Tower Talk – Page 9 – Mahanay Bell Tower

Tower Tunes Live concerts on Memorial Day Weekend

Fusebox Marketing on May 16, 2020

The Bell Tower Community Foundation has scheduled special Tower Tunes Live concerts for Memorial Day weekend. A variety of patriotic songs and hymns will be played by three musicians over the weekend to celebrate this important holiday.

Wendy VanderLinden will play on Saturday, May 23 from 12:15 – 12:30 p.m. Yvette Bardole will play on Sunday, May 24 from 12:15 – 12:30 p.m. Rick Morain will play on Memorial Day, May 25 from 12:15 – 12:30 p.m. with this concert offered on Facebook Live.

At this time, the Mahanay Carillon Tower is not open to the public for tours but the community can still enjoy the music of the bells. The bells continue to play each hour digitally with the Westminster Chimes at each quarter hour. The four octave carillon also plays several selections after each hour.

Other special Tower Tunes Live concerts for the summer are being planned. The Chews Jefferson concerts every Wednesday in June and July will also take place.

Please check the Mahanay Bell Tower website at www.mahanaybelltower.org or the Facebook page for info on the Tower.

The Bell Tower Foundation oversees the staffing and marketing of the Mahanay Bell Tower through the partnership with the Greene County Supervisors and City of Jefferson. Board members include Carole Custer, Peg Raney, Jean Feldmann, Nancy Gerken, Wendy VanderLinden, Don Van Gilder, Tim Christiansen, Bob Schwarzkopf, Pete Bardole and Pat Richards.

Listen to the Tower

Fusebox Marketing on May 5, 2020

The comfort that continues is that the Mahanay Bell Tower will continue to chime every quarter hour, ring the bells at each hour, and several songs will play right after the hour. With the digital system, the bells can continue to play. Bill Monroe continues to volunteer to select songs throughout the year and many times he picks the perfect song for the situation. The bells playing can be that comfortable feeling of being at home in Jefferson. The memories of family and friends can be held dearly through a certain song being played.

We would have opened the Mahanay Bell Tower to visitors on the weekends during May but will remain closed. The Bell Tower Community Foundation Board along with the Board of Supervisors will make sure that whenever it is safe to have visitors to the Tower, it will be publicized.

So for now, enjoy the bells playing each day.

Tower Tunes Live- Community Easter Sing-Along

Fusebox Marketing on April 3, 2020

The Bell Tower Community Foundation has scheduled a special Tower Tunes Live-Community Easter Sing-Along event for Easter Sunday. Becky Greiner will play Easter hymns on Easter Sunday, April 12 at 12:15 pm on the Mahanay Carillon in downtown Jefferson. This event is not just a concert, but a community sing-along in the local homes. The hymns are a selection of familiar and beloved songs for all denominations. Step outside on your porch or driveway, or park your car and join in singing. Foundation members encourage the public to participate through the social distancing guidelines.

Because of Easter Sunday services cancelled in local churches, the Mahanay Bell Tower offers a unifying musical opportunity to worship together on Easter Sunday. The bells continue to play each hour digitally with the Westminster Chimes at each quarter hour and several selections after each hour.

The list of hymns that will be played are listed below and the public is encouraged to access the lyrics by googling each or find them in your own hymnals. A couple of verses of each hymn will be played.

Please join the community at the Tower Tunes Live – Community Easter Sing-Along on Easter Sunday.

Selections will include:

Christ, the Lord, is Risen Today

Just As I Am

How Great Thou Art

Amazing Grace

Rock of Ages

I Know that My Redeemer Lives

My Faith Looks Up to Thee

Blessed Assurance

Beautiful Savior

Tower Tours suspended

Fusebox Marketing on March 16, 2020

In light of the CDC recommendations and the safety of our staff, the Mahanay Bell Tower will not have tours available until further notice. We look forward to welcoming visitors when the time is right to offer the tours again. Please enjoy the songs and chimes of the 47 bells from the comfort of your own homes and yards.
Thank you for understanding.

Season Passes available for 2020

Fusebox Marketing on January 17, 2020

The Mahanay Bell Tower may be closed for the season, but this is a great time to get your season passes for 2020. Passes are available for individuals for $15 each. Adults 19 yr. and older are the only ones who would need to pay because generous sponsors pay for those 18 and younger.

The season pass would allow the individual to enjoy the Mahanay Bell Tower as many times as they would like through the year of 2020. People who frequently take family and friends to the tower would truly benefit from these passes. At $3 admission each time, it would only be 5 trips for the entire year to make this pass totally worth it!

Purchasing the pass also supports the Bell Tower Community Foundation as they work to provide great staff and marketing of the tower to the state and beyond. Please consider purchasing a pass or two for friends or family. They are available year-round at The Welcome Center at 201 E Lincoln Way.

As always, appointments can be made up until the opening in May by calling the Jefferson Chamber of Commerce at 515-386-2155.

Christmas at the Tower

Fusebox Marketing on November 16, 2019

The Mahanay Memorial Carillon Tower will be a location for several holiday activities this season. Each Tuesday and Thursday between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Tower Tunes Live concerts will be played from 5:15 – 5:30 p.m. by local musicians. These musicians will choose their own music so listen for a wide variety of holiday tunes while shopping in Jefferson.

The schedule is:

Tuesday, Nov. 26 – Pat Richards

Tuesday, Dec. 3 – Lois Last

Thursday, Dec. 5 – Rick Morain

Tuesday, Dec. 10 – Rhena Lane

Thursday, Dec. 12 – Yvette Bardole

Tuesday, Dec. 17 – Wendy VanderLinden

Thursday, Dec. 19 – Danille Curtis

On Thursday, Dec. 5, Santa and Mrs. Claus will visit with children in the Paul Nally Observation Deck of the Bell Tower from 6:45 – 7:30 p.m. as part of the Christmas Tree Lighting activities in Jefferson.

The Tower also celebrates the holidays with Christmas bells that light up in the observation deck of the tower. Board member Craig Berry worked on restringing the bell frames with LED lights to be a beacon of Christmas throughout the holidays in downtown Jefferson. These lights can be seen for miles as people approach the community.

Chews Jefferson

Fusebox Marketing on June 6, 2019

Chews Jeffersonis the catchy title of a new event of the Promotion Committee in coordination of the Mahanay Bell Tower’s Tower Tunes Liveconcerts. This is the third year of the daily live concerts from 12:15 – 12:30 pm with local musicians sharing their talents by playing the carillon. An idea emerged to draw people to eat their lunch while listening to the concerts near the Tower. It is like Java & Juice, only bring your own lunch and it is on Wednesdays!

The Promotion committee contacted local eateries to offer a take-out special on Wednesdays in June. One restaurant each Wednesday would be the featured spot for people to stop in and get a $5 take-out lunch. Call ahead to have it ready for you. Then head to the Bell Tower Plaza, Thomas Jefferson Gardens, or Sally’s Alley to enjoy the concert during lunch. Everyone is invited to “Chews Jefferson” on Wednesdays.

Lynda Cochran and Angie Reese-Heuser are chairing this event for the month of June working with restaurants in the Main Street District. Debra McGinn is helping with publicity. The Promotion committee plans to work with the Chamber of Commerce to see if other restaurants around Jefferson would be willing to offer a $5 take-out meal on a specific Wednesday during the rest of the summer.

Mahanay Maestros

Fusebox Marketing on June 6, 2019

The Mahanay Memorial Carillon Tower is now a full four octave 47 bell instrument with the additional bells installed before the 2017 Bell Tower Festival. A truly unique experience for musicians with at least two years of piano experience is to play the digital keyboard located just one floor up from the lobby. In the past two years, 40+ local and visiting musicians have shared their music at the “Tower Tunes Live” daily concerts from 12:15 – 12:30 p.m. These concerts are played live each day from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Since the musicians choose their own music, many people eat their lunch near the square and try to name the tunes played by the musicians.

Throughout the entire year, three songs are played on the bells digitally after each hour so visitors always have a chance to hear the Carillon Tower. The Westminster Chimes chime on each quarter hour with each hour sounded as well.

A music committee from the Bell Tower Community Foundation have been organizing these concerts through an online calendar. Musicians who would like to be contacted should email mahanaybelltower@gmail.com or contact Becky Greiner, Pat Richards or Peg Raney with contact information. Check out the schedule on the Mahanay Bell Tower Facebook page or at the website www.mahanaybelltower.org. See the Image Gallery of our Mahanay Maestros!

Certified Tour Guides

Fusebox Marketing on May 22, 2019

Two of our Bell Tower staff have become certified tour guides. Joyce Kurth, newest member of the Tower staff, and Pat Richards, Tower staff coordinator, attended a day-long session on tour guide training put on by Iowa State Extension in early April. They worked through the guide book they were given to fine-tune their tour-giving skills. In early May, each gave a sample tour to Diane Van Wyngarden, ISU Extension Specialist in Tour Guide Training and Certification at the Mahanay Bell Tower. Diane commented that she thoroughly enjoyed the tours, learned more about what we have to offer tourists in Greene County, and thought we were far and above many other towns in Iowa! And….Joyce and Pat are now officially certified and working on a list of tips for our staff. Congratulations to both of the ambassadors to the community!

Mahanay Tower Staff

Fusebox Marketing on May 13, 2019

We are so pleased to introduce our Mahanay Bell Tower staff for 2019 with many returning for multiple years. These ambassadors for the community are often the first people visitors meet and feel so welcomed.