$4,000 Rotary Club donation presented at Nov. Coloma City Commission meeting increases Randall Park

A $4,000 check was presented to the City of Coloma from the Paw Paw Lake Rotary Club during a regular city commission meeting on Monday, Nov. 13, 2023. The money received was raised by the Rotary Club during their second annual Brewfest in July, held at the Knights of Columbus Hall.

Appropriately themed “Bash for the Splash,” the money raised from the event will go towards installing a splash pad in Randall Park. The check was presented by the current Paw Paw Lake Rotary Club President, Brandy Culverhouse.

“I am happy to present this check for four thousand dollars for the splash pad,” Culverhouse said. “I want to thank everyone who came to donate, everyone who came out to support a local cause and the City of Coloma for allowing us to be a part of this project.”

Culverhouse added that the event was very successful and had many notable attendees.

“We had a really, really nice turnout from local community members, including our very own mayor [Marsha Hammond], [Mayor Pro-Temp] Linda Freitag, Mayor Muth from Watervliet, and Rep. Pauline Wendzel, among many others,” she said.

Given the success of the event, both this year and last, Culverhouse said it is likely that the Brewfest will be back next year.

“We are in the works of deciding whether or not we’re going to have our third annual Brewfest or if we are going to have a silent auction … we’re hoping to have a third annual Brewfest because the past years have been very successful.”

Bundy Road incident

Coloma Commissioner Jason Hicks made a statement at the end of Monday’s meeting, on the matter of a shooting involving a party of a domestic-related event and two Coloma police officers and a Berrien County Deputy on Monday afternoon. One Coloma officer was injured and the suspect, a 40-year-old man, was killed.

“We would like to extend our thoughts and prayers to the officer and his family and the family of the other individual involved - that has to be sad, too,” Hicks said.