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There are Plenty of Classes left in October

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Even with one week into the month of October behind us, there are still many opportunities to learn and create new things with your hands in our classes.  Here are those coming up that you can still sign up for and attend.  Check them out and bring your friends!

CLASS – Leather Handle Tabletop Basket Workshop – Day 1/2

October 11 @ 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm
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Learn the basics of basket weaving in this two day workshop taught by Becka. Students will start the basket on the first Tuesday setting up the base and weaving the sides. The basket will be finished on the second Tuesday finishing the sides, adding leather handles, and riming the top of the basket. Different color…

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CLASS – Painting Whimsy for All Ages, w/Linda Bild

October 15 @ 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
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Just in time for for October “Trick or Treat”!

Spend a fun-filled morning painting this fun and whimsical Halloween themed painting in acrylic paint. No prior art experience is necessary as this is aimed for beginners over the age of 10 or for the young at heart!

Come to relax, enjoy and have fun while exploring your creative side. Acrylics and oil markers will be used on a 9×12″ canvas board. Afterwards you can proudly mount this in a child’s room, your office cubicle or wherever you need a touch of fun and whimsy.

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CLASS – Barn Quilt Painting

October 15 @ 10:30 am – 12:30 pm
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VISIT BARNSANDBREWS.COM WEBPAGE TO RESERVE YOUR SPOT IN A CLASS. YOU DO NOT HAVE A CONFIRMED SPOT UNTIL YOU GET A RETURN CONFIRMATION EMAIL FROM [email protected]. Paint your own customized 2’ x 2’ barn quilt on exterior grade aluminum. Select your design from our catalog on the Barns & Brews Facebook page. We draw the…

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CLASS – Leather Handle Tabletop Basket Workshop – Day 2/2

October 18 @ 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm
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Learn the basics of basket weaving in this two day workshop taught by Becka. Students will start the basket on the first Tuesday setting up the base and weaving the sides. The basket will be finished on the second Tuesday finishing the sides, adding leather handles, and riming the top of the basket. Different color…

Find out more »

CLASS – Barn Quilt Painting

October 20 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
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VISIT BARNSANDBREWS.COM WEBPAGE TO RESERVE YOUR SPOT IN A CLASS. YOU DO NOT HAVE A CONFIRMED SPOT UNTIL YOU GET A RETURN CONFIRMATION EMAIL FROM [email protected]. Paint your own customized 2’ x 2’ barn quilt on exterior grade aluminum. Select your design from our catalog on the Barns & Brews Facebook page. We draw the…

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CLASS – Windmill and Barn Painting

October 21 @ 5:30 am – 8:30 pm
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We are offering another great painting class with Donita. Students will learn how to paint this great farm scene with step by step instructions. Painting measures 12″ x 24″. All materials will be provided. Class and material fee is $35. Please call Blooming Acres 310-895-6077 to reserve a spot with a credit card.

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CLASS – Canvas, Cocktails & Coffee w/ Linda Bild

October 21 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
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Just in time for Halloween!  Paint this Happy Halloween scene in an enjoyable and social atmosphere.

Come by yourself, or bring your fun and crazy friends. With the stroke of fun, you will be unleashing your creativity in no time.

Linda will show you various techniques using acrylics on a 9 x 12 canvas.

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CLASS – Barn and Truck Painting

October 22 @ 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
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Come and create this amazing painting with step by step instructions from Donita.

This scene measures 15″ x 17″ and is painted on a board using acrylic paints . The sample was painted with a car however a truck is also an option.

This is an all day class so you will want to bring a lunch.

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CLASS – Pinterest Party and Social Hour

October 27 @ 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm
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Grab your girlfriends and head to Blooming Acres for our October “Pinterest Party” and Social Hour. Bring your favorite drink or snack to share, and we will provide all the supplies needed to make a quick and easy fall Pinterest project for just $10. Your registration for the event also includes 25% off any one…

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CLASS – Alcohol Inks & Alcohol Drinks w/ Linda Bild

October 28 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
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Alcohol Inks is the perfect medium for those who have little or no art training as well as the experienced artist who wants to relax, unwind and allow their creativity to flow!

Students will be instructed on a variety of alcohol ink techniques and complete several projects.

If you have had a previous alcohol ink class with Linda, you will be shown new methods and techniques.

Bring all of your friends and a sense of fun to Alcohol Inks with Alcohol Drinks !

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CLASS – Flower Series / October w/ Linda Bild

October 29 @ 9:30 am – 12:00 pm
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In this fun and exciting Flower Series class, students will be painting a vibrant version of one of their favorite flowers.

Offered monthly, this class is for both beginners, who have never created art or drawn before, as well as advanced painters wishing to learn new Acrylic painting techniques.

Instructor, Linda Bild will show you a step-by-step approach using Acrylics while painting this stunning floral on a 12”x 12” canvas board.

You will amaze yourself, by creating a finished painting of this Thanksgiving inspired Sunflower! *class extended to 2 ½ hours

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CLASS – Large Double Swing Basket

October 29 @ 10:00 am – 3:00 pm
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Join Becka in weaving this large oval swing handle basket.

Due to the size of this basket this is not recommended for beginning weavers.

The base on this basket is a solid wood oval with the final size of the basket measuring 15″ wide x 13″ tall. The basket is finished with 2 swing handles. Other color options are available.

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LilFest’s Fall Music Series – Jim Post’s “Mark Twain and the Laughing River”

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The Uptown Theatre in The First Street Community Center of Mount Vernon, Iowa is pleased to be hosting award-winning singer/songwriter/actor/historian/musician & Mark Twain interpreter, Jim Post as he performs “Mark Twain and the Laughing River” on October 8th @ 7:30 pm.

The LilFest Fall Music Series premiers its first music and theatre show.  Inspired by the little-known fact that Mark Twain sang tenor; played banjo, guitar and piano; and loved to show off at parties, Jim Post created an exceptional musical experience about Twain’s childhood.

In Mark Twain & the Laughing River, the wit and wisdom of American humorist Mark Twain comes alive as Jim blends his skills as a storyteller, actor, historian and musician to take you through Twain’s youth to his early writing career right up to the point of his first big successes. Twain’s humor takes you from dialogue to song, from stories to historical fact, from laughter to nostalgia. Post has written very effective and melodic folk songs that punctuate the stores, truly communicating Twain’s greatness.

A performer of many stripes, Jim Post wrote and performed the pop duo Friend & Lover’s “Reach Out of the Darkness” which became a Top Ten hit in the summer of 1968. During the ‘70’s and ‘80’s he was a solo songwriter performing at places like in Chicago’s Earl of Old Town and in the great festivals around the midwest and into Canada. He produced the record album Gathering at the Earl of Old Town, which included the first recording of Steve Goodman’s “City of New Orleans,” later performed by Arlo Guthrie and many others.

Show Details

A winner of The American Library Association Award.

“Mark Twain and the Laughing River is nothing less than brilliant, and each sentence and song is a gem.” (Smithsonian Institution)

“Jim Post is one man tour de force – part musical, part drama and thoroughly entertaining.” (Washington Post)

Note: BYOB with purchase of Uptown Theatre Sippy Cup

Cost: Suggested contribution for the Concert $20.00.  Subscription Sponsorships for the series, @ $100 each ensure center front section seating.
TICKET/SPONSORSHIP QUESTIONS: Nancy Emrich Freeman, 847-256-0000

For further information, additional photographs, interview arrangements:  www.JimPost.com or mail to: [email protected]

The LilFest Series at Uptown Theatre in the First Street Community Center brings worldwide quality performances to an intimate concert setting. These artists follow in the footsteps of performers like Nathan Bell, Chad Elliott, Phil Heywood, Radoslav Lorković, Guy Mendilow, Claudia Nygaard, James Lee Stanley, Eric Taylor, The Sweet Potatoes, Lucie Thorne and The Yearlings. Deeply rooted songs and stories of passion and power for our modern lives.

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First Friday Art Reception for Sri Rao

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Please join East End Art for our First Friday Art Reception for Sri Rao on Friday, October 7th, from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.

Light refreshments and wine served for this casual event. Come meet Sri and see her exhibit of beautiful Iowa landscapes as well as her new collection of jewelry.

Reception is held in the Library (next to the gallery) at the First Street Community Center in Mount Vernon.

“The idea of beauty is the fundamental idea of everything. In the world we see only distortions of the fundamental idea, but art, by imagination, may lift itself to the height of this idea. Art is therefore akin to creation – Leo Tolstoy

Sri describes her process below:

Brilliant colors enhance the feeling of happiness, joy and appreciation of beauty in life. I have constantly experimented with various mediums to learn and enjoy the different combinations of what can be created. I am inspired by Colors and Composition. Beauty is the inspiration for my work and floral compositions interest me at the moment.

The process of painting is something I enjoy and the reason why I paint. I continuously search for inspirations that make it hard not to jump into my studio to paint. The process involves preparing the surface and sketching an outline to guide my painting. I pour colors, wipe, spray and layer them to create depth. During this process, I get transformed into a whole new world – my world of quietness and focus. The process is at the same time intense as I am making many decisions and feeling deep emotions.

Once the process is complete, my heart fills with joy and there is a sense of great satisfaction. I am working on exploring more of this creative process and hope to create and share the joy with you.”

– Sri Rao

East End Art Logo 600wEast End Art Gallery hosts a featured gallery artist and a reception every first Friday of each month in the First Street Community Center’s Library meeting space.

The artist will be available to visit with.  The exhibit will stay up for the rest of the month, until the next reception.

We invite the public to join us, no reservation, or fees and dress casual… just come!

We hope you can join us for this special event!

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Concert and Dance – The Stompers Play After Homecoming

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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.

picture of The Stompers from the 1960's

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.

In 2006 The Stompers band was inducted in the Iowa Music Hall of Fame.

Here’s some YouTube “videos” with their music:

This event is brought to you by:

Logo for the Mount Vernon Community School District Alumni Association

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