2024 Year in Review
Third Quarter brings bustling activity to Logan County and Lincoln Daily News

 

[January 10, 2025] 

It is always the case, that in the third quarter of any calendar year (July, August and September) in Logan County, there is so much going on that it is exhausting and at the same time exhilarating.

It starts in early July with the annual fourth of July events throughout the county, and particularly in Lincoln where the Lincoln Park District puts on a wonderful event each year. This year the event took two days as the annual fireworks party at the LPD was held the night before, and the Fourth of July Children’s Parade and activities at the Recreation Center were held on the Fourth.

The next big event on the agenda was the Emden Homecoming, then moving right into the Logan County Fair at the end of July and the first of August and the annual Balloons Over 66 Weekend at the end of that month.

Moving right along, the National Railsplitting Festival, Atlanta Fall Festival, Mt. Pulaski Fall Festival, and Lincoln Community High School Homecoming filled the month of September.

Another big event that begins in September each year and carries right on through the month of October is the daily activities at Gail’s Pumpkin Patch in rural Beason.

One might think that is more than enough to keep the community busy, but there were several other significant events and activities that went on throughout the third quarter.

Early in July, the Oasis Senior Center on the West side of Lincoln celebrated its 40 year anniversary. LDN assisted with a ribbon cut event at the beginning of a day of activities in celebration of the milestone.

07/06/2024 - Oasis Senior Center celebrates its 40th year with a ribbon cut and reception

Oasis Senior Center celebrates 40th Anniversary - slideshow

Toward the end of July, Hope on Fifth hosted an amazing fundraiser event at the Lincoln Banquet Center that included special guest speaker Chuck Fricke who shared stories about his late father and that man’s service to his country.

07/29/2024 - Hope on 5th fundraiser evokes a sense of patriotism

Hope on 5th fundraiser offers an enjoyable evening for guests - slideshow

Along about that same time in July, Cale West of Prynt Digital brought something brand new to Lincoln. He hosted the 60th Anniversary of the Ford Mustang with a remarkable Mustang show in the heart of the city.

07/29/2024 - PRYNT Digital hosts Mustang's 60th Part One - slideshow

PRYNT Digital hosts Mustang's 60th part Two - slideshow

The Logan County Fair took up a lot of space in Lincoln Daily News at the beginning of August. Thanks to the hard working stringers and staff at LDN, the daily editions were jam-packed with coverage of everything from animal judging to fine arts, greased pigs, kids day, Senior day, a terrific end of the week concert, and of course, the crowning of new royalty.

With all that, it was time to take a breather and for the next couple of weeks there was not a lot going on, but then came the Balloons Over 66 weekend, and once again it was full steam ahead for LDN staff.

But along the way, there were a few other things that took place in Lincoln and Logan County.

The Logan County Board in late July and early August, accepted gufts for Scully and Latham Parks in the form of new park benches.

A bench was given to Scully Park in memory of Betty Verderber and the Lincoln Woman’s Club donated two new benches to Latham Park.

07/30/2024 - Scully Park gets a new bench in memory of Betty Verderber

08/12/2024 - Lincoln Woman’s Club donates and dedicates two new benches in Latham Park

And, a very fun event happened in Atlanta. The Country Aire Restaurant, following the overall theme of Atlanta being a “land of giants” installed the giant “Lumi the Pie Girl” named after the real pie person at the restaurant Lumi Beckteshi.

08/17/2024 - Lumi the giant pie girl comes to the Atlanta Country Aire

Lumi the Pie Girl installed at Country Aire Restaurant - slideshow

Other news

In the ‘hard news’ department, in July the Lincoln City council made a significant decision when they voted to limit the number of video gaming machines in the city.

07/16/2024 - Lincoln City Council
Motion to limit gaming machines in Lincoln passes by a vote of 7-1

In September, a fire on Sangamon Street destroyed two businesses and left a terrible eyesore as well as a danger zone at the corner of Pulaski and Sangamon. The streets had to be closed for quite some time, impacting traffic flow in that area until the mess could be cleaned up and the area made safe again. The city did get to work on getting everything cleaned up, but it was a task that would not be completely finished before the end of the year.

09/06/2024 - Thursday morning fire blazes throughout the day in Lincoln

09/07/2024 - Lincoln Fire Chief Aaron Ty Johnson offers details from Thursday fire on Sangamon Street

On the flip side, something really good also happened in September in the city of Lincoln. The city owns the property that is occupied by the Lincoln Futbol Club on the city’s west side behind the Wal-Mart Super center. In September the soccer fields were named in honor of one of the LFC founders, Tim Stuckey.

09/19/2024 - Lincoln FC Honors Founder and Coach Tim Stuckey
Soccer fields renamed to Stuckey Fields

Lincoln Daily News is always striving to bring readers not only the good news of local events and activities but the hard news that takes a lot of effort and dedication. Throughout 2024 LDN struggled with finding just the right person to take on the responsibility of covering the Logan County Board activities. There are many committees involved in the LC Board and finding one person who was able to fit it all into their schedule was a challenge. However, in the third quarter of the year, LDN hit the jackpot with Matt Boutcher. His commitment to cover as many board meetings as possible came at just the right time as the board had several noteworthy discussions that Boutcher was able to cover and summarize for readers.

08/23/2024 - Logan County Board approves two zoning requests for future solar farms

Logan County Board approves two zoning requests for future solar farms

09/12/2024 - Logan County Board Finance Committee
Lack of quorum means no actions taken but plenty of issues discussed

09/14/2024 - Logan County Board Workshop MeetingBoard Discusses Issues of Maintenance at the Courthouse

Board Discusses Insurance for Non-Union Employees

Logan County Courthouse Update

09/20/2024 - Logan County Board Finance Committee
Special meeting discusses non-union wages, employee insurance and financial struggles with animal control

09/27/2024 - Michael DeRoss Elected New Logan County Board Chairman

Indeed, the third quarter of the year was as busy if not busier than it ever is in Logan County, and Lincoln Daily News was there for as many newsworthy events as was humanly possible.

Going into the forth quarter, it would still be busy, but perhaps a little slower as the community began to focus on the holiday seasons that would come in the last two months of the year.

[Nila Smith]