Junior Tennis Programs Staring This Month!

Download this pdf for more information: Junior Tennis Program Information

The new 2014-2015 Mariemont Directory & Expanded Village Guide will be available at the beginning of March. If you pre-ordered your Directory it will be delivered directly to your home. Published every two years by the Mariemont Preservation Foundation, the Directory has listing both alphabetically and by street. An expanded Guide offers lots of useful information about Village services, organizations, and history.

This new Directory will be available for purchase from The Villager (6932 Madisonville Road) and The MariElders (6923 Madisonville Road) for $10.00.

Ohio school districts get five calamity days, and those days have been used up. The deep freeze and accumulating snows have disrupted school schedules, prompting Mariemont City Schools to approve a system of “blizzard bags” containing school work and assignments that can be completed online when school is cancelled.

The coursework will be posted on Blackboard, and parents will be notified by email that the assignments are available. Students have two weeks to complete the work from the day it’s posted. Students without Internet access at home would get the material when school re-opens and have two weeks from that date to finish it.

In October, MPF awarded a $5000 grant to the MariElders for restoration and repairs to the MariElders building. The Garden Club was also awarded a grant in the form of $2000 for the restoration and beautification of the Isabella Hopkins Park, across from the Mariemont Branch Library.

According to the grant guidelines created by MPF, “The Mariemont Preservation Foundation (MPF) is dedicated to being a resource which is capable of helping meet the physical, cultural, civic, recreational, and educational needs of Village residents.”

MPF grant applications are due February 1 and August 1 of each year. Grants are then awarded in March and September to local groups who meet the criteria. Application forms are available at the MPF website: mariemontpreservation.org, under “Resources.”

The 4th Annual State of the Schools Address will be held Wednesday, January 15, 2014 at 7:00 pm in the Mariemont Junior High School.

The title of this year’s address is “The Mariemont Experience: Excellent Results, Excellent Value.” The school district will be celebrating the successes of the past year while looking forward to the future, with performances by the kindergarten class and the Mariemont High School Orchestra. (Note: This event will be approximately 45 minutes).

For more information about the State of the Schools address, please visit: http://www.mariemontschools.org/about/State-of-the-Schools-Address.cfm

Mariemont Players presents A Little Night Music, a Musical Romance in Waltz Time, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler, at the Walton Creek Theater, 4101 Walton Creek Road (just East of Mariemont), January 10th through January 26th, 2014.

This captivating tale of romance in turn of the century Sweden follows the amorous adventures of Desiree, a touring actress. When her past and present lovers — and their wives — show up for a weekend in the country, surprising liaisons, passions, and a taste of love’s endless possibilities are all brought to light. The lilting score features the haunting classic, “Send in the Clowns.”

A Little Night Music is directed by Skip Fenker, produced by Kathy Beiting, and features Laurie Brinkman, Jan Costello and Wayne Wright, with Katie Daniel, Jen Drake, Carol Gerlach, Bryan Greaves, Charlie Greer, Kim Long, Sarah Mizelle, Danielle Morey, Nik Pajic, Karen Sowards, Robert Warfel and Robert Workley.

Performances will be at 8:00pm on January 10th, January 11th, January 17th, January 18th and January 24th; at 2:00pm on January 12th and January 26th; at 7:30pm on January 16th an January 23rd; at 2:00pm & 7:00pm on January 19th; and at 3:00pm & 8:00pm on January 25th.

For more information or to order tickets for A Little Night Music, call Betsy at 513-684-1236. All seats are reserved and cost $18 each.

Council representative Joe Stelzer has been involved for almost two years with the revitalization of the part of Mariemont known as the South 80 or Lower 80. Initial efforts focused on clearing brush and making primitive trails. Joe and the other “Axemen” created a trail system that has become very popular with Mariemont residents. Mr. Stelzer says interest continues to grow and residents are coming up with exciting new ideas for using the area, like primitive camping sites and bringing irrigation to the garden area.

Council is expected to formalize the group by creating an advisory board, similar to the ones that help manage the parks, swimming pool and tennis courts. The function of the group will be to report to the mayor and council and bring to their attention any issues that the Village needs to address. The group will also organize volunteers to handle ongoing maintenance of the area, which will save the Village money.

The State of Ohio runs the Straight A Fund, a $250 million program which, according to their website, “promotes innovative local ideas and programs to help transform and modernize Ohio’s education system.”

Steven Estepp, Mariemont City Schools Superintendent, is looking into a partnership with Wyoming, Finneytown, and Deer Park schools in order to apply for a grant from the Fund. The University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati State are also involved. The aim is to gain college credit towards an associate or bachelor’s degree while in high school.

The first round of grant awards is expected in before the end of the year.

Mariemont Elementary School 3rd Graders visited the MPF Building where they learned about the first Pioneers of the Lower Little Miami Valley. MPF docents Cindy Dougherty and Marilyn Illig recounted tales of how pioneer families from the northeast traveled down the Ohio River on flatboats to create the first settlements in this area.

In 1788 Major Benjamin Stites landed with 26 other pioneers on the banks of the Little Miami River and built the first settlement, which they called Columbia. Eleven years later, the Ferris brothers, Eliphalet, Joseph and Andrew, along with their cousin John Ferris bought land from Benjamin Stites. Part of the land that Eliphalet and Joseph purchased would later become present-day Mariemont and Fairfax. They cleared the area, farmed the land, had children, and created a community. When they died, they were buried in the Ferris Family Cemetery. The Mariemont Community Church was later built next to the cemetery. The children enjoyed learning about life in the pioneer days, and had many questions for the docents! The students then walked over to the Ferris Family Cemetery where they explored the gravestones and monuments to discover the names of the children of these first Ferris families.