Brad Needler was born and raised in Sweetser. He lives there with his wife and two children. 

Needler said he has attended many Lions Club events with his family and saw the importance of the group continuing.

“When I read the article that the Lions Club was disbanding but there were still many members interested in continuing, I just took it as they needed somebody to come in, provide leadership and energy to continue the group,” Needler said. “As a citizen of Sweetser this was important to me to see this group continue on. It just felt like it was my civic duty to jump in and help out where I can.”

Needler’s transition into presidency began in fall 2024 when he connected with former president Chuck Briede and began attending monthly meetings.

After actively participating in the Sweetser Lions club for nearly 25 years and serving as president for 10 of those years, Briede announced last year that he and his wife Jamie would be moving out of state.

Briede sought a leader to fill his absence but as of mid-September there was no one willing to step up. 

On Sept. 19, Briede oversaw a meeting where the club members discussed the issue and voted to disband the chapter if there was no leader found by the end of 2024.

A few days after the meeting, Needler heard the news and stepped up.

“We’re very proud of what our club has been able to accomplish around the community and I have high hopes that it will continue into the future with Brad stepping up and some of the great ideas that he has,” Briede said.

Needler said he plans to keep many of the Sweetser Lions Club traditions including a breakfast fundraiser at the Sweetser Volunteer Fire Station, distributing Thanksgiving meals to local families in need and breakfast with Santa at the Sweetser United Methodist Church. 

The group also plans to serve the community through other service projects as needs arise.

A new opportunity that Needler has pursued is bringing the Culpepper & Merriweather Circus to Sweetser on June 15. 

The circus will include live animals, magicians and other forms of entertainment under a big top circus tent. 

Continuing A Legacy 

Needler said he sees a need for young leaders to step up to continue to build the legacy of local organizations such as the Lions Club.

“A lot of times, these types of organizations, like the Lions, are built on the backs of folks that have been at it for 20, 30 years,” Needler said. “As the generations move on and retire, move out, it’s just critical that a younger generation comes in to continue to carry that torch and that sense of community.”

The Sweetser Lions Club will celebrate 80 years as a chapter this fall. 

Chuck and Jamie Briede plan to join their local Lions Club chapter in their new community in Tennessee. 

Briede said he thinks the heart of being a Lion is to serve others and make their lives better. 

“When you do things, you do it with the kindness of your heart, not for recognition. You just do it because there’s a need and you’re able to help and that’s satisfaction enough for me,” Briede said. “Sometimes awards come along but I don’t do it for that. I’m able to do it and get the satisfaction that I hopefully helped somebody to improve their life a little bit.”

Four years ago, Cayla Duckwall brought her four homemade jam flavors to the Van Buren Popcorn Festival.

Duckwall launched her small business, known as Mama Duck’s, and began to build relationships with other local artisans in Grant County and across the state as she brought her goods to markets.

On Dec. 3, 2022, she opened a small shop in Van Buren selling her own canned goods along with allocating space for other vendors to sell their crafts.

With the help of friends and community members, the Duckwall family transformed what was once a fuel and service station into a small shop.

“This building was literally built in the year 1900… this building has been our biggest challenge, for sure, to convert it,” Duckwall said.

In Aug. 2024, the building’s purpose expanded with the addition of a cafe, Mama Duck’s Kitchen: Pieces of Home.

Jen Plummer met Duckwall through the popcorn festival and said she has become close friends with her.

Plummer now helps her friend out in the cafe and shop.

“I just love how it is made up of locals,” Plummer said. “Somebody’s ‘I like to do this because I like to craft…’ can be an extra set of income for them.”

Mama Duck’s Kitchen is currently open Thursdays 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., Fridays 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturdays 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

The menu changes weekly with items such as brisket, burrito bowls, buffalo chicken mac and cheese, breakfast sandwiches, hoagies and more.

One item Duckwall tends to keep on the menu in some capacity is nachos. The cafe has served Mexican-style nachos, pulled pork nachos and pancake nachos.

Emilee Burke recently visited the shop and ordered the pancake nachos, consisting of pancake donuts, strawberries, blueberries, banana slices, syrup and whipped cream.

“Their pancake nachos. Genius. Delicious,” Burke said. “Overall, it’s just a really cute little community-based place.”

Duckwall said community is a special part of Mama Duck’s. 

“In the summer, you see people sitting out at the picnic tables… like that’s a community meeting point,” Duckwall said. “Getting those community members together is a big deal.”

Duckwell now makes and sells 12 flavors of jam and nine flavors of salsa along with a weekly menu in the cafe. 

The mother of two continues to work full-time outside of her business, although she said she hopes to someday open the cafe more than three days a week. 

“This is what we’re doing… people are excited,” Duckwall said. “A lot of people want me to stick around.”

The Swayzee Women’s Club annual nut sale fundraiser provided over $6000 that will be dispersed throughout the community as needs arise. 

Formerly known as Swayzee Junior Women’s Club, the group has been serving the town of Swayzee for over 50 years. 

Nine women are actively serving in the Swayzee Women’s Club. Many of the members began serving in their 20s and have raised families and become grandmothers since joining the club.

Gloria Reed has been involved in the club for 50 years. 

“I hope that people remember our club as a club that did good for the community where there was a need and we just kind of cared about others… we were just always there for somebody if they needed something,” Reed said. 

The club has provided funds and participated in various events throughout its existence. Reed said she recalls helping out with Easter egg hunts, secret Santa shops and bike-a-thons. 

Throughout the group’s history, donations have also been distributed to families in need. Reed said the women have helped support families impacted by housefires and illness. 

Bev Howard has been a member of the club for 46 years. Howard helps organize the club’s annual nut sale fundraiser through Terri Lynn Fundraising.

The nut sale originated over 40 years ago as the club members noticed a need for nuts by local bakers.  

“It’s the only fundraiser we do. We typically donate to a lot of local people or local organizations such as the Humane Society,” Howard said.

This year, the club donated funds to Swayzee Public Library along with a $500 donation to purchase new Christmas lights for the town.

Other organizations that the group has donated to include Ronald McDonald House, Lights of Love Memorial and local schools.

“Sometimes we can help those that wouldn’t get help otherwise,” Howard said. “We can make enough money with the nuts to give to who we want to give to, or who needs some help.”

Beautician Chelsie Holloway supports the club by selling the nuts in her hair salon, Hair Trends.

“I just always support them. They support me. I support them and I think the community really likes supporting someone local,” Holloway said.

Club president Chuck Briede leads the Sweetser Lions Club alongside his wife Jamie. 

As the couple prepares to move out of state, the club members seek a new leader to step up in Briede’s absence. 

Despite efforts to find a new president, all club members in attendance at the Thursday meeting voted to disband the club at the end of the year. 

“Our club has been struggling the last few years… we got a great group of people, but we’ve been shrinking.” Briede said. “It’s sad to see that the Lions Club is potentially not continuing.”

Next year, the Sweetser Lions Club would have celebrated 80 years as an active club Briede said. 

In its existence, the club has helped fund the fire department as it was established, added tennis courts at Sweetser Elementary, made donations to Sweetser Switch Trail, funded flag displays for national holidays, as well as sourcing scholarships at Oak Hill High School. 

Rocky Simpson serves as the district governor that oversees many of the Grant County Lions Clubs. Simpson has also been a lion for 19 years. 

Since 2020, Simpson said he has observed many clubs disband due to the struggle of regrouping after the pandemic. 

“It’s been a trend since Covid and it’s got the eye of Lions International. We need to get people back in our clubs,” Simpson said. 

Sweetser is not the first or only Lions Club with lowering attendance in Grant County. Converse previously disbanded their club as well.

Scott Overman has been a member of the Sweetser Lions Club for about three years. 

As he reflects on his time as a lion, Overman said he finds significance in the club’s mission, which is helping others in the community.

“You can’t fix all the world’s problems, but you can fix parts of your little corner and that’s what the Lions Club does,” Overman said. 

The club members will continue to search for a potential leader in the months to come. 

In the case that no leader is found, the group began discussing plans to disperse its remaining funds and property within the Sweetser community.

“If you’d like to step up and be a lion to save our Lions Club, let it be known,” Briede said. “Contact a lion and we’ll see what we can do.”

Sweetser Second Fridays began in May 2024 as an opportunity for local businesses to showcase their products and services while providing a space for the community to gather in their own town.

On the second Friday of each month, Sweetser United Methodist Church opens their property for local vendors and musicians to set up booths. 

The monthly gathering offers food trucks, local vendors, art, produce, live music and games to guests.

The event was coordinated by Hive Mind Market. The group aims to provide Marion and surrounding areas with an opportunity for a marketplace shopping experience.

Rebecca Zirkle is the founder and owner of Hive Mind Market. Zirkle said that there is significance in hosting marketplaces in various different community sizes.  

“They (Sweetser) have makers and bakers and artists and creators, too, who need to network and connect,” Zirkle said. 

Hive Mind Market regularly hosts Hive Mind Saturdays at Kohl’s in Marion, where a local woodworker travels to set up his booth. 

Charlie Finster has been woodworking for over 30 years. His handcrafted pieces are sold at Wood N Stuff by Charlie, ranging from birdhouses to rocking horses. 

Finster connected with Zirkle about the possibility of bringing Hive Mind Market to Sweetser. 

“I saw an opening here because there wasn’t a whole lot of activity for the community,” Finster said. “We decided that we would try it here once a month and do the second Fridays.”

One contrast between Second Fridays and Hive Mind Saturdays is the addition of live music and food trucks. 

“Because of a license agreement that I do have with Kohl’s, they didn’t allow us to have that,” Zirkle said. “That’s been a great perk of being here.” 

Finster and his wife attend Sweetser United Methodist Church along with church member Robert Mendoza. 

Mendoza said he enjoys the conversations with people at Sweetser Second Fridays. 

“It is opening up our property to bring people together,” Mendoza said. “We have chairs out in the middle. I’ve seen people sit there and eat and converse and really look like they’re enjoying themselves.”

Hive Mind Market’s final outdoor event for the year will be held on Oct. 11 at Sweetser United Methodist Church.

On Feb. 26, Lolas’ at the Inn celebrated their one-year anniversary with a ribbon cutting event the whole community could attend.

To celebrate their first year in business, Lolas’ held a ribbon cutting ceremony where the owners and others involved with the coffee shop could reflect on their experience from the past year. The store also had discounts on drinks and food, and local business, Paul’s Pies, was also there.

“I can’t believe we’re already at one year,” Krista Brown, Lolas’ co-owner, said. “It’s just crazy. And I feel like it was just a moment ago that Andrea and I were talking, dreaming about what the space would look like and what we would be serving.”

Looking back on the past year, Brown and co-owner, Andrea Vinluan, reflected on what they have learned from the year and what they hope to accomplish next. 

“It’s encouraging to know that we’re here, to be able to see where we are at one year, to be able to take stock of the ways that we have already impacted the community and to be hopeful about the coming years,” Vinluan said. 

Both Brown and Vinluan said they have plans to make updates to the shop, including expanding their front porch and utilizing the backyard. They said they hope to encourage more outdoor seating and to begin hosting events in the backyard.

Building community is important to Brown and Vinluan and they said they have gotten a lot of community support over the past year and hope to continue to grow their outreach.

“Well, our dream has always been about building community and a place where people can feel like they belong,” Brown said. “A place where they can rest and those kinds of things.”

To grow in their community involvement, Darrell Thompson, a business partner for Lolas’, said they have become involved with Indiana Wesleyan University and worked towards reaching out to other businesses and platforms.

“One of the things that we have done is we’ve made large on our involvement with IWU, which we’re very pleased to do, glad to be a partner with them,” Thompson said. “We have reached out as far as doing more advertising, reaching out to more platforms that come in with reservations and things of that nature.”

Support from the community has been positive and Vinluan said she was encouraged to see the turnout and support Lolas’ had for their one-year celebration. 

“I think the other thing that I love about it is we love being part of the community,” Vinluan said. “And so having the community turnout today was really exciting and really shows what God is doing in and through this business.”

The all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast was served from 6:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. with proceeds going toward the Grant County Rescue Mission in Marion, Indiana. Three thousand five hundred ninety-six guests were served breakfast, surpassing the number of meals served in previous years.

iHop donated 250 gallons of premixed pancake batter for the event. Along with the pancakes, there were roughly 1,400 cartons of milk and 15,000 sausage links served.

The Fly In/Cruise/In Pancake Breakfast is one of four major fundraisers that help fund the GCRM. Although, there are other ways to get involved at the GCRM through volunteering or donating to their thrift ministry.

Brad Terhune serves as executive director of the ministry.

“We get to serve breakfast and serve people well to show them what we get to do all the time, which is serve food to people who are in need,” Terhune said.

Along with the Pancake Breakfast, the event featured a display of antique cars and aircraft from several different states. Historic vehicles such as two restored U.S. Army UH-1H “Huey” helicopters were displayed.

There were more than 300 vintage cars and trucks, 175 airplanes, 20 vintage tractors and 11 pulse auto-cycles on display at the event.

Ralph and Faye Shipley brought two vehicles that were showcased at the event. Ralph Shipley said that one of the vehicles was a 1947 Mack Rat Rod that was featured in an issue of Rat Rod Magazine in 2012.

The couple also said they enjoy attending local car shows.

“It’s a lot of fun to hang out… run into people you haven’t seen in a long time and catch up,” Faye Shirley said.

Ray Johnson serves as coordinator of the Fly/In Cruise/In. Johnson said his fascination with aircraft was sparked at the age of five when he recalled watching his uncle land a plane in his family’s wheat field. Beyond his admiration for planes, Johnson said the Fly/In Cruise/In is about uniting the community.

“It’s about the community, volunteerism and bringing people together… we live in a wonderful community here in Marion and Grant County and you can see they’re all out here supporting the Grant County Rescue Mission. How can it get any better?” Johnson said.

More information about the event and the history of the Fly/In Cruise/In can be found at www.flyincruisein.com