Little Gems
The Boat House Bar & Grill. This great place on South Lake Shore Drive is starting the October festivities early this Saturday, September 29th from noon to 10 p.m. Head on out for some games, raffles, music, food, and all the German beer you can handle.
Thrift-In is moving on up.
This little place is moving up from the lower level at 252 Center Street. It is an amazing place because of what a great a job the owner (Sally Nimmow) does in finding so much quality stuff and selling the stuff at very reasonable prices. Many resale stores have come and gone since Sally opened her store almost two years ago, and few that stayed have made it as well as this quiet little shop. Moving upstairs will allow people and individuals with disabilities, or simply suffering from mild movement impairment, along with people pushing strollers, to access the treasures Sally finds and offers. Let’s not forget the Thrift-In is open 7 days a week.
Thrift-In Now Downstairs
The Thrift-In is moving! Same great location just to street level, stop in and check out the transformation!
Salt domes scattered all over the county.
Walworth County highway department is starting to fill those acorn shaped domes, scattered around the county, with salt. Another sign winter is fast approaching. Walworth County will receive a total of twenty-four thousand-five-hundred tons of salt this season. Twelve thousand five hundred tons of salt for county roads, and twelve thousand tons for state roads in preparation for the 2018 winter season. Lake Geneva will add another 750 tons of salt to their remaining 350 tons left from last year, and receive their “salt brine” mix from the Walworth County Highway Department. Walworth County and the Lake Geneva Street Department prefer to de-ice roads with a salt brine and feel it is the best, and most effective way, of melting the ice. Salt brine is a solution of 23% salt and 77% water that raises the freezing point of water, and prevents falling snow and rain from freezing, and melts the existing freezing rain and snow on roads and sidewalks. Salt brine is more natural, and not as invasive as most think, compared to the damage salt may cause to Geneva Lake.
The freshwater in the lake is regularly characterized as having low levels of dissolved salt and it is likely best to keep it that way. The amount of salt runoff from this brine used to defrost roads and streets is unlikely to dramatically affect any living organisms, plants or mammals. Other communities around Geneva Lake do not dispose of their salty snow directly into the lake. There are problems with natural runoff into the soil and drainage into the catch basins that drain back into the treatment plant, however. Not all storm sewer pipes along the roads drain back to the treatment plant though. Sand is often mixed in with the salt to create a texture or grid for more traction for tires to reduce slipping and as an insulator for salt and road temperatures. Recently, marketing their new product to DOT’s and highway departments, K-Tech out of Indiana has created a new deicer called BEET HEET. Hoping for a more affordable and easier solution than previous years, Walworth County put the BEET HEET calcium chloride, potassium chloride, molasses, and salt brine mix to the test last winter. Results were not as successful as had been hoped and according to customers and local departments, the BEET HEET liquid does not work well with the equipment that distributes the mixture. BEET HEET has not shared the exact ratio of its solution, but the company is willing to talk about (in private) how their deicer stacks up against other deicers on the market. So far, the salt brine (and a mix of sand and salt) has proven to be the most effective and best for deicing our streets.
Avant Coffee Shop and Bike Store moves into the mainstream.
The other bike store in Lake Geneva (on Broad Street) closed and left the area many months ago. That leaves Avant as the only bike seller and repair shop in town. Geneva Java Coffee Shop closed up shop last month, leaving Avant as one of now only two coffee shops within the city limits (Starbuck’s being the other).
Cartoon Of The Week
