Stories topping our news this week

  • Pictured with Santa are, from left, cousins Damon Journey, Kane Madden and Emma Journey.
    Pictured with Santa are, from left, cousins Damon Journey, Kane Madden and Emma Journey.
  • Edgerton Explorit Center student worker Sam Elge carries a Michael Jordan jersey out for bidders to get a closer look.
    Edgerton Explorit Center student worker Sam Elge carries a Michael Jordan jersey out for bidders to get a closer look.
  • Booker and Baylor Scheierman
    Booker and Baylor Scheierman
  • The owners, including brothers Todd, Tim and Trevor Vettel, along with newly-hired staff of the Scooters Coffee location in Central City were on hand Monday as barista training began for this week’s Friday opening.
    The owners, including brothers Todd, Tim and Trevor Vettel, along with newly-hired staff of the Scooters Coffee location in Central City were on hand Monday as barista training began for this week’s Friday opening.
  • Zach Tesar and his dog, Sioux, pose for a photo after earning Senior hunting retrieving titles last summer.
    Zach Tesar and his dog, Sioux, pose for a photo after earning Senior hunting retrieving titles last summer.
  • This photo taken last Wednesday shows the Commercial Building nearly complete with only the upper trim steel and other trim pieces yet to be installed.
    This photo taken last Wednesday shows the Commercial Building nearly complete with only the upper trim steel and other trim pieces yet to be installed.

    Santa Claus had a busy night Sunday on Dec. 8, welcoming children to his lap during the Christmas in Hampton celebration. The annual celebration held on Main Street also included fresh made s'mores, wagon rides and a soup supper at the Fire Barn.

    The Edgerton Explorit Center explored the far reaches of fundraising and holiday costuming on Saturday night at its annual Holiday Hoopla fundraiser. The main exhibit room of the center was filled wall to wall with tables for the dinner, and the hallways and main lobby were filled with silent auction items as well as delicious hors d’oeuvres prepared by The Leadership Center. Old St. Nick even made his way down from the North Pole to greet guests as they arrived. Entertainment featured the silent and live auctions and presentations by center staff. By the time the festivities had wrapped up late in the evening more than $150,000 had been raised for the center’s operating expenses.

    Basketball has always been the first love for brothers Baylor and Booker Scheierman with one starting a new chapter in Beantown and the other wrapping one up here in A-Town. The story of their journey is just one of many in ANR’s winter sports preview which contains articles and photos on all area teams as they begin a new season. You'll find this in a special 12-page section included in this week’s edition.  Scheierman hoop dreams article. 

    Three years after planting a Scooters Coffee flag in Aurora, the Vettel family will open a second store this week 17 miles north in Central City. Todd Vettel, who purchased several Scooters franchise licenses years ago with brothers Tim and Trevor (and their wives) under the Get After It LLC umbrella, said the lessons learned and initial success operating a store in Aurora helped convince he and his family that the same business model could work in Central City.

    Zach Tesar has always been a dog person. He grew up with hunting labs and jokingly admitted he likes dogs more than people. Eventually, Tesar wanted a new challenge within his passions -- dogs and hunting. That curiosity led to training his own dogs for the hunt. Tesar picked up his newest best friend, Sioux, in 2022. Over the years, he wasn’t overly pleased with other dog trainers and decided to give it a shot himself. “I love it,” he explained. “If I could change careers and it would pay off, I would go back in time and train dogs.” The story of Zach and Sioux leads off our second annual hunting recap edition in Section C of this week's paper.

    When the Commercial Building at the Hamilton County Fairgrounds reopens in a few days it will have a whole new look, which the Ag Society hopes will make it an even more attractive venue for both public and private events in the future. The most recent event held in the building was the Fall Fest Craft Show on Saturday, Nov. 9. The following week it was cleared out and masked with plastic sheeting so painters could begin the first phase of a $70,000 renovation.

    Find these stories and much more in the print or e-editions of the Aurora News-Register this week!