The Icon asks local organizations who sponsor a visit from Santa Claus this month to notify the Icon.
We will post all Santa visits in advance on the Icon that are open to the public. Send us the name of your organization or business with the date and time of the visit.
FROM ADA ICON - Ada Area Chamber of Commerce is ready for the holidays. Its annual Merry on Main is from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Monday, Dec. 2, in downtown Ada. Here's the activities planned:
At the depot
• Two of Santa's live reindeer on display
• Kid's crafts provided by Ada Public Library
• Meet and take photos with Anna and Elsa, characters from the move "Frozen"
• Ada Lions, Ada Kiwanis and Ada Rotary clubs will have activities for kids
Two free meals, open to the public, are set at the Bluffton Senior Citizens Center in December.
The meals are at 6 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 5, hosted by First Mennonite Church, and at 6 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 12, hosted by St. John's United Church of Christ.
The center is located at 132 N. Main St., Bluffton. All ages are welcome (and children usually get served first).
The Bluffton High School junior class is bringing Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus to Bluffton on Saturday, Dec. 7.
Tickets are now on sale for the fundraiser held from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. in the middle school cafetorium.
The event includes a light breakfast, games, crafts and the opportunity to have your photo taken with Mr. and Mrs. Santa.
Tickets may be purchased in the middle school office or from Angie at the village office in town hall. Tickets are $5. Proceeds go to the junior class post prom.
Jon “Randy” Mauch, 71, of Bluffton died Nov. 28, 2019, at his residence. There will be no services or visitation. Arrangements have been entrusted with Chiles-Laman Funeral & Cremation Services, Bluffton.
Nancy Carol Brodman, 84, died Nov. 29, 2019, at the Bridge Hospice Care Center in Findlay. Nancy was born May 2, 1935, in Carey, Ohio, to the late Charles and Edna (Dible) England. On Nov. 8, 1952, she married Bernard Brodman who preceded her in death on Dec. 27, 2007.
Nancy graduated from Carey High School. She worked for 33 years at Bluffton Hospital in housekeeping. Nancy was a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Bluffton and the Lima Moose Lodge #199.
A free Diabetes Empowerment Education Program (DEEP) takes place in Ada this month.
Area Agency on Aging, Lima, will hold free workshops at Community Health Professionals, 1200 S. Main St., Ada, on Mondays and Thursdays, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays from Dec. 2 through Dec. 19.
To register, contact Dre White, health education coordinator, at 567-204-6900 or register on line at www.aaa3.org/trainings.
What was Christmas like for your great-great grandparents?
Visit the Schumacher Homestead from 2-7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7, for a Christmas Open House to explore how the holidays were different for Swiss Settlers in the mid-1800s and discover what traditions they passed along to their descendants.
Visit the homestead at 8350 Bixel Road, where the Swiss Community Historical Society will host live music, tours of the farmhouse, demonstrations in the workshop, and activities for children. There will also be refreshments in the house and summer kitchen.
For 2007 graduate Jenna Liechty Martin, living a life of wholeness and joy is only possible in community, a community not just comprised of people.
“There’s no such thing as living our best lives without cultivating healthy and just relationships with the land and soil we inhabit, because without land and soil there’s no life to be lived,” Liechty Martin, explained during her Nov. 19 Forum presentation at Bluffton University.
