The Post must really like Florida, since it keeps turning up there! Either that, or folks here are trying to get away from the cold, wintry weather. Which do you think it is?

Lorena Male (left) and Beatrice Singleton (right) traveled to Florida this past week with a copy of the Post, and visited the Ravine Gardens at Palatka, Florida. Thanks for taking us with you!

Send your traveling Post photos to news@cedarspringspost.com and we will run them as space allows.

Post photo by J. Reed.

This curious little guy took a break from chewing on wood at the entrance to the Post Monday to peek through the window and see what we were doing. He and two of his littermates have taken a sudden liking to the strip of wood that runs along the bottom of the doorframe. According to several Internet websites, it’s not unusual for squirrels to chew on wood around your home. Do you have a non-toxic remedy to keep squirrels from chewing around your woodwork? Email us at news@cedarspringspost.com. Or, if you have any wildlife photos you’d like to send us, email them to the same address, and we’ll try to run them as space allows.

We’re counting down, and the Post annual community Easter egg hunt is only two weeks  away! Plan now to attend the event, to be held Saturday, April 7, at 1:00 p.m. at Red Hawk Elementary, on the Cedar Springs Public Schools campus. It will begin promptly at 1 p.m. so don’t be late! It will feature hunts for four different age groups (up to age 10), real colored eggs, candy, coins and great prizes. The Cedar Springs Fire Department, Red Flannel Queen and Court, Keystone Kops, Post staff, and of course, the Easter Bunny, will all be on hand to help with the festivities! Call us at 696-3655 with questions.

Would you like to do something special for families in need this Christmas? You can partner with us to provide toys for needy children in Kent County. The Post is participating in the Toys for Tots program again this holiday season, as a drop off site for toys.
Toys for Tots is a volunteer organization whose goal is to collect new, unwrapped toys for kids 0-16, and distribute them to children who would not otherwise receive a gift during the holiday season. Toys for teens are always needed.
The program runs now through the first two weeks of December. Just bring a new, unwrapped toy to our office at 36 E. Maple Street in Cedar Springs, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. If you can’t make that time, call us to make other arrangements.
Together we can make this Christmas special for many children!

By Post editor, Judy Reed

What were you doing, in July, 23 years ago, when the Cedar Springs Post was born? Some of the headlines for July 1988 included:

•    USSR launches Phobos II for Martian orbit
•    Sting performs first rainforest concert
•    Florence Joyner runs 100m in 10.49 seconds for world record
•    4 billion tv viewers watch Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday tribute
•    Michael Dukakis selected as Democratic presidential candidate

Some people here grew up with the Cedar Springs Post, and don’t remember what it was like not to have their own hometown newspaper. The previous newspaper, The Cedar Springs Clipper, served the area well for over 100 years. Once it closed, the area relied on out-of-town newspapers for four years to publish only bits and pieces of Cedar Springs news, much like area newspapers do today. Then on July 28, 1988, Roger Allen, publisher of the Rockford Squire, rented out an office from Sipple TV, on 36 E. Maple Street in Cedar Springs, and started the great little newspaper you still have today—The Cedar Springs Post.

Roger’s daughter, Lois, took over operation of the paper, with her mother Alice, in 1989, and the paper has undergone changes in staff, style and adapted to the times. We started out as an all black and white newspaper, and slowly introduced color. We now have more color pages on a weekly basis than ever before, which means more room for color photos showcasing our community. We’ve also introduced technology for those who would rather interact with us through the computer. You can communicate with us by email, and we now have our website newspaper (cedarspringspost.com) and a facebook page. Both sites are interactive and we really like to see your questions and comments.

We’ve also recently introduced another product—an e-edition. The e-edition is a digital pdf copy of the paper that goes to print each week, complete with ads. This edition, which you can find a link to on our website, is for those people who might prefer to read our paper online, but want to see everything as it was published. It’s a good option for those who live in another city, state or country and don’t like to wait weeks to get their paper in the mail. This version is not interactive, however. It’s just an electronic version  of the paper copy. You can access the e-edition by going to our website (www.cedarspringspost.com) and clicking on e-edition. This version will be free for a limited time, and will eventually be added as a choice of something you can subscribe to. Please take a look, and let us know what you think of the e-edition, by email (news@cedarspringspost.com), by commenting on this story on our website, or posting on our facebook page.

On the down side, our newsroom and sales staff is the slimmest it’s ever been. And that is a reflection of the newspaper industry in general. We thank you, our readers, for your loyalty and willingness to step in and be citizen journalists from time to time. We love getting your photos and news about local events. And we thank our business partners for seeing the importance of supporting us, your local newspaper. Local businesses that advertise in the paper are what pays for the paper to be printed each week. We ask our readers to also thank them by shopping with them and letting them know you saw them in the Post!

One thing that hasn’t changed is our mission. We still try to deliver the news you can use each week. In addition to the regular “hard” news such as accidents and fires, where else will you find what size catfish Johnny caught, who won the spelling bee, what the women’s club did last week, and who was arrested for drunken driving? Nowhere! Because the other papers don’t care—but we do. This newspaper is about YOU. And it will continue to be about you as long as we’re here. Thank you for the opportunity to let us into your home each week, and we look forward to a new year of serving you.

Do you like to help people in need? Or maybe just help things grow? North Kent Community Services needs your manpower in their Community Garden! Last year the agency received over 3,570 pounds of fresh vegetables to distribute to families in need. That huge amount of food was planted and harvested by a handful of volunteers, who worked an acre of land to create a Community Garden. The NKCS is the largest food pantry in Kent County and services over 12,000 families. The fresh vegetables were a welcome sight for families who normally received canned or frozen when they pick up groceries.
Merrill Post, of Post Berry Farms, donates the land, on Myers Lake Avenue and 12 Mile Road, where the volunteers plant and harvest. For the third year in a row, Mr. Post has set aside an acre of land that he tills, fertilizes, and waters to make sure that the plants will grow. He even allows the group a space in his own private garden, where a high fence keeps the deer away from the tender bean plants. Post also donates to the NKCS corn, pumpkins, berries and other food that the volunteers do not grow in the Community Garden.
All of the seeds needed for planting are donated by The Cedar Mill in Cedar Springs. Also, several of the group members start seeds in peat pots or flats at home.
This year, there are two specific planting dates already set. Many more volunteers are needed because the goal is to harvest two tons of food this year. If you would like to help, volunteers will meet on Wednesday, May 10, at 7:00 p.m., at Post Farms, 9849 Myers Lake Road, to plant seeds in the greenhouse.
Once the seeds are ready to be transplanted outside, other dates and times will be determined for planting and a schedule will be set for weeding and harvesting. If you love to garden, want to learn more about gardening, need to put in hours for community service at your school, or have a desire to feed people in need, then call Deb McIntyre, volunteer coordinator at the NKCS, at 616-866-3478 ext. 103 Monday–Thursday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. No gardening experience is necessary.

News of the Cedar Springs High School cheerleading team’s march to state competition crossed the Mexican border on March 16! Posing with the March 3 edition of the Post, in Progresso, Mexico, is (left to right) Tina Howard, Phil Wolters and Mary Wolters.
Thanks, Mary, for sharing your photo with us!