Library Director Judy Kimzey addresses the Welcome Newcomers crowd at its first (January) meeting.

First printed in the Van Alstyne Leader, 2.7.20 edition. This month’s  Welcome Newcomers gathering is at 6 p.m., Wednesday, February 26, at City Hall. And please go to the Facebook “Van Alstyne Newcomers” and give it a like to keep up.

Mary Jane Farmer, For the Van Alstyne Leader

Van Alstyne newcomers and longtimers met over coffee to get acquainted with one another in a welcoming atmosphere.

Numerous newcomers joined Van Alstyne Steve Riley and city officials for coffee and a feast of donuts and other delicacies January 29 for the first of an on-going “Welcome Newcomers” gatherings at City Hall.

Resident Judy Womack led the introductions, first introducing Riley. He explained that the current city council is “a really good council. They have the hearts in them for the work.” Riley added that with the rapid growth coming, the “town is really involving and the population may double in the next couple of years.”

Judy Kimzey, library director, explained the programs the library offers for people of all ages. Police Chief Tim Barnes told the crowd about its yearly National Night Out celebration, “it brings out between 800-1,000 people every great. We put the family and community first.”

Andy Albertini, who moved his family here from McKinney, said they wanted to get away from the hustle of the bigger city. They were looking at building a home when a contract fell through on a new house near Sanford Park, and they grabbed it up. His daughter is in Van Alstyne Middle School, and his son commutes to Collin County College. His wife works in McKinney and “the commutes work well for us.” His daughter, he said has a ‘friend group’ at school and they all have made friends with neighbors. “People call us by name when we walk into the pharmacy and the post office. I grew up in a small town and this feels more like home.”

Myra Hammonds and her husband, Walt, from to Van Alstyne from California about five weeks before the Newcomers Gathering and live in Greywood Heights. He’s a retired pastor and she’s a retired librarian.

“We have already connected with the (public) library and met Judy (Kimzey). We have already read two history books, and learned that the Boy Scouts here are the third oldest troop in the state and that, in 1889, a college opened in town.” They have been visiting churches before settling in but believe now that they know what church they will make their home. “We want to be involved,” Hammonds said. “It’s the spirit of the people we like best, the friendliness and openness of this town. We want to meet people. This is a good example of the warmth of the people — this get-together. I like to hug and the people here, when they get to know you, they hug.”

The next Welcome Newcomers gathering will be at 6 p.m., February 26, at City Hall.

Mary Jane Farmer / Scene In Town / Courtesy photos

The city has purchased this playground set for McKinney-Wilson Park, aka East Park, just off of East Jefferson (FM 121) at Ball Park Way.

A quick glimpse of the side view gives one the impression of an alien, and a close look at the same side view shows small alien images on the silver-colored play area, ideal for sparking imagination in school-age children. It includes four slides, climbers and stairs, bridges and tunnels, and a play deck.

City Manager Lane Jones said the playground equipment is scheduled for delivery in late February, but he has yet to select an installer. He plans to have this in place and ready for blast-off in March, along with park benches and a new trash receptacle.

Mary Jane Farmer, Scene In Town

The May city and school board elections will be cancelled for both government agencies, as only incumbents filed for election, or re-election, in this most current time frame.

For the Van Alstyne City Council, open seats were Places 1, 2, and 3, currently held by Ryan Neal, Marla Butler and Robert Jaska. All three signed up to continue their volunteer work for the city.

The two Van Alstyne ISD Board of Trustees incumbents whose seats came available also filed to continue their duties, which is also unpaid, voluntary work. Those were Places 3 and 4, which will continue to be filled by Randall Morgan and Debbie Nance,as reported by the District’s Lawana Merriman.

City Clerk Jennifer Gould told the council, via email, that “Since all places are unopposed, I will have an item on the March 3, 2020, agenda to cancel the election.”

Cost of these elections would have been, roughly $7,500 for both government groups, paying for personnel for early voting and election day voting, and other expenses. Voting will still be in place for Grayson County and other government races. Voting in Van Alstyne is at the Grayson College South Campus, on Van Alstyne Parkway east of U.S. Highway 75. Information on those issues and campaigns will probably be in the Herald-Democrat.

The new Van Alstyne Feed & Hardware Store, in the infancy of construction.

By Mary Jane Farmer — This is the full-length article, the shortened-for-space-available version is in the January 17 issue of the Van Alstyne Leader.

It’s a family project.

Gerald and Jahron Strother, their daughter, Amanda, and her husband Gerald Rutledge are opening the True Value Feed & Hardware Store. Gerald Rutledge said that, after retirement, he walked into the Community Development Corporation office about what possibilities for retail could be available. He considered, he said, renting out the building on East Marshall Street that formerly housed the Van Alstyne Hardware Store. That was about two years ago, he said. CDC Executive Director Rodney Williams asked him, Rutledge continued, if he could consider selling hardware. That sounded like a winning idea, and besides, he said, “I’d like to have a little feed store, too.”

Van Alstyne also once held a feed store on Marshall street, and that closed down a decade or so ago. And for the Strother and Rutledge families, that part of the project is a little down the road.

An important factor for these new entreprenauers is that they build somewhere in or near the historic downtown area. They located several acres on North Main Drive, parallel to the railroad tracks. “We bought 3.1 acres, and donated 1.5 of that to the city,” Gerald Rutledge said. That was important because, as others who purchased property along Main Street discovered, the land for the street had never been deeded to the city. Now, with the donation, the city does own Main Street.

That was one of several kinks that had to be straightened out. Another was that the utility hookups were across the street and needed to be expanded to accommodate the hardware store. The property is not in the designated Central Business District. The city provides parking spaces inside the CBD, but not in this location, so the family got busy designing adequate parking space for its customers.

After all that, “it became pretty smooth sailing,” said Gerald Strother.

That is, until Amanda Rutledge was diagnosed with cancer, and the family put it all on hold to take care of that. Now, she is cancer free, she said.

Choosing True Value over the other options was based on True Value’s policy of allowing their stores to decide what they need to stock.

The building will take up 5,400 square feet, or half an acre, and leaves about 1.5 acres available for parking and for the feed store. Ultimately, they hope to have a separate farm and ranch section, “About 50 percent farm and ranch and 50 percent hardware,” but in the beginning the building will be used for both, according to Gerald Rutledge.

The building will have an overhead door to make it easier for contractors to load their bigger trucks. The ladies plan also to have a section dedicated to crafts and goods, such as the pickles and cherries they can.

“We can this to be like an old-time general store, with rocking chairs out front,” said Jahron Strother. Both Gerald Strother and Gerald Rutledge said they have already been approved about employment, and plan to hire part-time help and to use both students and retired people. They will get the word out when they are ready to begin hiring. They are using local labor in the construction.

If the weather begins to cooperate, they said, the construction could be complete anywhere between mid-April and mid-May. Once up and running, the family will also make it a point to be available in such emergencies as broken pipes in the middle of the night. And keep it a safe area for children to ride their bikes.

“If it hadn’t been for Rodney (Williams), this may not have been happening, we might have pulled the plug a long time ago,” said Gerald Rutledge. “He’s the mortar that held this thing together.”

And as excited as they are all to get the store up and running, they are all just as excited about the location, around the Farmers Market, Fall der All, the new park, car shows and pumpkins.