Thursday, April 3, 2025
Vol. 6, No. 33
PCMExplorer Local People. Local Stories.
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Kids rush to get as much candy as they can at the Kiwanis Easter egg hunt March 29
IT’S RAINING EGGS Prairie City Easter egg hunt features a helicopter egg drop By Jamee A. Pierson PCM Explorer
Jamee A. Pierson/PCM Explorer
Easter eggs will be falling from the sky at a one-of-a-kind hunt in Prairie City. The Prairie City Easter Celebration and Vendor Fair will feature a helicopter egg drop at the PCM Middle School football field giving kids and adults an experience like no other. “We are very excited to bring this new event to Prairie City,” Prairie City Celebration Committee organizer Amy Witte said. “It brings children of all ages to help celebrate and join in on the fun.” Starting at 9 a.m., a vendor fair featuring more than 70 entries will be set up in the middle school. From wood specialties to crocheted creations and sweet treats, there will be a wide variety of items on hand to shop.
The Easter Bunny will hop in from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. ready to pose for a picture and greet kids celebrating the holiday. There will also be raffle items available to view and take a chance on while meeting the Easter Bunny and shopping at the vendor fair. The main event is planned for 11:30 a.m. at the football field where a helicopter from Iron Horse Aviation will take part in an egg drop. Volunteers will be on hand to help families during the egg drop and kids are invited to gather as many treats as they can in their baskets. “We hope that it is well attended so we can bring it back next year as well,” Amy Witte said. “If guests are attending and live nearby please walk up. Parking will fill up quickly.” For more information about the event, follow Prairie City Celebration on Facebook.
PCM School Board HELPING PEOPLE sets make-up days for HELP THE LAND inclement weather Agencies like NRCS and SWCD help farmers extend the Students will now have classes April 21 along with May 22 and 23 at the end of the school year By Jamee A. Pierson PCM Explorer School will now dismiss on May 23 after the PCM School Board approved three make-up days due to inclement weather. Make-up days will take place on April 21, May 22 and May 23, with the last day being a two-hour early out day for the district. “We had a little more inclement weather than we wanted this year,” interim superintendent Art Sathoff said. “We ended up having four full days out plus nine hours of late starts and early outs. We do have some designated snow days on the calendar that were approved.” April 21 was originally designated a district improvement day for the students. The previously scheduled last day of school was Wednesday, May 21. It will now be a full day and two additional days will be tacked on, May 22 and 23, with the last day
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of school a two-hour early out. “Since we do have above the minimum 1,080 instruction hours for students we will absorb the nine hours of late starts and early outs and the fourth day,” Sathoff said. “Then, we would make up the other three with the three approved days.” The district is required to have 1,080 instructional hours for students. The approved 2024-2025 calendar had 1,137 hours. With the four snow days and nine hours of late starts subtracted and three makeup days added, the district will still have approximately 1,125 hours of instruction time for students. “One little wrinkle, you track instructional hours for students but you track contract days for teachers,” Sathoff said. “In both cases it seems to fit pretty well.” To fulfill the needed days for teachers, the fourth missed day will SCHOOL BOARD | 3
life of their land by helping them reduce soil erosion, improve water quality and enhance wildlife habitat
Metro Creative In addition to finding solutions to soil erosion, Natural Resources Conservation Service also works with farmers on improving water quality and increasing wildlife habitat through conservation efforts.
By Christopher Braunschweig PCM Explorer Farming is not a straight forward profession. The day-to-day chores ensure some level of monotony, and farmers might have
some idea how their crops will turn out come harvest, but it is truly a job full of unpredictable factors. Challenges are plentiful, and sooner or later they might have to turn to someone else for help.
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Which may explain why the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) lives by a straight forward motto: Helping people help the land. LAND | 3
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