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One of Blissfield’s signature businesses is enjoying a revival thanks to the Main Street Market.

The Hathaway House, owned and operated by the Weeber family for all but a few years since 1963, has become the place to be on Tuesdays.  The attraction? Budget friendly dinners, made with the local produce and Hathaway House kitchen expertise.

It’s a big hit, attracting 100 to 180 patrons each week. It’s a bright business success story in sharp contrast to the gloomy economy.

The Blissfield High School Band is ready for the Friday night lights.

Director Mark Hollandsworth, employing the help of several assistants, and the 40-member band completed band camp during the first week of August.

“Band camp is a condensed marking period of learning, but all in one week. It is intense learning,” said Hollandsworth, who begins his third year in the Blissfield Community Schools music program. “We learn a lot and have a lot of fun in those 40 hours.”

Blissfield Village President Jae Guetschow will face a challenge from Trustee Mike Gunter in the November election.

Guetschow, who was elected to the position in 2008 after two years away from the office, and Gunter, who has is currently the longest continually serving member of council.

They are running for a two-year term.

Win or lose, Gunter would remain on council, as his current term expires in 2012.

Four people have filed to run for the three open seats on Blissfield Village Council, including incumbents Art Weeber, Mark Burgermeister and A. Ray Jones. Andrea Cueto has also filed to run for one of the four-year seats on council.

Clerk Laura Neuman and Treasurer Margaret "Peggy" Nieman are unopposed.

Mary Gregg and Lauri Reinhardt were the only people to file for the four library board seats up for election. Gregg is currently chair of the library board and Reinhardt is also an incumbent. Rob Holman is the other library board member whose term is expiring. He did not file for re-election.

For more on the village election ballot, see the Aug. 18 edition of The Advance.

Britton and Deerfield voters overwhelming supported school district consolidation.

Voters passed the measure by a 652-174 margin. Support for the measure was nearly 80 percent.

Voters also passed the request for the 18-mill operating millage. The measure passed 501-277.

In Deerfield Township, the consolidation proposal enjoyed 83.71 percent of the votes (293-57). In Macon Township, the proposal was approved by 73.1 percent of the voters (144-53). Ridgeway Township voters passed the proposal with 76.90 percent of the electorate voting yes (213-64.) A small number of voters in Raisin and Blissfield townships and Monroe County also figured into the grand total.

In early reported results, voters in Riga and Ogden townships passed the renewals up for consideration.

Ogden voters passed the two-year road-renewal by a 105-86 tally.

Riga voters passed the two-year fire department renewal and the two year road and bridges proposal. The fire millage passed with 147 yes votes against 65 no votes. The road proposal was a bit closer, but still passed easily, 139-74.

Results from Ridgeway and Deerfield Townships are still unavailable.

The grades are in and Jim Wonacott made the dean’s list. Wonacott, in his 16h year as village administrator, scored high grades in the annual evaluation conducted by members of Blissfield Village Council and tabulated by Blissfield Village President Jae Guetschow.

Using a five-point scale, with one being unsatisfactory and five being outstanding, each council member was asked to grade Wonacott in nine areas, ranging from profession skills to residential relations. When all the votes were tabulated, Wonacott received an average score of 4.6, which puts him a little closer to outstanding (a five rating) than above average (a four rating).

Wonacott’s top rating came in fiscal management, where he scored a 4.8 rating.
“(Wonacott) makes the best possible use of available funds (and he is) conscious of the need to operate the village efficiently and effectively,” wrote one of the council members, in the evaluation.

In an effort to save more than $40,000 a year, Blissfield Community Schools has adopted a plan to share its business manager, Dan Garno, with the Lenawee Intermediate School District.

The Blissfield Board of Education approved a collaborative deal, by a 6-0 vote, with the LISD at Monday night’s meeting. Trustee Vicky Lombard was absent.

The Advance was unable to obtain specific details of the agreement Monday night. After the board meeting, Garno said that he moving to the LISD to do much of that had been done by former LISD executive director for staff resources, Jim Philp. Philp was appointed as interim superintendent of the LISD after Steve Krusich retired.

Garno called the move a “pilot project” that would need to be closely monitored by the LISD and Blissfield Community Schools.

Blissfield Village President Jae Guetschow said he hopes the village’s new status a “select-level” member of the Michigan Main Street program will help transform downtown. Guetschow made the remarks Wednesday afternoon as the village officially announced its selection in the Main Street program.

Guetschow said he hopes to see changes that will help the downtown be more appealing to local residents.

“For a period of time we’ve been advertising and courting outsiders to come in and spend their money here but we really need to have a good blend of visitors as well as residents,” Guetschow said.

Guetschow said that downtown centers, such as Blissfield’s, are more in demand after 60 years of sprawl and running away from urban centers.

Saturday at the Blissfield River Raisin Festival opened with small town tradition and closed with a sci-fi light show.

The day began with the annual River Raisin Festival Parade through downtown Blissfield. In all, the 45-minute parade was one of the longest in history, featuring hundreds of entrants. The parade was so long that floats at the beginning of the parade completed the entire parade route and arrived back at the school before many had even begun the parade.

Former Village President Pat Hinde, owner of Frosty Boy, Home Run Pizza, Hinde Accounting and other businesses, was named the first-ever Grand Marshal of the parade. Over the years, Hinde has played a big role in Blissfield’s annual party. He ran the softball tournament and car show for years. Even today, Hinde allows the festival to use his property for the ever-popular beverage tent. Consumption of alcohol in the parks is prohibited.

Blissfield’s downtown parks were bursting Friday night as the River Raisin Festival rocked into action.

The first major event of the day Friday was the Miss River Raisin Festival Scholarship Pageant. When it was over, Tamara Korican, of was crowed the queen for 2010. She’ll compete in the 2011 Miss Michigan Scholarship. Rounding out the top five were Ashliegh Allen, Tiffany Korican, Nicole Taylor and Meagan Hauss.

Crowds flooded the park at dusk in preparation for the annual fireworks display, which lit up the sky and concluded with an exhilarating finale.

The carnival and the inflatable rides were finally up and running. Extremely warm weather early in the week and Thursday’s downpour had slowed the opening of the carnival.

The fun continues Saturday, starting with a parade at 10:30 a.m. There will be free music and entertainment on three stages Saturday. A sand volleyball tournament takes place Saturday morning and afternoon. There will be a laser show near the Gail Giles Memorial Swimming Pool Saturday night at approximately 10 p.m.

For a gallery from Day 1 of the festival, click here.

The theme for the River Raisin Festival, July 9,10, and 11, is Rockin’ on the River. The theme is appropriate because the river will certainly be rockin’ but so will the parks and streets of Blissfield as the action gets underway, unofficially, on Wednesday, July 7, when the carnival comes to town. The Jules & Beck combined shows will be at 5 p.m. Wednesday and again at 5 p.m. on Sunday.

On Thursday, July 8, the pre-festival excitement continues at 9:30 p.m. with Movie Night at Ellis Park. Organizers have gotten their hands on a real retro gem, “Back to the Future,” rated PG and totally remastered in super-quality high definition. The open-air theater will be set up in Ellis Park in the vicinity of the outfield portion of the ballpark.

Early River Raisin Festival activities were scrapped due to the weather, but after looking at weather projections, organizers are forecasting good times and family fun for this weekend.

It was hoped that the carnival would be running by Wednesday, but the installation was slowed by intense heat Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday's early evening rain showers prevented the carnival from operating and caused festival organizers to cancel the free movie night planned for Thursday evening.

But organizers are thrilled, because the rain chased away the stifling heat that's kept many area residents indoors by their trusty air conditioners. This weekend's weather calls for sun and temperatures in the 80s.

"We're going to have a great weekend," said Joyce Fetzer, president of the River Raisin Festival's organizing committee. "The weather is going to be gorgeous. People are looking for an excuse to get out of the house and have fun and that's what we're all about."