The Sun and News

Your Hometown Newspaper Serving Middleville and Caledonia Areas

No. 37/September 10, 2022 Published by J-Ad Graphics, Inc. • 1351 N. M-43 Highway, Hastings, MI 49058 144th year

IN THIS ISSUE...IN THIS ISSUE...

• Middleville Art Walk campaign

secures another grant

• Kent County reports feedback

received concerning ARPA funds

• Charlton Park supporters

campaign for millage renewal

• TK soccer suffers shutout loss

to South Christian

Splash pad construction to get underway

at Community Green in Caledonia

Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
It’s a project that was part
of the original plan for the
Community Green park, but
was put on hold over cost con-
cerns.
Now, two years after the
park opened, a splash pad will
finally be built at Community
Green.
The Caledonia Township
board Wednesday approved
awarding the bid for the splash
pad construction to Holland-
based EV Construction, which
submitted the low bid of
$353,667 for the project.
Three companies submitted
bids for the project, ranging
from $353,667 to $440,000,
according to bid documents.
Community Green is owned
by the township but is located
within the village limits of

Caledonia.

At the recommendation of

township engineer Todd

Boerman, the board added on

a 10 percent contingency to

the project, bringing the bud-

get to more than $389,000.

When the board approved its

2022 budget in November of

last year, it set aside $350,

for the splash pad, Township

Treasurer/Administrator

Richard Robertson said.

Construction is expected to

begin right away on the splash

pad, which will be located

near the Caledonia branch of

the Kent District Library and

the Community Green amphi-

theater. It had been originally

planned to be built next to the

original pickleball courts.

However, high demand for the

space resulted in additional

pickleball courts being built

where the splash pad had been

planned.

“We thought the setting of

the splash pad ... nearer to the

library and the shelter house

actually made more sense, so

we made those adjustments,”

Township Supervisor Bryan

Harrison said. “We have

decided that now is a good

time to go to bid.”

Part of the bid involved sub-

bing in a different concrete con-

tractor than had been involved

with the development of the

amphitheater, Harrison said.

“When we did the

Community Green amphithe-

ater, the concrete work was,

while acceptable, it wasn’t to

the premium that we wanted

for the finishes on it,” Harrison

said. “There (were) visible

seams, things like that.”

Kent Companies will han-

dle the concrete portion of the

project, Harrison said.

“We’re going to have built-

in benches, very similar, echo-

ing the amphitheater,”

Harrison said.

Construction on the splash

pad could be completed later

this fall or early winter, so that

it will be open when the

weather warms back up in the

spring of 2023, Harrison said.

“It won’t create as many

conflicts with the activities that

we do in the spring and sum-

mer in the park,” Harrison said.

The splash pad is one of two

major remaining projects to

complete Community Green,

the other being construction of

a maintenance building. The

latter project was put on hold

earlier this summer after bids

for construction came in well

above budget.

Middleville’s Noelle

Bair named MDHHS

director for Barry,

Allegan counties

Greg Chandler

Staff Writer

Noelle Bair was adopted

when she was less than a year

old in her native Texas.

As an adult, she has been a

foster parent with her hus-

band, Byron Hoogwerf.

Now, one of her main

goals as director of the local

office of the Michigan

Department of Health and

Human Services is to encour-

age more Barry County fami-

lies to become foster parents.

Bair, a Middleville resi-

dent, was named Sept. 1 as

director of the MDHHS

offices in Barry and Allegan

counties, replacing Tim

Click, who was recently

See BAIR, page 3

FLIPPING THE SCRIPT:

Caledonia theater

students to perform

self-written play

Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
It’s not something you see
often in high school theatre

• a play where the students
  write the script.
  But that’s exactly what’s
  happening with this year’s
  fall play at Caledonia High
  School.
  Nine CHS theatre mem-
  bers collaborated on the
  script for “The Lost RATs,”
  a play that will be presented
  in early November at the
  school’s Peter V. DeLille
  Fine Arts Center.
  The students are Evan
  DeVault, Emilee Ferris,
  Katelyn Ferris, Lauren
  Kosiorowski, Claudia
  Rissley, Michael Russell,
  Kara DeVault, Sam Temple
  and Raven Medina.
  The inspiration came out
  of last year’s CHS Players
  fall production “Alice and
  the Rabbits of Wonderland,”
  a play that was written by
  Kate (Lane) Bauer, the
  group’s director.
  “The kids know that I
  wrote plays in college,”
  Bauer said. “So we did an
  original play of mine because
  they asked for it. They found
  it in my records and (said),
  ‘Can we please do it?’”
  Some of the students were

inspired by performing in a

play written by their teacher,

and then started creating

their own scripts for plays,

Bauer said.

“I (thought), ‘How can I

capitalize on this forward

momentum that the kids

have, empowering them,

(telling them) you can do

this, this is a thing that is

achievable for you?’” she

said.

So Bauer put together an

after-school workshop to be

held during the final week of

classes last spring, to devel-

op a script for the play.

“On the first day, we came

up with ideas, and then we

worked on it for three days,

and the fourth day we edited

it,” she said.

“I told the kids you can

write whatever you want. It’s

their humor. They put refer-

ences to a cartoon they all

liked. It’s got allusions to

stuff they like,” she added.

But agreeing on a script

idea was a bit challenging,

according to Evan DeVault,

a senior at CHS. He wanted

to write a pirate-themed play,

sort of along the lines of the

“Pirates of the Caribbean”

series.

“Other people wanted to

do a classic romance. We

decided somewhere in the

middle,” DeVault said.

Emilee Ferris, also a CHS

senior, said she enjoyed the

script development process.

“We all had our different

ideas of how we wanted it to

go. We decided to come up

with compromises,” Ferris

said.

Katelyn Ferris, a CHS

freshman, said one of the

challenges was agreeing on a

conclusion to the play.

While Bauer generally

gave students free rein to

create the script, there were a

few limitations she insisted

on.

“I did say no to a couple of

things. Obviously, it has to

be school appropriate,” said

Bauer, who is teaching fresh-

man English this year in

addition to serving as direc-

tor for the CHS Players. “We

do have a lot of middle

schoolers that come, so I

kind of gauged that – we

want all your siblings to be

able to see it without your

parents having a problem

with it, and I want your

grandma to be able to come

see it without your grandma

having to talk to you after-

wards.”

“The Lost RATs” is a play

See SCHOOL THEATRE, page 2

From left, Evan DeVault, Emilee Ferris and Katelyn

Ferris were part of the writing team from Caledonia

High School, which developed the script for the

school’s fall play. (Photo by Greg Chandler)

This patch of open space just east of the Kent

District Library Caledonia branch and just north of the

amphitheater is the planned location for the new

Community Green splash pad that’s expected to open

next spring. (photo by Greg Chandler)

Noelle Bair