Rickshaw performs in FR on Sunday

A Jay County High School graduate will be on stage in Fort Recovery this weekend.

My Yellow Rickshaw, with lead singer Nathan Klatt, will perform a free concert at 7 p.m. Sunday in Fort Recovery at VanTrees Park’s Hein Amphitheater.

Klatt is a 1997 JCHS graduate who plays fiddle and mandolin in addition to singing. The band refers to itself as a “rotating group of friends, neighbors and musicians.”

The set list of the group covers a wide variety of artists and genres from Taylor Swift to Justin Timberlake to The Temptations to Usher and “even an Irish jig or two.”

Nominations open

Purdue University is accepting nominations for the 2023 Frederick L. Hovde Award of Excellence, an award given annually to a member of Purdue’s staff who has displayed outstanding educational service to rural Indiana.

Nominees may serve any college, school, division or unit in any faculty or staff position. The recipient will receive $800 and a plaque. The award, which has been given annually since 1972, is sponsored by Indiana Farm Bureau Inc., in appreciation of Purdue’s seventh president, Hovde.

Nominations are due by noon Sept. 1 and should be submitted via email at [email protected].

Schedule announced

Charles W. Brown Planetarium at Ball State University has announced its schedule for August.

We Are Stars, a program that seeks to answer questions about what we’re made of and where it all came from, is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Aug. 18, 19, 25 and 26. Summer Skies Live, which will provide information about nebulae, star clusters and other galaxies, will be held at 5 p.m. Aug. 19 and 26. 

Eclipse: The Sun Revealed is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Aug. 19 and 26. It will include a discussion of solar eclipses ahead of the total solar eclipse that will be visible from east central Indiana on April 8, 2024.

Concerts announced

Arts Place has announced a pair of free concerts to be held this summer at the Hudson Family Park amphitheatre in Portland.

The schedule will feature Sounds of Touch, a group that performs Motown hits, at 7 p.m. Aug. 24. New Frontiers, a Journey tribute band, is scheduled to take to the stage at 7 p.m. Sept. 14.

There will be food trucks and children’s activities at both performances.

In case of rain, the concerts will be moved indoors to the Jay County Campus of Arts Place, 131 E. Walnut St., Portland.

Assistance available

Families of Indiana military veterans can apply for funding to help with back-to-school expenses through Operation Back to School Military Family Relief Fund.

Assistance is available to children in grades kindergarten through 12 and full-time college students up to age 23. Students must live in the veteran’s home in order to be eligible.

For more information, visit dva.in.gov.

Contest open

The Poetry Society of Indiana is accepting entries for its annual poetry contest.

Featuring 32 categories, the contest awards more than $2,400 each year, awarding money to the top three winners in most categories. The entry fee is $10 for members and $15 for non-members. Poets are welcome to enter as may individual categories as they’d like but may only submit one poem per category.

The deadline to submit poems is Sept. 1. Winners will be announced during the organization’s annual Fall Rendezvous event held Oct. 27 through Oct. 29. More information is available at poetrysocietyofindiana.org. Membership — it includes other discounts, membership in the National Federation of State Poetry Societies, book and poetry promotions and eligibility for member-only competitions and events— costs $18 annually.