Community Calendar for July 1st, 2026

Community Calendar items are free of charge. To submit, email us at express@grm.net. All events are subject to change or last-minute cancelation.

REPEATING EVENTS

Mondays (except holidays) – Worth County Commissioners meet at 9 am.

Fridays – Bedford Jam, United Christian Presbyterian Church, 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm. Snacks and drinks available. Walk-ons are welcome. For information, call (712) 523-2282.

Fridays– Community Market, Memorial Park Shelter, Bethany. Fridays 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm.

Saturdays – Stanberry Community Farmers Market, 8 am to noon. Crafts, donuts, and more. Located six miles north of Stanberry on Highway B to AF. 4371 Highway AF.

Every Second Wednesday – Worth County Suicide Prevention Coalition, 5:00 pm, Worth County Community Church.

REGULAR ANNOUNCEMENTS

July 1st to 3rd – Gilman City Girls Basketball Camp. First through fifth graders from 8:00 to 9:30 am. Sixth through eighth graders from 10:00 to 11:30 am. Open to all girls from 1st through 8th grade 2026-27 from Gilman City or Tri-County. Cost is $30 per player; shirt included. To enter, email keoff@gilman.k12.mo.us.

July 1st to 3rd – Grant City Christian Church VBS, 10 am to noon, Grant City Pool Park. For grades Pre-K through 8th grade. Free to attend. Bring swimming attire, towel, and sunscreen. Theme: Blast Off – How Big is Our God?

July 3rd – Most government offices and courthouses will be closed due to Independence Day.

July 3rd – Worth County Tractor Cruise. The cruise will visit all five towns in Worth County. The cruise will start at the Worth County Fairgrounds, travel to Allendale, then the Denver Schoolhouse Museum. It will go to Worth and have lunch at the 169 Club, then proceed to Sheridan and return to the Fairgrounds.

July 3rd – Fireworks show in Allendale at sunset.

July 4th – Independence Day. No mail delivery.

July 4th – Allendale Fourth of July Breakfast, 7:00 am.

July 4th – Dedication of the Veterans Wall, Grant City Square, 11 am. The display will recognize all six branches of the US Armed Forces as well as the US and Missouri flags.

July 4th – Grant City Golf Course Fourth of July Golf Tournament, 1:00 pm.

July 4th – Free swim, 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm at Grant City Pool.

July 4th – Grant City Fireworks Show at sunset.

July 5th -- Legion Breakfast, Parnell Legion Hall, 8 am.

July 6th to 10th – Swimming Pool Lessons at the Grant City Pool. Group 1 at 10 am each morning. Group 2 at 11:00 am each morning. $25 per participant. Must be 5 or older.

July 7th – Gentry/Worth Livestock Show, Willford Center Livestock Pavilion, Albany. Registration 7:00 am. Animals on site 8:00 am. Show starts 9:00 am.

July 7th – The Nodaway County Band will be in concert at the Roxy at 7:00 pm. Free will donation.

July 8th – Voter Registration Deadline for August 4th Primary Election.

July 9th -- Hopkins Food Pantry, 3 pm to 5 pm, Hopkins Christian Church Parsonage.

July 9th – Nodaway County Celebrity Steer Show, 5:00 pm, Nodaway County Community Building, 25669 Hawk Road, Maryville.

July 10th – Harrison County Republican Meet the Candidates, 6:00 pm, Bethany Memorial Park, 6:00 pm.

July 11th – Fireman’s Breakfast, Eagleville Firehouse, 7 am to 10 am. Free will donation.

July 11th – Nodaway County Fair Parade, 9:30 am, Nodaway County Square.

July 11th – Eagleville Car Show, Eagleville Square, in memory of the late Cynthia Owens. Registration 8:00 am. No entry fee. Prizes at 2:00 pm. Fireworks at dusk.

July 11th – Parnell Duck Days Whiffle Ball Tournament, Parnell City Park. Registration 1:30 pm. First games 2:00 pm. Teams consist of six players ages 8 and up. Each team may have up to three additional players under 8 years old. Cost $30/team. To enter, contact Autumn Burns (660) 254-5515.

July 11th – Harrison County Democratic Rally, 2 pm, Bethany Legion Building on Highway 13 south of Bethany.

July 11th – Parnell Duck Days Supper. 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Free will donation.

July 12th (rescheduled) – Stanberry Car Show.

July 12th – Parnell Duck Days Parade, 11:30 am. Grand Marshals: Andy and Joyce Pride.

July 12th – Brad Peve Memorial Poker Run, 33658 Highway NN, Hopkins, 1:00 pm. $5 per hand, $20 whole sheet. 

July 12th to 15th – Sheridan Christian Church VBS, 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm each night. Theme: Our Lost World.

July 12th – Sunday Night Movies in the Park, 7:00 pm, Grant City Pool Park. Free admission sponsored by Orilla’s Way. Dirty popcorn, dirty sodas, and other movie-night favorites available.

July 16th – Bedford Truck & Tractor Pull with Nebraska Bush Pullers, 2715 Linwood Avenue, Bedford, 7:00 pm.

July 17th to 18th – Hopkins/Pickering Citywide Garage Sales.

July 18th – Benefit for Jacob Walter, former DOT maintenance barn, Barnard, 5:00 pm. Free will donation dinner, live auction, dancing. If you cannot be there but wish to donate, mail checks to Bank Northwest, 217 East Main, Stanberry, MO 64489. Make all checks payable to Pappi’s Palooza Benefit. All donations are tax deductible.

July 19th -- Tri-C Memorial Post 464 Pancake Breakfast, 7 am to 11 am, Conception Junction. Proceeds to Post 464 veterans programs.

July 20th to 23rd – Eagleville Community Christian Church VBS. For ages 4 years old through 6th grade. Dinner will be served. Theme: Illumination Station.

July 20th – Second Worth County Hazardous Mitigation Plan meeting, Allendale Community Center, 5:30 pm. All counties and cities must develop a hazardous mitigation plan every five years in order to receive FEMA funding in the event of a disaster.

July 20th to 24th – Cave Quest Vacation Bible School. 6:00 pm each night, Hopkins Christian Church. Sponsored by the Hopkins Christian and Methodist Churches.

July 23rd -- Hopkins Food Pantry, 3 pm to 5 pm, Hopkins Christian Church Parsonage.

July 24th to 26th – Newsies Jr. summer play sponsored by the Maryville Young Players, a group of kids from grades 2 through 9. First show July 24th at 7:00 pm. Second show Saturday, July 25th at 2:00 pm. Third show July 25th at 7:00 pm. Fourth show Sunday, July 26th at 2:00 pm. All shows to be performed at the Schneider Center for the Performing Arts in Maryville.

July 25th – Aivry Griffin Memorial Golf Tournament. Registration 12 noon, tee time 1:00 pm.

July 25th – Dueling Pianos, Big Time Entertainment, Roxy Theater, 7 pm to 9 pm.

July 26th -- Ravenwood CBC Breakfast, 8:00 am to 12 noon.

July 27th – Last day to submit petitions to run as an independent candidate for the November 3rd election, 5:00 pm.

July 31st – Mozingo Lake Golf Tournament, 11 am. Proceeds will benefit Cameron Veterans Home. Limited to 36 teams on a first come, first served basis. To register, contact Alison Dredge (816) 649-1622.

August 2nd – Legion Breakfast, Parnell American Legion, 8 am to noon.

August 2nd to 6th – American Junior Golf Association Junior Golf Tournament, Mozingo Lake. A 54-hole championship for ages 12-19.

August 2nd – Jerry Litton Legacy of Dreams. A special event being planned in Chillicothe at the Litton Agri-Science Learning Center, 10780 Livingston County Road 235 in memory of the late congressman, who died in a plane crash 50 years ago. Free and open to the public. Doors open at 2:00 pm.

August 4th – Primary Election Day for Missouri. Polls open 6:00 am and close at 7:00 pm.

August 6th to 8th – Fur Takers of America National Trapping & Homesteading Convention, Macon County Fairgrounds, Macon. Starting at 6:00 pm on August 6th with a kickoff concert. Admission $20 for the weekend; veterans and kids 15 & under free. Campaign available at $20/night (primitive) or $40/night (full hookup). Meals available on-site.

August 7th to 8th – Blythedale Free Fair.

August 16th -- Tri-C Memorial Post 464 Pancake Breakfast, 7 am to 11 am, Conception Junction. Proceeds to Cameron Veterans Home.

August 22nd – Worth County Democratic Rally, 11 am to 4 pm, Old 169 Club.

August 29th – Stampede the Ville.

September 3rd to 7th – Northwest Missouri State Fair, Bethany.

September 5th – “Exploring the Dark” Hike, Crowder State Park, Trenton, 9 pm to 10 pm. Free and open to the public. Guided tour of the park. Bring water and closed-toe shoes.

September 12th – Worth County Suicide Prevention Coalition 5K Run/2K walk. Registration 7 am; run starts at 7:30 am and lasts until 12 noon. Free resources will be available from the VA, and a VA specialist will be on site. Cost $20. To RSVP, contact Jeremy Baker (660) 254-5311. Shirts are available; to order, contact Jeremy Baker by August 12th. If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please contact the Suicide Crisis Hotline at 988.

September 18th to 19th – Turkey Run Flea Market and Swap Meet. 12 noon to 6 pm September 18th; 8 am to 6 pm September 19th. Anything tradable welcome from homemade goods, antiques, tools, toys, clothes, livestock, vehicles, auto parts, crafts, food vendors, and more. Space: $15. Electric Hookups: $25. Camper: $45. After September 7th, add $5. If interested, call Adam Emery (660) 541-2984 or Sarah Emery (660) 853-0141.

September 20th -- Tri-C Memorial Post 464 Pancake Breakfast, 7 am to 11 am, Conception Junction. Proceeds to Sons of the American Legion Post 464.

October 3rd – Great Northwest Winefest, 1805 Nebraska Street, Mound City (Swimming Pool), 11:30 am. Proceeds will go to raise funds for Northwest Missouri Enterprise Facilitation.

October 13th – Hopkins Historical Society Fall Meeting, 7:00 pm.

October 18th -- Tri-C Memorial Post 464 Pancake Breakfast, 7 am to 11 am, Conception Junction. Proceeds to Post 464 membership.

October 23rd – Last day to file as a write-in candidate for the November 3rd election, 5:00 pm.

November 3rd – General election for Missouri. Polls open at 6 am and close at 7 pm.

November 15th -- Tri-C Memorial Post 464 Pancake Breakfast, 7 am to 11 am, Conception Junction. Proceeds to Ladies Auxiliary Unit 464.

May 29th – North Nodaway Alumni Reunion, North Nodaway School, 5:30 pm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aivry Griffin Memorial Tournament July 25th

The 5th Annual Aivry Griffin Memorial Golf Tournament will be held Saturday, July 25th at the Grant City Golf Course. Registration will be at 12 noon and tee time will be 1:00 pm. To RSVP, call (816) 935-1268.

Cost is $100 per team. There will be hole prizes. Golf carts are not available. To donate, Venmo is @AivryGriffinFoundation.

Over the last five years, the Aivry Griffin Foundation has been able to provide scholarships to individuals from Worth County, Albany, Stanberry, Ravenwood, and Northwest Missouri State in the amount of $21,000. The Foundation has provided around $40,000 towards organizations and activities that Aivry loved.

Last year, the Foundation’s mission was to help students go to state in an extracurricular activity. It donated $6,000 to football, track, FBLA, music, and shooting events.

Keely’s Kreations will once again make shirts. Orders are due by July 14th, 2026. Payment is due when orders are placed. Sponsorship letters are going out this week. If you are interested in becoming a new sponsor, call the number listed above, and you will get a letter.

 

Millie Long, Worthy Rebels Overcome Bad Start to Win Tournament

North Harrison softball standout Millie Long and the Worthy Rebels overcame a bad start and 95 degree heat to win a softball tournament last weekend. 

The Rebels dropped a walk-off 5-4 win to Nebraska Kingery. They built up a 4-1 lead, only for Kingery to push four runs across in the final frame to get the 5-4 win.

Long went 2 for 2, pitched five innings, gave up three hits, only one walk, and struck out five, but the Rebels could not overcome five errors and fell to the Bombers 5-2 in their second game.

But the Rebels treated the two losses as wake-up calls and they delivered in the third game, playing errorless ball in a 3-1 win over South Dakota Players 12U. 

From there, the Rebels got better each time out. Against the Western Iowa Heat, they once again played errorless ball. They fell into a 1-0 hole, but scored two in the fourth and three in the fifth to get a 5-1 win as their bats came alive to allow them to even their record. Millie drove in a run and pitched three innings, battling traffic but only allowing one run while striking out four. 

As the weather heated up Sunday, so did the Rebels as they broke up a slugfest in the second and third innings, scoring four in the second and two in the third to put West Des Moines Buchholz away 10-3. Millie was 1 for 1 with a walk and a run scored.

The final game featured a rematch between the Worthy Rebels and the South Dakota squad. The first game was a close win, but this time, the Rebels scored five in the third and eight in the fourth to secure the 14-1 win. Millie Long was 1 for 2 with a walk, an RBI, and a steal. Despite the heat, the Rebels only made two errors on the second day.

For the tournament, Millie batted 4 for 12 with two RBI's and a run scored with two walks. On the mound, she pitched 8 2/3 innings with 10 hits, two earned runs, only one walk, and 9 strikeouts. 

Draft Agreement Between Data Center, Nodaway County at Attorney

A draft agreement between Nodaway County and the data center developer is at Attorney Travis Elliott’s, commissioners said at the regular meeting Thursday. The county’s lawyer does not take a position on the agreement, but advises the county on potential ramifications and consequences. The attorney will go through the agreement and then present it to the county. The county plans to talk again to the attorney this week.

The development agreement is negotiable, and the county would sign off on it. Commissioner Scott Walk said a design agreement would be part of a development agreement.

The county is also working on a road use agreement for the power station that is being built next to the proposed data center.

Visitors to the meeting Thursday had a lot of new questions regarding the data center given that one of the options for drawing water, drawing from the 102 River, runs right across land owned by Susie Strauch, who has been one of the biggest opponents of the project. “I was told by the company that they would not touch the 102,” said Commissioner Bill Walker. Donna Tomkins said she had tried to call Brock Pfost of White Cloud Engineering, overseeing the feasibility study, but he was out of the state.

While a private entity like Scale Microgrids, which is developing the proposed data center, can’t use eminent domain in Missouri, a public utility like Evergy, which is building a power station next to the proposed center, can.

While drawing water from underground did not seem like a viable option according to the draft feasibility study, there were still worries in the room that the data center might try it. Commissioner Bill Walker said that the company rep told him they had ruled it out. “But that rep could be gone tomorrow,” he said.

Commissioner Scott Walk said that the projects would be subject to DNR and EPA regulations, which left many people in the room unswayed. “The DNR acts after the fact,” said Ms. Strauch. “I guess after we die.”

Assessor Rex Wallace said that the tax and school revenue numbers provided by the March study showing a purported millions of dollars in tax revenues for the county and South Nodaway were “not even close.” And even if they resulted in a windfall for the county and South Nodaway, he said the money was not guaranteed. Mr. Wallace said there was no way of knowing how much revenues the proposed data center would generate without knowing the specifics of the project.

Some people at the meeting expressed surprise at the company getting an agreement to the county early. Tim Schafer said that he thought it would be before October before a solid plan was put together. “Nobody was prepared for this,” said Commissioner Walk. “So we’re getting help the best way we know how.”

Commissioner Walk said that he was told that “in a perfect world,” Scale would exercise their options to buy the land needed for the data center and start construction in the first quarter of 2027. That was enough to cause Ms. Strauch to worry about the effects. “They’ll affect the bees, which pollinate the soybeans. It will affect the farmers. The noise goes out farther than expected. It will affect Maryville,” she said.

Asked about making Scale pay for bringing water to their facility, Mr. Walk noted that Evergy is paying most of the cost for bringing the water from Savannah to their nearby power plant. He noted that Northwest paid to put in a turnoff at its new ag facility east of Maryville. He said it was typical for a new user to pay to bring water to their place.

One of the options discussed in the feasibility study was to get the water from Barnard. For that, Barnard would need a whole new plant; they have been dealing with wastewater issues, including two buildings that draw rainwater into the city sewer that create a lot more sewage than expected.

Scott Wilson said that there was a lot of uncertainty about how much water would be used for the data center, given that figures from 70,000 to 1.8 million gallons of water per day were tossed around. Jeff From said that typical operations use anywhere from 1.5 million to 5 million gallons of water per day.

Susie Strauch said that after leaving one data center meeting, her husband got an offer for cash for land. Commissioner Walk said he believed it was a scam text.

Commissioner Walk pledged to continue answering questions about the project. “We’re not afraid of answering questions,” he said. “We’re looking for an economic development person with knowledge of data centers. We’re looking for a tech advisor as well. You may not like our answers, but we will get them.”

Scott Wilson said that from what he had seen, Scale’s bread and butter was power projects, and wanted to see what they had done on other projects. Currently, they are working with an end user that is not known at this time. The proposed St. Joseph project that was recently abandoned had the developer as the end user. The data center projects in Montgomery County that were recently announced by the Governor are being operated by Amazon and Google.

“All this is done to keep us in the dark,” said Jeff From. Susie Strauch said that she  recently encountered a strange car with Ohio plates near her place. She said they advised her they were waiting for their crew and that they were taking core samples.

Kim Swyers talked about the effects she feared data centers would have on young people. She characterized Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s motto as, “Move fast, create havoc, break things, go away.” A 2022 Snopes post said that one of Mr. Zuckerberg’s mottos was, “Move fast and break things.”

Ms. Swyers talked about a situation where an AI chatbot talked a young girl into committing suicide. When they found her journal and her chat logs, they added up. “These things are talking children into hurting themselves,” she said. She noted there was one recent protest at Capitol Hill where people held up pictures of children who were talked into killing themselves by chatbots. “This is evil. This is what’s going to come here. We may as well have demons,” Ms. Swyers said.

Ms. Swyers noted that Meta was hit with a $375 million verdict in New Mexico after a jury concluded that Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp harmed childrens’ mental health, made minors vulnerable to sexual exploitation, violated New Mexico’s consumer protection laws, and concealed internal knowledge about risks to children. Meta denied wrongdoing and is appealing. ABC News reported on the verdict on March 25th. While the $375 million verdict seems like a lot, ABC notes that Meta’s market cap sat at $1.5 trillion as of March 2026.

The New Mexico Attorney General, as quoted by ABC, said they would seek additional financial penalties and court-mandated changes that they say would offer stronger protections to children.

“They prey on us because they think we’re naïve and stupid,” Regina Brisbane, a new visitor, said. “They say they want to help,” said Commissioner Walk.
“They’re offering 100-150 permanent jobs. At what cost? Is there a cost? Yes. We have a governor who is pushing them.” Recently, Governor Mike Kehoe rebuffed calls for a special session to deal with issues involving data centers. “We’re getting conflicting advice. We have to listen and do the best we can,” Mr. Walk said.