A record number of cyclists registered for the sixth annual Kool-Aid Classic Bicycle Tour held on Saturday, August 12. The event was sponsored by HUB, Hastings Unique Bicyclists, and held in conjunction with Kool-Aid Days in Hastings, Nebraska. Over 130 riders from four different states rode their bicycles either 30 or 60 miles, drank Kool-Aid and helped raise money for the Pioneer Spirit Trail (PST), a hike and bike trail being built in and around Hastings. With generous help from the cyclists and local area sponsors, over $1000 was raised for the trail
Click here to see pictures from the tour.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Weekend America: Part-time Baker
It's nearly dawn and drizzling in Hastings, Neb., a Midwestern college town of 25,000 surrounded by farmland. In a brick alley downtown, the glow of a street lamp illuminates a small sign that reads: Back Alley Bakery.
Inside, Bryce Wiebe stokes up a wood fire in a handmade brick oven. He wears jeans under a white apron and a tight knitted cap pulled down over his brown hair. Wiebe's face glows in the firelight as he checks the temperature. "This for me is prayerful activity," he says. "It's quiet, it's focused, and I think its something that connects me to the divine, or with God or with whatever you want to say, because it's creative."
Wiebe was raised in the Mennonite church, which is similar to the Amish faith, but less suspicious of modern technology. Mennonites highly value life's simplicities and hard work.
Wiebe grew up in Hastings, he attended Hastings College and got a job as the director of its local Big Brothers/Big Sisters chapter after he graduated.
He is a busy man during week, but on Friday, Wiebe skips a night out so that he can be fresh for his early Saturday morning shift. "I felt there was something better about waking up and accomplishing something in a day than finishing late and waking up hurting the next day," he says.
Wiebe says that the simplicity of bread attracted him to the bakery. The loaves are only made using organic flour. The majority of their ingredients are locally grown. The bread is free-form baked, right on the floor of the wood-fired brick oven and without tins or pans.
Wiebe discovered baking early in life. During family holidays, he was the only little boy allowed to help in the kitchen. His mother and grandmothers taught him how to bake cakes and pies, but his weekend passion is bread.
"Bread is essentially a balance between your solid, your flour and moisture, he says. "If you get the proportions wrong, you wind up with a disaster on your hands." Wiebe showed up at the Back Alley Bakery one day and begged to be brought on as a volunteer. The bakery's owner, John Hamburger, says Wiebe was initially like a lost puppy, but "he really took off. It wasn't long before we trusted him to start making fires and coming in at four o'clock in the morning."
Right now, Wiebe works on what will become a batch of sourdough baguettes. All the Back Alley's bread is sourdough, made from an original batch that is several years old. Sourdough is an organism that grows on its own and replenishes itself over time--yet another way of reclaiming old traditions.
The baguettes come steaming out of the oven when they are done. Wiebe explains that he can tell when it's done by listening for the steam crackling through its crust. "If you can squish it a little bit with your fingers and it crackles then it's good," he says. It IS good. The crust is crunchy, and the soothing aroma of the escaping steam fills the air. The bread is moist, fresh and flavorful. It tastes like someone put their heart and soul into it. Wiebe says there's something spiritual about baking bread. "When you allow yourself to invest in something and be a part of something then you have to let it go," he says.
"You have to let it do its own thing, and you watch it, and you wait for it, and then you finish it. And when you're done, you have something that feeds people, you have something that nourishes people and...that's really important to us - that we give someone, give people something good to hold onto."
http://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/08/16/baker/
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Motorsport Park has been developed as multimillion-dollar playground
BY PAUL HAMMELWORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
HASTINGS, Neb. — As he roared down the straightaway at 100 mph in an $80,000 canary-yellow Corvette, George Anderson had a thought: "It just doesn't get any better than this."
George Anderson drives his Corvette around the 2.15-mile track at Motorsport Park. He said his hometown was ideal for a motor sports venue.Then he downshifted into a gravity-bending corner, the car's 650-horsepower engine growling under the hood.Anderson, 59, owner of a high-performance machine shop and sports car dealership in Hastings, has turned a passion for fast cars and high speeds into a multimillion-dollar playground for auto enthusiasts. Motorsport Park is east of town, amid cornfields and ethanol plants.It's a country club for big boys with big, fast toys. It draws members, car clubs and motorcycle racing groups from around the region.Some car owners have purchased $300,000 condominiums at the track to store their Porsches, Corvettes and Mustangs so they're ready to race when they can get away.
Click to enlarge.There are $1,000 initiation and $500 annual membership fees to join the Guardrail Club, which provides "T-times" (track times) to cars zooming up to 140 mph on the 2.15-mile asphalt road course.Members are primarily middle-aged folks who have disposable income and crave the adrenaline rush of pushing the pedal to the metal in souped-up autos. They range from a local cattle feeder to an Internet millionaire."Golf costs money, and bass boats are expensive, too, but this has a lot more thrills than most of those hobbies," said Randy Hablitzel, a 60-year-old self-employed businessman who was out testing his 1989 Ford Mustang on a recent afternoon."This is go-carts for big kids," he added.The track, which opened in 2006, is similar to Mid America Motorplex, the 2.23-mile track south of Omaha near Pacific Junction, Iowa, that opened in 2002.The Hastings track has 75 lots that can be developed for luxury condominiums. The condos, each of which can store up to six cars, have two bedrooms, decks that overlook the race course and hot tubs.
Condos overlook the 2.15-mile track at Motorsport Park east of Hastings. The buildings include space for storing racing enthusiasts' vehicles.Fifteen lots have been sold, and nearly a dozen condos are completed."They like their freaking privacy, and that's what we provide here," Anderson said of the guests.But Motorsport Park is also bringing economic development to Hastings.Besides additional business for Anderson and his machine shop and dealership, there have been purchases of Corvettes and other fast cars in the area.And when 140 car club members drive in from Denver or Omaha for a private weekend of racing, there's more business for local motels and restaurants."It's an economic plus," said Tom Hastings, president of the Hastings Area Chamber of Commerce, who credits Anderson for fulfilling an ambitious dream.David Balingit, director of the National Auto Sports Association's Rocky Mountain region, said the Hastings track is the best such racing complex in his eight-state region.That's because the track, designed by widely known course designer Alan Wilson, is safe, smooth and fun to drive, Balingit said. The hospitality from Anderson and the community of 25,000 is unmatched, he added.Some drivers refer to Motorsport Park as the "racetrack with the homemade cinnamon rolls," which are among the pastries Anderson delivers each morning.After driving time is over, members quaff beers in the soon-to-be-completed clubhouse."When we come to Hastings, they roll out the red carpet for us," Balingit said.Anderson, a Hastings native whose family owned an irrigation-pump business there, said his hometown was ideal for a motor sports venue — just as Nebraska's Sand Hills have become an ideal spot for private golf courses.Land is reasonably priced, and there are fewer neighbors and zoning restrictions to deal with in building a racetrack, Anderson said.Despite higher fuel costs, the vast majority of racing car owners are willing to shell out the additional dollars to drive fast on a controlled course, he said.There have been a couple of crashes at the track since it opened.But the cars have such safety features as fire-extinguishing systems and roll cages, drivers wear safety suits and the track has tire barriers and car-slowing gravel traps to minimize injuries, said Dusty Kohl, the track manager.Anderson has plans for the future, including a motocross track and drag strip with grandstand seating for 6,000 to 8,000.On a recent steamy weekday afternoon, the track was a buzz of activity, with a racing team sponsored by Hastings businessman Terry Klatt, a member of the Nebraska auto racing hall of fame, stopping by to work on its cars between races at McCool Junction, Neb., and Belleville, Kan.Klatt's spacious garage here has a front that looks like a 1940s Mobil Oil service station.Landscapers were working on some of the condos while Anderson was revving up the Corvette. One of his mechanics drove out one of the $225,000 Shelbys that Anderson's shop, Gessford Machine, sells and modifies for customers as far away as New Zealand."This is what a $51,000 engine looks like," Anderson said, raising the hood on the brushed aluminum, two-seat sports car. "This is the real deal. This is a pretty keen job I have."
HASTINGS, Neb. — As he roared down the straightaway at 100 mph in an $80,000 canary-yellow Corvette, George Anderson had a thought: "It just doesn't get any better than this."
George Anderson drives his Corvette around the 2.15-mile track at Motorsport Park. He said his hometown was ideal for a motor sports venue.Then he downshifted into a gravity-bending corner, the car's 650-horsepower engine growling under the hood.Anderson, 59, owner of a high-performance machine shop and sports car dealership in Hastings, has turned a passion for fast cars and high speeds into a multimillion-dollar playground for auto enthusiasts. Motorsport Park is east of town, amid cornfields and ethanol plants.It's a country club for big boys with big, fast toys. It draws members, car clubs and motorcycle racing groups from around the region.Some car owners have purchased $300,000 condominiums at the track to store their Porsches, Corvettes and Mustangs so they're ready to race when they can get away.
Click to enlarge.There are $1,000 initiation and $500 annual membership fees to join the Guardrail Club, which provides "T-times" (track times) to cars zooming up to 140 mph on the 2.15-mile asphalt road course.Members are primarily middle-aged folks who have disposable income and crave the adrenaline rush of pushing the pedal to the metal in souped-up autos. They range from a local cattle feeder to an Internet millionaire."Golf costs money, and bass boats are expensive, too, but this has a lot more thrills than most of those hobbies," said Randy Hablitzel, a 60-year-old self-employed businessman who was out testing his 1989 Ford Mustang on a recent afternoon."This is go-carts for big kids," he added.The track, which opened in 2006, is similar to Mid America Motorplex, the 2.23-mile track south of Omaha near Pacific Junction, Iowa, that opened in 2002.The Hastings track has 75 lots that can be developed for luxury condominiums. The condos, each of which can store up to six cars, have two bedrooms, decks that overlook the race course and hot tubs.
Condos overlook the 2.15-mile track at Motorsport Park east of Hastings. The buildings include space for storing racing enthusiasts' vehicles.Fifteen lots have been sold, and nearly a dozen condos are completed."They like their freaking privacy, and that's what we provide here," Anderson said of the guests.But Motorsport Park is also bringing economic development to Hastings.Besides additional business for Anderson and his machine shop and dealership, there have been purchases of Corvettes and other fast cars in the area.And when 140 car club members drive in from Denver or Omaha for a private weekend of racing, there's more business for local motels and restaurants."It's an economic plus," said Tom Hastings, president of the Hastings Area Chamber of Commerce, who credits Anderson for fulfilling an ambitious dream.David Balingit, director of the National Auto Sports Association's Rocky Mountain region, said the Hastings track is the best such racing complex in his eight-state region.That's because the track, designed by widely known course designer Alan Wilson, is safe, smooth and fun to drive, Balingit said. The hospitality from Anderson and the community of 25,000 is unmatched, he added.Some drivers refer to Motorsport Park as the "racetrack with the homemade cinnamon rolls," which are among the pastries Anderson delivers each morning.After driving time is over, members quaff beers in the soon-to-be-completed clubhouse."When we come to Hastings, they roll out the red carpet for us," Balingit said.Anderson, a Hastings native whose family owned an irrigation-pump business there, said his hometown was ideal for a motor sports venue — just as Nebraska's Sand Hills have become an ideal spot for private golf courses.Land is reasonably priced, and there are fewer neighbors and zoning restrictions to deal with in building a racetrack, Anderson said.Despite higher fuel costs, the vast majority of racing car owners are willing to shell out the additional dollars to drive fast on a controlled course, he said.There have been a couple of crashes at the track since it opened.But the cars have such safety features as fire-extinguishing systems and roll cages, drivers wear safety suits and the track has tire barriers and car-slowing gravel traps to minimize injuries, said Dusty Kohl, the track manager.Anderson has plans for the future, including a motocross track and drag strip with grandstand seating for 6,000 to 8,000.On a recent steamy weekday afternoon, the track was a buzz of activity, with a racing team sponsored by Hastings businessman Terry Klatt, a member of the Nebraska auto racing hall of fame, stopping by to work on its cars between races at McCool Junction, Neb., and Belleville, Kan.Klatt's spacious garage here has a front that looks like a 1940s Mobil Oil service station.Landscapers were working on some of the condos while Anderson was revving up the Corvette. One of his mechanics drove out one of the $225,000 Shelbys that Anderson's shop, Gessford Machine, sells and modifies for customers as far away as New Zealand."This is what a $51,000 engine looks like," Anderson said, raising the hood on the brushed aluminum, two-seat sports car. "This is the real deal. This is a pretty keen job I have."
Monday, July 21, 2008
"Best Places to Live for Fast Commutes"
According to CNNMoney.com Hastings ranks 15th in a study of "Best Places to Live for Fast Commutes". Nebraska has five cities in the Top 25 including: Norfolk, Columbus, Kearney, Hastings and North Platte.
Here is the link:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2008/top25s/qualitylife/
Here is the link:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2008/top25s/qualitylife/
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
The Flatwater Folk Festival is this weekend at the Prairie Loft Center! Here is a schedule of events. Hope to see you there!
Saturday, July 19, 11am-10pm
Concerts, Workshops, Kids’ activities, Vendors, Food & Beer
Main Stage
Saturday, July 19, 11am-10pm
Concerts, Workshops, Kids’ activities, Vendors, Food & Beer
Main Stage
11:30 Emily Dunbar
12:30 Robin Harrell
1:30 John Marriot
2:00 Craig DeWalt
2:30 Rowdy Grabowski
3:30 Todd Brown
4:30 Tom Prasada Rao & Cary Cooper
5:45 Mike & Amy Finders
8:00-10:00 Wild Clover
Sunday, July 20, 10am-5pm
10am Pancake Breakfast ($5)
11am Bluegrass Worship with Sweet Clover
Main Stage
11:45 Tracy Adrian & the T’Dance Studio Cloggers
12:15 John Marriott
1:00 Jay Bayles & Trey Hamik
2:00 Tom Prasada Rao & Cary Cooper
3:15 Doris Winkler, Tom Shroeder, & Tim Arthur
Monday, July 14, 2008
In the words of a traveler...
Sarah is bringing her kids to Hastings and you can read all about it on her BLOG at http://sarahsfabday.blogspot.com/2008/07/were-off.html. Thanks for the plug Sarah! You will have a great time in Hastings!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Take a lap!
For those with a passion for racing of any kind Motorsport Park Hastings offers just what you are looking for. MPH is a multi-million dollar racing facility including a 2.33-mile, 14-turn track drawing racing enthusiasts from all over the nation
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)