you want to stretch your legs and work off some of that turkey dinner, we invite you to come to the First Street Community Center for “Small Business Saturday“.
We will have FREE live music inside the building performed by James Kennedy and Friends. They will be playing an eclectic blend of jazz, blues, rock in the hallway in front of the Uptown Theatre with two sessions: 10:30-noon and 1:30 – 3pm.
In addition, we will be hosting the Home Business Expo. This group of innovative home businesses will be on display in the First Street Community Center’s gymnasium from 9am – 4pm.
Of course, throughout the day all of your favorite “Old School Shops” will be open, some may even have special treats or deals!
So, if you like live music, a warm building to walk in during a cold Fall day, and lots of interesting shopping opportunities, or maybe you want to learn something about starting a home based business, come on out to the First Street Community Center this Saturday.
After a well deserved “vacation” the Mount Vernon Farmer’s Market is re-opening this Saturday inside the Gymnasium of the First Street Community Center.
WHEN:
Most every Saturday 10am – 12pm in the First Street Community Center Gymnasium. They will take time off for holidays and we will try to have this information in our events calendar.
Bring your kids, your friends, and a stray neighbor or two! We have a variety of vendors and a plethora of delicious items from which to choose. Stock the cupboards and fill the pantry, it is time for the Mt. Vernon Winter Farmers Market!
Farm eggs, fresh roasted coffee and coffee beans, apples, wines, pork and lamb, and an abundance of delicious, seasonal produce! Everything at our market is produced and raised here in Iowa, by the vendor selling directly to you! We are proud to be local!
If you have any questions, please contact Mount Vernon Farmers’ Market Managers: Danielle Martin or Laura Strabala at (319) 310-4145 or [email protected].
Be sure to stop inside the First Street Community Center to check out all the fantastic shops as well!
We all hope that you have been having a relaxing and enjoyable holiday! Just a quick note to remind you that the Mount Vernon Farmer’s Market will resume its normal schedule on the 31st.
So come on out of hibernation long enough to stop by the gymnasium this Saturday the 31st of December, 2017 from 10am – 12pm!
Friday evening, September 30 beginning at 9 pm, come listen and dance to ‘The Stompers’ performing in the Gym of the First Street Community Center.
The Stompers band are Iowa’s Rock and Roll Music Hall of Fame recipients and the 2016 Alumni Association’s Community Impact Hall of Fame winners. Playing 60s music that all ages will enjoy! After the Homecoming Game, come have some fun and listen or dance to some of The Stompers members playing right here in First Street Community Center’s gym where they will be playing.
Open to all, no charge.
ABOUT THE STOMPERS
The Stompers band, with members Bill Bauman’66, Steve Edwards’65, Brian Harman’69, Greg Harman’65, and Randy Harman’68, are this year’s Community Impact recipients.
Jo Clark’64 says in her nomination “Before there was a Mount Vernon High School Alumni Association, there were the Stompers. This group of MVHS graduates is more than a senior citizen high school rock ‘n’ roll band. The Stompers have served as a bond between Mustangs since 1963. The Stompers returned to Mount Vernon every fall for over twenty years, bringing people from all over the United States for their performances. Classmates who hardly knew each other in high school often become friends at a Stompers Reunion Concert. The music is important, but not the most important thing in these gatherings. The spirit and camaraderie of the room trumps all. The Stompers will tell you they don’t sound like they did in the 60s, but you never hear anyone complain. To many of us, it’s almost like a fall evening at Manny’s Corner on Main Street in 1963.”
From 1963 to 1965, the Stompers stomped. These boys from Mount Vernon toured Eastern Iowa ballrooms, Danceland in Cedar Rapids, DanceMor in Swisher, and more. It all started at Manny’s Corner, an little pizza parlor, just down Mount Vernon’s Main Street from Cornell College. Friends grew to crowds, grew to lines on the sidewalk. As the British invaded, The Stompers grew their hair long. They wore tight pants, ankle boots, and turtleneck sweaters. They sang and screamed and duck-walked across the stage like animals.
Their performances at Manny’s Corner put them on the Eastern Iowa map. Before long, The Stompers had gigs every weekend and on many week nights. They earned $100 to $150 per performance. Their original song ‘I Know’ made it to the local airwaves. Girls screamed at every venue. The Stompers fronted the likes of The Animals, the Everly Brothers, and Chuck Berry.
“I Know” gained a notoriety long outliving the band. “I Know” made it as high as #19 on a number of regional charts. In recent years, “I Know” has surfaced on garage-band-loving stations and is considered by many a collector’s item and has been featured on EBay and on-line garage-band forums such as GaragePunk.com.
The summer of ‘65 brought the release of a second record “You’re Gone” by Greg that peaked at #24 on regional charts
In ‘69, Steve, Greg and Randy along and with young brother Brian Harman joining the band, opened a show for The Paul Butterfield Blues Band at Vet’s Coliseum in Cedar Rapids. This turned out to be the precursor to a series of annual reunions.
