Perry Fire Association’s Haunted Barn Opens Saturday
The Perry Fire Association invites everyone to check out the new location of their Haunted Barn starting this weekend.
The annual scare attraction has been moved to the Perry Marketplace at Caboose Park on the Raccoon River Valley Trail.
Firefighter Jason Bane says he has been part of the fundraiser since he started with the department four years ago and this year they are excited to be indoors and not have to worry as much about Mother Nature.
The association has been building temporary walls in the building and participants will make their way through the dark maze full of everything from clowns and blood to a dead undertaker. Bane encourages everyone to come have some fun, enjoy the barn and support their local first repsonders.
Admission is $5 per person and all funds will go to the association to purchase equipment for the firefighters.
The attraction opens this Saturday at 7pm and will be open Friday and Saturday October 23rd and 24th, 30th and 31st.
Author Talk Sunday at the Perry Performing Arts Center
The Perry Public Library invites everyone to a special author book talk this weekend.
As part of the community wide read program, the library will welcome Enrique’s Journey author Sonia Nazario to the Perry Performing Arts Center Sunday.
Library Director Mary Murphy says thanks to the use of technology, everyone is encouraged to attend.
“It will be a bilingual event. We will have simultaneous interpretation into Spanish with headsets for people in the audience. So everyone is invited and I’m really looking forward to it.”
The program is the second in a series of five that are part of the Humanities Iowa Latino Americans: 500 Years of History grant.
Sunday’s event takes place at 2:30pm and there’s no cost to attend.
Inaugural Poste Print Festival Saturday in Perry
Another arts and culture event is kicking off in Perry this weekend.
The inaugural Poste Print Festival takes place Saturday. It’s dedicated to the celebration of original prints, the artists who create them and the people who collect them. Iowa artists have partnered with the ladies behind La Poste in Perry for the one-day festival. It consists of printmaking demonstrations and several vendor booths and compliments the month-long “Iowa Printmakers at La Poste” exhibition.
Bob Wilson with the Perry Chamber says it’s another great event that people should get out and support.
“It’s just a great opportunity. Another great thing that La Poste is doing and we’re happy to have this downtown. We can’t say enough about all the great work that La Poste is doing and obviously that ties directly into what’s coming around the corner shortly with Art on the Prairie. Go check this out, support this. It’s open to the public so take advantage of these great opportunities.”
The event takes place from 10am until 5pm with a reception complete with live music starting at 6:30pm. There’s no cost to attend.
Enrollment Down in the Perry School District
Though certified enrollment has not yet been submitted to the state, the number of students in the Perry School District is down this year.
According to numbers shared with the School Board at Monday’s meeting, Superintendent Lynn Ubben says the high school is down around 36 students compared to last year. The elementary is down 39 students and the middle school has seven less students than the year before.
Ubben says this does not come as a surprise and the District was anticipating the decline as the larger classes graduate.
Right now the largest classes in the District are in 8th and 10th grades, while the smallest are the 1st and 5th grades. Class sizes range from around 105 students to 160.
Weekly Precipitation Update, Or Lack Thereof
We’re now more than half way through the month of October and Dallas, Greene and Guthrie Counties have yet to record any precipitation.
Normal rainfall totals for the month range between 2.4 and 2.6 inches locally.
According to the National Weather Service, there is a chance of rain Monday and Tuesday.