Month: September 2025

Cameron Montemayor

BUCHANAN COUNTY, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — Fans of a popular food truck in St. Joseph and Northwest Missouri will see its trademark comfort food being served up in the Buchanan County Courthouse starting this November.

Buchanan County and Chaddy’s Food Truck are set to move forward on an agreement to relocate the eatery to the cafe of the Buchanan County Courthouse. The courthouse has been without a restaurant since June following the departure of Sista’s Home Cookin Food For The Soul.

“It’s just always been a dream of mine to own my own business,” Chaddy’s owner and head chef Chad Watson said. “That was my goal was to start with the food trailer and then eventually get a brick and mortar cafe.”

Since opening Chaddy’s a year and a half ago, the teal-colored food truck has been a fixture at local events and festivals in Northwest Missouri, Kansas City and St. Joseph, operating primarily out of the Deluxe Truck Stop on Packers Avenue in St. Joseph.

The well known teal color of Chaddy’s Food Truck is shown as the trailer sets up during a previous event.

Watson said the plan is to open the cafe for business on Nov. 1 and start off with lunch before expanding to include breakfast service fulltime.

“We’re going to start off with lunch from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and then in about a month or so we’ll jump into doing breakfast and lunch,” Watson said. “We’ll serve breakfast from 7 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.”

Customers will see a diverse menu with fan-favorite comfort food items like smash burgers, wraps, sandwiches — including his personal favorite Philly cheese steaks — along with unique entrees like Nashville hot chicken and macaroni and cheese, among others.

Chaddy’s breakfast menu also features items like burritos, bowls and biscuits and gravy.

“I’ve got my own little twist on what I do, how I do it,” he said. “I love it. I love just making people happy.”

Watson brings decades of experience in the food industry to his culinary venture, a career that dates back to his days as a 14-year-old growing up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Between remembering his customer’s names or their favorite dishes, Watson takes pride in connecting with customers and creating a welcoming and supportive atmosphere, often incorporating customer feedback into various recipes.

“What’s cool is building that relationship with them. You know exactly what they’re going to get when they come and trying to talk them into trying something new,” he said. 

With a two-year lease expected to be signed this week, Watson is eager to cater not only to patrons, travelers and officials who frequent the courthouse, but grow his customer base and attract those who live in the surrounding areas.

The Buchanan County Courthouse is pictured on a sunny day in spring 2025.

Click here to follow the original article.

TaMya Bracy

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — EmPowerU e2 Fellowship high school intergenerational leadership program began on Tuesday morning. 

Over 15 schools in the region are participating in the program, which consists of teams of three, featuring two high school students and one adult sponsor, in the Foundation’s 31-county service region.

This program will let students decide what leadership means to them and identify the key values they’ll use in leadership. It’s also designed to deepen the commitment to education and develop the skills necessary for creating healthy and thriving communities.

Devin Brower, director of program operations for Mosaic Life Care Foundation and EmPowerU said having intergenerational teams in the program makes it more powerful.

“So you team the adults with the youth because you can really effect change. And we hope they go back and they change things. They identify things that need their help and their attention and they do those things,” he said.

The program will consist of four sessions over the course of a few months. During the kickoff session, students did different activities, introducing themselves, talking about their schools and their communities.

Brower said he hopes the students in the leadership program can make a difference in their schools and the community.

“I just really hope they’ll go back to their community and school and take a fresh look and say, ‘What could we improve and how can we help other people here?’” he said.

Brower also said he hopes students leave with confidence.

“They’re all incredibly talented,  but sometimes I don’t think they give themselves enough credit.  So I hope by being around their peers and doing some of these fun activities that it really just boosts them to realize when they leave here, I can do this,” he said.

Click here to follow the original article.