by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleasders.com
Dozen of children (and some adults) enjoyed making bluebird houses April 3 at St. Stephen City Hall.
It was the annual St. Stephen Sportsmen’s Club’s birdhouse-building day to which anybody and everybody was invited to build, for free, birdhouses and then take them home to put up anywhere they like.
The event proved to be so popular at one point there was a long line of parents with children waiting in line in the city-hall lobby, eager to get into the council chambers room where the construction of the houses was taking place.
All of the pre-cut wood pieces were donated. Mike Legatt, member of the Sportsmen’s Club, worked in high-speed motion stacking the various sizes of wood pieces in tall stacks on a table, ready for children and parents to take the wood pieces to their work stations on the long tables and even at the council members’ long dais.
Many other Sportsmen’s Club members helped the children, along with parents, assemble the wood pieces into birdhouses, using electric screwdrivers that were also provided by the club.
Donation jars, set up at the construction areas, gradually filled with green bills.
Jodi Ireland-Dingman of Rice and her children, all proudly carrying birdhouses, emerged from the city hall on their way home.
“We’re going to put them up at our cabin on Red Lake,” she said.
Morgan Crusoe of Sartell (left) is assisted in building her birdhouse by Bev Supan, a member of the St. Stephen Sportsmen’s Club. Behind Morgan is her mother, Sara Crusoe.
A family of birdhouse builders leaves St. Stephen City Hall with their finished products. The mother is Jodi Ireland-Dingman of Rice with her children (left to right) Keara Dingman, Jacob Dingman, Dylan Dingman and Riley Ireland. At right is Jodi’s brother, Tyler Ireland. The family will put the birdhouses near their cabin by Red Lake.
Mike Legatt, member of the St. Stephen Sportsmen’s Club, rapidly stacks pre-cut wooden pieces for birdhouses April 3 at St. Stephen City Hall. The annual birdhouse-building event was a success, attracting so many families that at times a long waiting line resulted.
Marshall Rowley of Bowlus, with help from his father Shawn, builds a birdhouse Arpil 3 in St. Stephen City Hall. The event brought a long line of waiting parents and children.
St. Stephen City Hall was a flurry of commotion and sawdust when families got together to build birdhouses April 3, an annual activity sponsored by the St. Stephen Sportsmen’s Club.
The long St. Stephen City Council dais found a new use April 3 as dozens of children use it as a surface on which to assemble birdhouses. The annul birdhouse-building event, sponsored by the St. Stephen Sportsmen’s Club, was a big success.
