The Central Valley Cougars celebrated homecoming on Friday, September 9th with a pep rally, homecoming parade, and a steak feed preceding the homecoming football game, which pitted the Cougars against the Coyotes from Anselmo- Merna. The coronation of Central Valley’s 2022 homecoming royalty immediately followed the game at Memorial Field, with the homecoming dance commencing at the Wolbach gym thereafter. From among the twentyone members of Central Valley’s senior class eligible as royalty this year, four came away with crowns: Cohen Grossart was named king, Taya Engel queen, Zandar Wolf prince, and Morgan Rosander princess. Cohen Grossart is the son of Chad and Mindy Grossart of Wolbach, Taya Engel is the daughter of Scotty and Haley Oakley of Wolbach, Morgan Rosander is the daughter of Mike and Brandie Rosander of Wolbach, and Zander Wolf is the son of Luke and Andrea Wolf of Scotia. L a s t y e a r ’ s Homecoming Queen Dilynn Wood and Homecoming King Kyle Oakley returned to participate in the coronation. Kindergarten attendants to the royalty were Shelby Adams, Millie Kriewald, Hayes Buettner, and Hunter Meyers. Both the game itself and the homecoming festivities preceding and following generated heavy turnout last week.

Just one year after Howard County’s own sesquicentennial celebration, plans are coming together at the United Methodist Church in St. Paul to celebrate 150 years of Methodism in this part of the Loup Valley.

t all people like to shop, so they can go along for the ride, and this gives them something to do while people are shopping.” - Dianne Wiberg The nineteenth annual Junk Jaunt will kick off in just under two weeks, running from September 23rd until September 25th. Numbers of both registered vendors and shoppers’ guide preorders are down slightly from last year.

Late last month, the Nebraska Department of Revenue released the sales tax figures for the month of June, and with the release of that month’s totals, local municipal leaders were able to get a better understanding of how St. Paul’s sales tax receipts faired during the first half of 2022. According to the data, the City of St. Paul took in $217,471.21 in sales tax revenue over the first six months of 2022, down $502.44 from the $217,973.65 in revenue recorded over the same period last year. Sales tax receipts for the first half of the year have remained notably strong in the past two years, dwarfing the returns seen over the same period for the three years preceding. While down marginally from 2021, 2022’s revenue is up $30,641.98 from 2020’s recorded $186,829.23, $50,249.53 from 2019’s total of $167,221.68, and up $57,391.51 from 2018’s $160,079.70. Over the first six months of 2022, June proved to be the strongest month for sales tax collections. Just under $42,734 made their way into the city’s coffers during that thirty-day period. That’s only $112 fewer than the $42,846 the municipality collected in June 2021, but up $3,450 from the $39,284 brought in during 2020. The city had collected considerably less in the Junes of 2019 and 2018: $34,708.53 and $30,014.54, respectively. For at least the past five years, June has remained the City of St. Paul’s highest month of recorded sales tax revenue for the first six months of the year.