By Shane Goodman | Times Vedette
The Panorama Days bags tournament was held Saturday on Main Street and started at noon just down from the classic car show. Bingo, live music, a ski show, a golf cart parade and the first day of the Panorama Days Pickleball Tournament were also part of the schedule.
By Rich Wicks | Times Vedette
Pastor Ryan Meyer and his family recently moved to Guthrie Center. As of July 26, he now serves as pastor for both Immanuel Lutheran Church (Guthrie Center) and St. Thomas Lutheran Church (Panora).
Pastor Meyer shared the path that brought him to Guthrie County.
“I grew up in Lincoln, Illinois. I went to seminary in St. Louis,” he said. “Then, when I became a pastor, I was in Nebraska for 10 years, then to St. Peter, Illinois, for the past nine years. I am married, and my wife and I have five children.”
Pastor Meyer shared his hobbies and pastimes.
“I’m a little bit of a history buff, so I like reading about history and visiting historical places,” he said. “I also like to grill and spend time with my family. On cooler days, we’ve been taking walks around town just to get to know the area.”
Pastor Meyer shared that, as luck would have it, he and his family were settling into their new community at the same time that Guthrie Center swelled with thousands of RAGBRAI bicyclists. The Meyers helped at Immanuel’s church dinner, which he said was a great way to meet many cyclists and local citizens.
“I’m looking forward to my work here and getting to know the people of Guthrie Center and Panora,” he said. “I’ve already met quite a few, and it’s been awesome.”
By Rich Wicks | Times Vedette
The Iowa Department of Education released the income qualifications for free and reduced-price school meals. Anyone who may qualify is encouraged to apply. Questions may be directed to the local school district personnel.
By Rich Wicks | Times Vedette
The 10 Squared Plus Men of Guthrie County held its 30th meeting on Tuesday evening at The Captain’s Pick at Lake Panorama National with 45 members in attendance who selected the next recipient of funding.
Presentations were made by Frank Teale for the Guthrie County Historical Museum log cabin project, Tom Rutledge for the Guthrie County Community Foundation, and Bill Messinger on behalf of ACGC Schools for a virtual welding program.
The virtual welding program was chosen. The funding will allow students to experience welding in a virtual format before using the actual welding equipment. Once all members have contributed their shares, the donation to ACGC is expected to exceed $21,000.
Barry Monaghan, who founded the local 10 Squared Men group in 2016, shared how the funds will help ACGC.
“With our funding, they will purchase two welding simulators, and the school will buy one. And it’s buy three, get one free, so the school will end up with four of them,” he said.
Monaghan notes that with this donation, the grand total donated by Ten Squared Plus Men of Guthrie County will top $500,000. A total of 210 men are now members of the group.
For more information on Ten Squared Plus Men of Guthrie County, or to learn how to become a member, contact Monaghan at B.Monaghan@gcsbank.com.
By Cyote Williams
After perusing the Iowa Shrine Bowl website after ACGC’s Joe Crawford’s appearance in this year’s game, I found a detailed history of the rosters since its inception. The site even listed the cheer squads and dance teams that were invited. With this information at my fingertips, I decided to look through every roster to see how many players I could find from our coverage area who made an appearance at Iowa high school’s version of the All-Star game.
OK, a complete history might be a bit of a stretch, but I did my best. For example, the rosters for 2009 and 1979 are missing. As well, these schools have not always been ACGC and Panorama. The school names I looked for were ACGC, Panorama, Guthrie Center, Adair-Casey, Panora-Linden and Yale-Jamaica-Bagley.
Here are the names I was able to find:
ACGC
Joe Crawford – 2026
Jathan South – 2025
Payton Jacobe – 2024
Adair-Casey
Connor Moore – 2004
Jon Richter – 2002
Guthrie Center
Andrew Meier – 2007
Marcus Lewis – 2004
Michael Lewis – 2002
Alex York – 2001
Jimmy Terwilliger – 1998
Jimmy Terwilliger – 1997
Cory Parker – 1995
Mark Artis – 1977
Steve Sorensen – 1974
Panorama
Klayton Bremer – 2024
Gabe Richey – 2016
Gavin Richey – 2015
Garrett Johnston – 2014
Garrett Mleynecek – 2013
Cody Stepanek – 2012
Zach Brehmer – 2010
B.J. Alumbaugh – 2003
Jordan Carstens – 1999
Yale-Jamaica-Bagley
Brian Frantum – 1987
The counts come out as three (so far) for ACGC, two for Adair-Casey, nine for Guthrie Center, nine for Panorama, and one for Y-J-B. There appear to be three sets of siblings or cousins in Gabe and Gavin Richey, Zach and Klayton Bremer (Panorama), and Michael and Marcus Lewis (Guthrie Center). Also, of all the football players in the area since the Shrine Bowl began, only one player made it to the game twice: Jimmy Terwilliger (Guthrie Center). The game is designed to honor seniors, but perhaps that rule only came later. There are a handful of typos across the rosters, so it’s also possible this is a simple error.
Currently, games are played at the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls and have been since 2013. Before that, they were held at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames from 2001 to 2012. Some years are missing where the game was played, but besides those venues, the game bounced around between the UNI Dome, Sioux City, Kingston Stadium (Cedar Rapids), and its first host location, Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City.
If I missed anyone or any of the various schools or cities in our coverage area, let me know at cyote@dmcityview.com and I will be sure to update this column.
Jessica Kendic works on a celebrity portrait.
By Rich Wicks | Guthrie Center Times, July 2026
One definition of talent is making something difficult look easy. That description fits Jessica Kendic of rural Adair and the art she creates. She explained how her artistic endeavors began.
Jessica Kendic’s portrait of actress Michelle Pfeiffer.
However, Kendic’s art did not simply happen. She devoted long hours to developing her technique.
“Drawing people was always something I had difficulty with, but I decided I wanted to learn, and I practiced eight hours a day for over a year,” she said. “I also sculpt in clay, and I paint with acrylic, and I sew dresses. I sew from vintage sewing patterns. But, now, portraiture has become my favorite since I learned how. It takes me about a day to do a single subject portrait.”
As Kendic honed her portraiture skills, people started noticing, and requests for commissioned work soon followed.
“I didn’t actively ask anybody to buy my work at first, but I had a few people ask me,” she said. “I do a lot of celebrity drawings, but I think my favorite is when it’s a family member they’re asking me to draw, because I like to make people happy and for it to be something they’ll keep and enjoy for years. I also draw pets for people.”
When asked about formal art training, Kendic explained that she is predominantly self-taught.
Jessica Kendic drew this likeness of actor Sam Elliott.
Kendic’s long hours of practice have given her the skill to create detailed, lifelike portraits. She does not rely on any equipment other than pencil and paper.
“The difficulty lies in that I work freehand. I don’t use a grid or a projector. I do it entirely with hand-eye coordination, and that can be frustrating sometimes,” she said.
Despite the detail required in her portraits, Kendic is able to work quickly. Most portraits are completed within one or two days.
“I pride myself on being able to deliver what they ask me to do quickly,” she said.
Anyone interested in contacting Kendic about her artwork or commissioning a portrait can email her at jkendic1938@gmail.com.
“My standard pricing is $70 for a single person portrait, for the 9-inch by 12-inch size,” she said.
Kendic is offering a $15 discount off the regular $70 price of a single-subject portrait to anyone who mentions this article.
Jessica Kendic’s recent portrait of a teen athlete.