Month: May 2025

Leah Rainwater

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — Interfaith Community Services, Inc. (InterServ) will hold its 2025 Annual Meeting on Monday, May 19.

The meeting will take place at 5:30 p.m. at Ashland United Methodist Church, located at 2711 Ashland Ave.

The meeting agenda includes honoring recipients of the David G. Berger Award. The DGB Award honors and recognizes individuals and organizations for their commitment to community service. InterServ will also introduce new board member appointments, executive committee appointments and officers for 2025.

Board-approved incoming members are: Clayton Rich, Rev. Susan Hartley, Stacy Dasta, Keil Heim, Kim Brown, Bill Luce and Megan McAndrews. Rev. Susan Alley will be retiring from the board.

The Executive Committee will be: Ron Auxier- President, Clayton Ruch- Vice President, Connie Newton- Secretary and Ryan Hook- Treasurer.

During the Annual Meeting, InterServ honors those who have made the community better through their service to children, youth, families and seniors with the DGB Award. Two candidates stood out in 2024 and will receive recognition at the meeting. Tom and Susie Alderson, as well as Ken McDaniel.

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Jenna Wilson

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — Residents traded car keys for bike helmets Friday as the city marked National Bike to Work Day, encouraging sustainable commuting.

Community members gathered outside City Hall early Friday, enjoying refreshments as they promoted active transportation, community engagement and healthier commutes.

“The event has grown, not just in St. Joe, but nationwide,” said Max Schieber the transportation planner for the City of St. Joseph. “This year, we’ve had about 100 participants sign up, and they’ll be commuting or biking across the city today. It’s a great way to bring the bike community together.”

City Councilman Andrew Trout issued a proclamation recognizing Bike to Work Day and its growth over the years, as the event celebrates its 15th anniversary in the city. 

Whether cycling just one mile or several, biking provides numerous benefits, such as reducing carbon emissions, decreasing air pollution, and enhancing cyclists’ mental well-being. 

“I started three years ago, and I had never biked to work before, but now I do it regularly,” said Schieber. “Biking offers not only physical benefits but also mental ones. For me, it helps me show up to work feeling more refreshed and in a better mood.”

Bikers are also invited to the Bike to Work Day After-Party, starting at 3:00 P.M. at the Hi-Ho Bar & Grill.

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Chris Fortune

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — A local nonprofit is helping expecting mothers with baby clothing and necessities.

The Pregnancy Resource Center’s Maternity Closet offers a new and gently used clothing giveaway to any pregnant women.

In the seven years it has run, community members donated clothing and funds to purchase them.

“We’ve never run out of maternity clothes, because of those generous contributions,” Executive Director Libby Owens said.

The spring Maternity Closet ended Friday afternoon. Over 20 women visited the closet between Thursday and Friday and left with around 10 items each, which helped many of them save money on maternity clothes.

“That means that they don’t have to worry about maybe the clothes that they need for work while they’re pregnant or those extra outfits,” she said. “We all know things are expensive, and especially maternity clothes are expensive.”

The Maternity Closet will be open again on August 7th and 8th. Anyone interested in donating to the Pregnancy Resource Clinic can visit its website.

“We do appreciate gently used maternity clothes,” Owens said. “All sizes are needed.”

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Cameron Montemayor

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — An underutilized parking lot next to East Hills Library is set to become a new-and-improved hub for transit riders and drivers.

Plans are in motion to develop a new multi-million dollar bus transfer station on a 2.5-acre parking lot space adjacent to the East Hills Library.

“It will be a nice new facility for people to get on and off the bus and access the library and the mall,” St. Joseph Deputy Director of Transportation Chance Gallagher said. “It’ll be a lot easier and it’ll be more centralized as well.”

Gallagher said the new transfer station will allow them to accommodate 17 buses as opposed to seven at Hy-Vee, in addition to a wide range of system improvements, including faster wait times, less traffic congestion and a more efficient Belt Highway loop.

Buses will access the facility via the Woodbine entrance, while will have to be widened and upgraded to accommodate an increase in vehicles.

“We’re going to make some upgrades to the sidewalk and make sure this is easily accessible, and then maintain the entryway and make sure our buses aren’t in the way,” Gallagher said. “Hopefully we’re going to also improve the parking lot and the facilities around here as well.”

St. Joseph resident Ed Baker takes the bus every day and was highly complimentary of the transit system’s affordability and efficiency, particularly its new Travel Ambassador Program which provides instruction and guidance to new riders.

“I’ve seen a lot more people in the last year using it, older people mostly,” Baker said. “A lot of people have been really pleased.”

Baker was excited to hear about plans for the new facility. He hopes the facility will include a machine that allows for dollar to coin exchanges.

“I’m really pleased about that. Because right now there’ places I can’t get to. But when they start getting more buses here, hopefully that’ll change,” he said.

The city views the project as a strategic investment to help accommodate the current and future needs of the transit system, which has experienced year-over-year growth in ridership and paid passengers over the last three years.

Paid passengers jumped from 240,794 in 2023 to 267,976 in 2025, while the number of trips also increased from 299,677 to 325,460.

“It’s about a 14.1% increase. So it’s moving along and we’re up to almost full staff, which is great for our bus drivers. So that helps with being able to continue having all of our routes functioning,” she said.

St. Joseph City Councilmembers will vote on a $798,725 real estate sales contract with East Hills Properties, LLC, on Tuesday, May 27, to potentially acquire the land for development.

The station will also provide a true designated break area and restrooms for bus drivers who currently have to cross the road to use Hy-Vee Gas.

“We put money in next year’s budget, so July 1 I hope to start putting bids together and get it going,” Gallagher “We’re in the beginning design phases, and then once I get an engineer’s (cost) estimate, we’ll go out.”

Pedestrians wait at the city bus station located at Hyvee on Thursday in St. Joseph. | Cameron Montemayor | News-Press NOW

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Leah Rainwater

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — One popular summer concert series returns for the 2025 season and kicked off its performances on Friday, May 16.

This free community event will bring live music, food and entertainment to Coleman Hawkins Park in historic Downtown St. Joseph.

“We really tried to get into the revitalization of Downtown, making sure that, you know, businesses have what they need, like foot traffic, anything like that,” Executive Director Wendy Lilly said. “This is a huge concert series that brings a ton of people Downtown to enjoy our architecture, enjoy our neighborhood and our community. So really, I think they started it because they wanted Downtown to be a hub for events and it just kind of snowballed from there.”

Lilly said her favorite aspect of the concerts is the music itself as well as the camaraderie between the musicians and the audience.

“I grew up playing instruments and in bands,” she said. “Now that I’m older and seeing the other side of it, booking bands and seeing the community engagement and their favorite bands and having them wait after they’re done playing to meet the band, it’s just really exciting for me.”

The series kicked off with local favorite, B.O.C.C., performing from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

The 2025 Sounds of Summer Concert Series schedule continues with other local favorites:

June 6: Swift Kik

June 20: Phil Vandel

July 18: Vinyl Revival

August 15: The Weasels

September 19: Yachtly Groove

October 17: Dolewite

Each concert will feature food vendors, including the popular Enchilada Lady and Vogel’s Burgers, Pizza & More and concessions from The Crossing offered in the concession building.

Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or beach towels to enjoy the performances against the backdrop of Downtown St. Joseph’s historic architecture.

All concerts are free and open to the public and will be held at Coleman Hawkins Park from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Per state and city regulations, outside alcohol is not permitted, but concessions will be available.

For more information about the Sounds of Summer Concert Series or other Downtown Association events, visit the Downtown Association’s Facebook page or email st.josephdowntown@yahoo.com.

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