This week's featured stories

  • Grape Frog Boutique owners Saxon Copeland and Loren Berthelsen will be having a three-day sale Sept. 5-7 before moving exclusively online.
    Grape Frog Boutique owners Saxon Copeland and Loren Berthelsen will be having a three-day sale Sept. 5-7 before moving exclusively online.
  • The Marching Huskies perform at halftime of last Friday's opening home football game. Pictured from left are Jake Cattau, Natalie Thompson, Madelyn Freeman and Emmett Dick.
    The Marching Huskies perform at halftime of last Friday's opening home football game. Pictured from left are Jake Cattau, Natalie Thompson, Madelyn Freeman and Emmett Dick.
  • Trevor Sullivan, left, stands with the five Wayne County FFA members who used his goats to participate in showmanship at the county fair. One of the students went on to show at the state fair last week.
    Trevor Sullivan, left, stands with the five Wayne County FFA members who used his goats to participate in showmanship at the county fair. One of the students went on to show at the state fair last week.
  • Brylee Mickey holds the head of her ewe, April at the Nebraska State Fair where they won top honors. Pictured with Brylee are her parents, Clint and Barbie of Aurora, her siblings, (from left) Corbin, Crayton and Brennyn, as well as sheep contest judge, Travis Hoffman (back right).
    Brylee Mickey holds the head of her ewe, April at the Nebraska State Fair where they won top honors. Pictured with Brylee are her parents, Clint and Barbie of Aurora, her siblings, (from left) Corbin, Crayton and Brennyn, as well as sheep contest judge, Travis Hoffman (back right).
  • TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) founder Shannon Goltz has helped kitten Bonnie adapt from her cerebellar hypoplasia by having her move and play in her cat enrichment room.
    TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) founder Shannon Goltz has helped kitten Bonnie adapt from her cerebellar hypoplasia by having her move and play in her cat enrichment room.
  • Justin Makovicka launched his own welding business in 2021 and is now operating out of a shop located in the back of the Diamond J in the Aurora Industrial Park.
    Justin Makovicka launched his own welding business in 2021 and is now operating out of a shop located in the back of the Diamond J in the Aurora Industrial Park.
  • Vance Christie holds a copy of his latest book, “David Livingstone: Africa’s Greatest Explorer”, a biolgraphy of the famous African missionary/explorer for young adults, that will be released Sept. 11.
    Vance Christie holds a copy of his latest book, “David Livingstone: Africa’s Greatest Explorer”, a biolgraphy of the famous African missionary/explorer for young adults, that will be released Sept. 11.

    After opening up their vintage boutique in Aurora three years ago, Grape Frog Resale and Vintage Boutique owners Loren Berthelsen and Saxon Copeland have announced they are closing their physical location on Sept. 7 and moving exclusively online. While the business’s last regular business day was Aug. 22, the couple will be hosting a three-day blowout sale Sept. 5-7. “People are certainly sad that we’re going and we’re sad to be going,” Berthelsen said. 

    The Aurora Marching Huskies offered an early look at their 2024 halftime show, performing the opening number as well as the school fight song during last Friday’s football season opener. Their new show for this season is called “Breakout” and recreates the story of a prison break, imitating the music of classic TV crime dramas. 

    Aurora High School graduate Trevor Sullivan is “paying it forward,” as the saying goes. The beneficiary of an urban sheep program started here by local sheep producers, Andy and Bonnie Jensen, when he was in grade school, Sullivan is extending the same opportunity to the next generation. Now living in the Wayne area, Sullivan and his ag teacher wife, Toni, started an urban goat program wherein they provide goats for town kids to show at fairs. Read the full story in the front page article in this week's ANR. 

    Brylee Mickey was a big winner at this year's recently concluded Nebraska State Fair in Grand Island. The Aurora grade schooler won Grand Champion Black Faced Ewe at the Nebraska State Fair in Grand Island this past week with her ewe, April. The pair then went on to win Supreme Grand Champion Wether Sire/Wether Dam Ewe in the Open Class Sheep Division. Brylee is the daughter of Clint and Barbie Mickie of Aurora.

    When renovating a room for her two cats, Aurora Adopt-A-Pet board member Shannon Goltz didn’t foresee the potential in using it to provide cats and kittens a second chance on life. The TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) founder was inspired to create a cat enrichment room in her home based on an idea she had for the animal shelter. “I saw this black and white cat room (online) and it’s not like this one, but it was cute,” Goltz commented. “I sent it to Kathy (Pollard) and I said, ‘Oh, if we get a new building, we’re doing one of the rooms like this.’”

    A York native who moved to Aurora 12 years ago learned the welding trade from his uncle and has since launched his own business, Makovicka Welding, saying he enjoys the opportunity to help local customers. Justin Makovicka always offers a smile and a positive attitude, for those who have met him, and he speaks with excitement about a business that is letting him do something he thoroughly enjoys. “I basically do anything involving welding,” he explained. Read the story on this week's ANR Business Page, A6. 

    Returning from a successful biography release last year, Christian author Vance Christie has announced his latest book telling the life of “David Livingstone: Africa’s Greatest Explorer.” Unlike the more than 700-page scholarly biography of Livingstone that came out in 2023, however, this new telling of the missionary’s life is in paperback novel form and is intended for a young adult audience. It also comes in at just 158 pages. 

    It's all right here in the September 4 print and e-editions of the Aurora News-Register.