Gackle, ND

The weekend of July 4th will have not just the park rockin, but the whole town! On July 5th there is a golf tournament at the golf course in Gackle. It starts at noon and will guarantee to be a fun filled and exciting day. It is a 2 person scramble so bring a friend and enjoy a beautiful summer day of golfing the Gackle Coteau.

If you have not heard of Gackle having a golf course you are missing out. It is truly a “diamond in the rough”. It is a challenging nine hole course with beautiful scenery and lots of wildlife. You never know when you may see some deer, ducks, geese, and even some pheasants. It helps Gackle to live up to its billing as the “Duck Hunting Capital of North Dakota!”

So come out to the Gackle golf course on July 5th and enjoy the rest of the July 4th weekend!

Hey everyone! Want to put the Capture the Coteau Art Project in context? Generate ideas for Gackle’s economic development. Check this out!

NDSU Central Grasslands Research Extension Center

Natural and Cultural Resources of the Coteau:
Past, Present and Future 9:00 am- 5pm
and
Annual Field Tour 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm Approximately
Thursday, June 26, 2008

Link to the Schedule

I’m gonna be gone and can’t go to this - please! somebody attend and share what you learn. This is a FABULOUS OPPORTUNITY - not to be missed. I know some of the speakers personally and it should be a wonderful day! Rich in diversity, history and potential–this is the environment we have all around us. Let’s celebrate it, learn to preserve and use it to create opportunities for preserving our town. There will be many topics addressed - including “Economic Use of Coteau Resources: Renewable Energy and Nature Tourism” and “Tourism Opportunities in the Coteau”.

Many of the topics will tie in great with Gackle’s “Capture the Coteau” Arts-in-the-Park series this summer.

Gackle’s adventure with Horizons may be winding down, but you’d never know it from all that’s happening in town: weekly Farmers Markets scheduled from July through October, arts-in-the-park summer series running for 9 weeks, the landmark 1906 Haut Building recently purchased for restoration and commercial use, summer movie season starting June 27 with the new Indiana Jones movie at the Krieger Theatre, and our second annual Fourth of July picnic and fireworks just around the corner.

We’ll be showcasing Gackle’s renewal efforts at a celebration in Bismarck on July 9 for all 21 Horizons communities statewide. Volunteers met Wednesday, June 18, to discuss what kind of skit could demonstrate—in 5 minutes or less!—all we have accomplished. If you saw “Gackle’s Horizons Story” in last week’s Tri-County News, you can imagine how creative we’ll have to be to squeeze the past 18 months into a 5-minute “show-and-tell.” To read the story about our journey since October 2006, click on the image of the newspaper clipping dated Wednesday, June 11, 2008.

At their recent meeting, volunteers considered how best to spend the dollars left for expenses during this final phase of Horizons. They also discussed possible uses of the remaining grant funds totaling $8,500 from the Northwest Area Foundation. Our coaches say our “Shoot for the Stars” blogging effort is looking good, and some freebie equipment may be thrown into the deal for good measure. Thanks, “salgal,” for all your hard work keeping our blog current! Check back here after July 9 for “Page Two, and the rest of the story” about our Bismarck trip and what we brought back.

As Horizons volunteers get ready to share with colleagues the good things going on in Gackle, we hope community members are as proud of our town as we are. Do you remember the theme on our banner at last year’s “Rock the Park” Fourth of July event? “Building on What We Already Are…Celebrating What We Are Already Becoming!” One year later, with so many good things already achieved or in the works—and others still ahead of us in our strategic plan—let’s all give ourselves and each other a big hand. We did it! We made it to the Horizons finish line—with flying colors!

On March 13, 2008 community members attended a presentation by Kevin Dvorak on how the North Dakota Community Foundation (NDCF) might help Gackle develop its own endowment. While you haven’t heard anything since the initial meeting (click on Tri-County News below) I thought I’d bring you up-to-date on what’s happening.

Everyone left the meeting with great feelings of hope and everyone who attended felt that starting a permanent endowment would be good thing for Gackle. Such a fundraising vehicle would be a way for people to INVEST in the community for its long-term future. The invested “principle” can NEVER be spent, only the interest is used to make grants to benefit the community. This type of investment can be very attractive to individuals who want to make sure their contribution will ALWAYS make a difference to Gackle.

The initial investment to get a the endowment started is $25,000. North Dakota Community Foundation will match that with $5000. There are then future opportunities for dollar-for-dollar matches making the investment grow quickly. Of course, until the principle grows, the grants will remain small, but that can change with just a few large contributions.

During April and May, further discussions with NDCF have occurred. They are willing to help us get started developing “ask-strategies” for raising our first $25,000. They will also help us with putting together the Gackle Community Endowment board. The consensus is to wait until the Horizon’s program is complete before launching the endowment.

Gackle’s Horizon program has resulted in an atmosphere of change, a surge of community activism and an understanding of community needs. Some of these needs will be addressed this summer–clean-up, providing healthy, locally grown food/produce for the residents and providing cultural & social opportunities. All these activities will show that effort is being made to improve the town–we hope this will be an attractive incentive to investors in Gackle’s future.

Andrew Owen, who will be a junior this fall at Gackle High School, is working on updating the Gackle web site, www.gacklend.com. Its great to have a young person on board helping the community. Thanks Andrew, great job so far.

The web site hasn’t been current since the 2004 Centennial Celebration. Our work during the Horizons process (and Strategic planning) identified a web site update as an important goal to marketing our community.

In the future there will be a link to this Gackle, ND blog.

The date has been set for the kick-off of the 2008 Gackle Farmers Market. The Market will take place on Saturday afternoons, 3-5 pm. Location: A. F. Lehr Park

Lots of planning has occurred to organize the weekly event. Research and networking with regional farmers markets groups, Napoleon, Bowdon, Jamestown Anamoose and others has helped shape the plan. NDSU extension has also helped with formulating policies.

Eight volunteers met last week for the second planning meeting. Mayor, Ritchie Jacobson reported on his conversations with vegetable vendors and there is a core group which has committed to selling produce. Sally Jeppson reported on the “Capture the Coteau” - Art in the Park event.

Lots of discussion occurred on time, date, location for the Market. The Market will take place in the Park to take advantage of the beautiful setting that has resulted from such hard work this spring by many volunteers.

Bakers will once again be invited to bring tasty treats. Artisans will also be invited to bring their artwork to sell at the Market. The focus will be to attract “one of a kind” unique products (artworks/handicrafts). The Gackle Farmers Market does not charge to any fee for vendors. Contact sjepp@daktel.com if you would like to bring your artwork to the farmers market.

Comments on my post, “Feeling the Weight of the World? Advice Sought for Ebbing Energy,” asked this question. Yeah, we’re tired. I personally enjoy writing the blog, but, this spring, life got in the way, and I had to do a reality check. Priorities needed to shift. I wish I could have encouraged more folks to take up this blogging task so we could “Shoot for the Stars” and win a computer for the town. But the reality is that our community is not yet plugged-in. The “prize” was just not a priority with everything else occupying residents (and volunteers) time.

Choices and priorities shifted and time was spent on grant writing and the result is we have Art in the Park during this summer’s Farmers Market!

At this point, the blog brings Gackle’s stories to the larger world and that’s a good thing.

I don’t want to abandon getting Gackle on-board with using computers. Its too important a “tool” to leave unused. We are brainstorming on how to get more people to see the value of cyber-world. With Gackle’s access to highspeed internet, residents could be using the resources of the world-wide-web to get education, information, entertainment, and much more. These are all “poverties” - resources/ opportunities that are lacking in our rural communities.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the blog and everyone who has been supportive of the effort. If anyone wants to become a Gackle “blogger” please send me a “comment” on this post.