The Baldwin Academy of Dance and Voice has diversified in what may seem an unexpected way.
On Feb. 15, the academy started offering mid-day and evening meals to the public with the opening of the Dance Cafe. The cafe takes advantage of the kitchen and bar seating that was in the building at 711 High Street. The academy moved there in 2014.

Academy owners Brian and Courtney Williams said the cafe grew from the meals offered since the start of the year to dance and voice students and their parents after afternoon classes. The cafe is now open to the public from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Free delivery is offered at mid-day and in the evening. The menu items of soups and sandwiches range in price from $4 to $5.50. Also available is a full range of beverages, including beers. Cindy Trowbridge, who helps with the cafe, said the menu would change in March to spring and summer fare featuring more salads.

Trowbridge said she was pleased with the early response, especially from other downtown businesses.
“The good thing is that the people we saw during the first week came back this week,” she said.

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The Eudora Fire Department has filled a vacancy for assistant fire chief with the hiring of a captain from the Evansville, Ind., fire department. Eudora Fire Chief Ken Keiter said Nathan Stoermer would start Monday. His diverse background made him stand out from the 24 applicants the department received for the position, the chief said.

“He has fire ground-command experience,” he said. “We were looking for someone with pretty diverse command capability in the service. He’s going to hit the ground running. We have had some pretty good discussions and are on the same page. He is going to be a great addition to the fire department.”
Stoermer will bring to five the number of paramedics in the fire department, Keiter said.

The department has also recently “hired” seven new volunteers, he said.
“They are currently going through a five-week academy at the department on basic firefighting skills to make sure they’ll be safe when we put them on the scene,” he said.

Like many other volunteers, the new recruits have aspirations of making a career of firefighting, Keiter said. It’s a realistic goal and many past volunteers have secured positions on municipal departments. The hiring of the new volunteers was prompted in part when two volunteers started with the city of Lenexa and another with the Kansas City, Mo., department.

“We go through a few good people, but it’s rewarding if they can go to a career department,” Keiter said.
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The Baldwin City Chamber of Commerce had its annual meeting and awards banquet Thursday. Named as business of the year was RG Fiber, which last year succeeded in bringing fiber-optic cable to the city. Gary Browne, who has been the Santa Claus at the community’s holiday festival for 30 years, was awarded the community service award. Other award winners were Baldwin City public works director Bill Winegar, outstanding community employee; the Lumberyard Arts Center, partnership award; and Baldwin City Police officer Kim Springer, hometown hero. Sharing the Excellence in Education Award were Baldwin school district Superintendent Paul Dorathy and Baldwin Middle School seventh-grade author Ty Harris.

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Baker University will have a reception for artist Timmy White from 3:30 to 6 p.m. Thursday in the Holt-Russell Gallery in Parmenter Hall, 706 Dearborn St. in Baldwin City, to mark the opening of his show “Off Kilter.” The show of graphite and acrylic abstractions will run through March 25. Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday.

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The Baker University Department of Music and Theater will present William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” at 7:30 p.m. March 3 through March 5 and at 2 p.m. March 6 at Rice Auditorium, 404 Eighth St. in Baldwin City.

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The Santa Fe Historical Society will have its annual meeting March 5 in the Fellowship Hall of Baldwin First United Methodist Church, 704 Eight St. The evening will start with a 5:30 p.m. covered dish dinner with the program starting at 6:30 p.m. Leo Oliva will present the program “Women Writers of the Santa Fe Trail.”

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A “heartsaver” class for nonmedical personnel will be from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. March 5 at the Eudora Community Center. The class will cover first aid, CPR and AED training. Cost is $65. Enrollments and payments can be made online at CPR4YOULLC.INFO.