Weather Does not Stop Jasper Square Celebration

By: Corbin Lingenfelter, News Director

Jasper- Even with Mother nature producing a cold, rainy night, Jasper celebrated the opening of its Downtown Square on Friday.

A number of local, state, and federal politicians attended, including U.S. Senator Mike Braun. Jasper Mayor Dean Vonderheide thanked all of those who helped with the project, which took just over a year to complete phase one. 

“I want to thank all those for all the contributions for the citizens of Dubois County,” Mayor Vonderheide said, “City and county departments, can’t say enough. Whether it’s legal contracts, the electric department, the street department, or county engineers office to make this project. The downtown merchants, Thank you. You really did a good job of keeping your stores open in difficult times. The Heart of Jasper, who helped with the alleyways and murals. The Dubois County foundation foundation always plays a role in projects and they were there for us, and with their help we were able to get private donations for the four gathering other spots around the square that I’m going to recognize. The Kevin and Bev Buse-Messmer family, the Maureen and Mike Braun family and Meyer Distributing, German American Bank and we did have an anonymous local family donate.”

The Jasper Marching Wildcats had two performances at the ceremony. The first was a march through two of the four quadrants, the second the National Anthem to conclude the ceremony. 

Speeches were given by Jim Siebert, owner of Siebert’s Clothing on the Downtown Square, and Clayton Boles, Executive Director of the Dubois County Community Foundation. 

The city cut the ceremonial ribbon prior to the national anthem, where all in attendance stood with Mayor Vonderheide. 

With Phase 1 now complete, the city looks towards Phase 2, which involves Main Street. City officials project that project to begin in 2024.