As reported in The News last week, the City of Wellman, along with Kalona and Riverside, will be holding their trick-or-treat night on Saturday, Oct. 31 from 5-7 p.m.

The cities, realizing how important this is for kids in our communities, chose to go ahead with their events but to host them at the same time this year. In years past there may have been different times or even days in each community, which allowed families to travel to other communities.

With the increased concerns about COVID-19 this year, we wanted to limit that opportunity. The City of Wellman also decided to cancel our annual Fall Harvest Party at the skating rink the night of trick or treat. This event usually brings 300-400 kids together for games and treats and has been held for nearly 20 years.

Speaking of the skating rink, this is the time of year when activity really picks up there with Saturday night open skates and private parties during the week. Unfortunately, the rink has been closed for all activities since March due to COVID-19 but the city council just approved opening the rink for private parties starting in October.

These parties can be reserved by calling City Hall in Wellman at 646-2154. Depending on COVID-19 concerns and how other activities are going in our communities, we hope to have the skating rink open again for the public in the next few months.

With fall arriving and the weather starting to change, people are busy working on their yards. The City of Wellman has yard waste bags available for free at City Hall.

Each Monday we go throughout the town to pick up the bags and sticks for our residents, just call City Hall to have your name added to the pick-up list. I would encourage all that can to utilize the bags so we can limit the amount of leaves that are burned in town.

We started giving the bags away rather than charge for them hoping that people would reduce the amount that they burn. For those that do choose to burn leaves we would request that you are courteous of your neighbors when you burn.