Welcome back to another installment of Fairfield Stories. Although I’m not keeping to my self-promise to publish more frequently, I hope to heat things up after the vote on May 4!

Today we’re profiling relative newcomer to town, Darryl Jarmasco.

Darryl, his wife and four kids (soon to be a fifth!), moved to Fairfield from Michigan last June. While vacationing in Hawaii, he met some Fairfieldians who told him he had to come. After visiting Fairfield and being highly impressed by the education offered by MSAE, he and his wife were sold and moved here.

I met with Darryl after I received a promotional email about his free seminar at Revelations, tomorrow April 14th from 11:30-1:00PM. I snooped around his website and I figured I’d meet with him, and maybe let people know about his seminar and leave it at that.

Well, not only is he a nice guy, but he is just so full of positive energy that I thought I’d devote this column to him. You see, he is a motivational speaker and although I am typically turned off by people who bill themselves this way, after an hour with him, I can tell you that he is, indeed, motivational.

He is a coach. A person who turned his own life around and, as a result, now helps others to do the same by tapping into the principles he taught himself.  He has found that people  have stories -  beliefs – that they hold on to that hold them back from achieving what they are capable of. So what Darryl does is helps people to get beyond their stories and to establish clarity in the form of purpose. To help them connect to what they really want and why they want it.

So the logical question in his mind is, What is your real challenge and what are the stories and excuses that are holding you back?

We all have patterns. Some of us are lazy, some blissful, and everything in-between. It is all based on emotion and Darryl helps you to understand where this emotion, this energy, comes from. And when you connect with that you can open your mind to what you really want. To moving ahead. To acheiving results…

Sound like hooey? Maybe. But I asked Darryl for success stories which were fairly easy for him to come by. Take that of a guy who works in Chicago at two jobs, 16 hours a day. His real dream was to become a full-time realtor and to give up the other jobs. As Darryl put it, “he was holding on to 20 plus years of conditioning where he was told to be quiet, reserved, to sit down and shut up.” He wasn’t excited. He needed encouragement to feel again… So after only 7 coaching sessions over a 1.5 month period, his client started to cold-call to get listings. And, through a sense of empowerment, plus focus, a positive physiology, and positive language – the client got 2 listings, a bunch of referrals and is starting to thrive.

As Darryl put it, the real magic is how the client is feeling, for he now has a new mindset that he will now have for good, and forever.

Darryl got into this after he had a financial disaster after graduating from college and while in Border’s bookstore, he stumbled on to the self-help book section. After reading numerous books, things started to click for Daryl and as they did, he felt compelled to share that knowledge with others. So he  hooked up with Tony Robbins with the objective of helping people to have the best life they could. He is now a Tony Robbins coach, wrote a book, does numerous speaking engagements, trains, and is challenging himself to become even bigger and better.

Darryl’s family is most important to him. He is spiritual in that he believes in a higher power. He is more interested in meaning and purpose than things. That is what makes him happy.

In addition to giving to people through his business, Darryl is a member of Rotary and the Chamber of Commerce , and helps out at the MSAE when he can. He loves taking his family on the trail system, and truly appreciates the community – in the form of the wonderful people he has met and continues to meet. Darryl also writes a column for our friends at the Iowa Source about concious living.

If you want know more about yourself, to challenge yourself, and to grow. As Darryl passionately put it “Do it now. Find it now. Be bold” and check out Darryl at Revelations, or visit his website.

Yes, it’s been a while since our last Fairfield Story, but I’m back to tell you about Rustin Lippincott.

Recruited to Fairfield to be the Executive Director of the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, Rustin was soon asked to become the Executive Director of the Fairfield Arts and Convention Center as well.

A single dad, who recently became engaged to Lindsay Haskins of Cedar Falls, Rustin is a native Iowan having grown up in Ft. Madison where he competed in wrestling, football, and baseball.

After college, Rustin worked in an ad agency in Cedar Falls which tapped his innate talent to promote. After the agency, he worked for the Cedar Valley Catholic school district, where he marketed the value and benefits of a religious education and the student athletes – whom he was integrally involved with as their football and wrestling coach. Not only did he hone his promotional skills there, but he also learned a lesson about how the decisions not-for-profit boards make for the good of the organization are not always the most popular in the community.

He was soon recruited by the city of  Nauvoo to lead efforts to promote their unique community as the director of their Convention and Visitors Bureau. In Nauvoo, Rustin had the opportunity to promote a piece of American history, and became as passionate about promoting Nauvoo and its history to prospective visitors as the residents were about their community.  Ironically, Nauvoo had a unique set of challenges, as the people who had lived there for generations were initially at odds with newcomers. Those newcomers were the Mormons who regard Nauvoo as a major part of their religious history. As a result, many have chosen to reside there and many Mormon visitors from around the world are drawn there – sound somewhat familiar?

Rustin has gleaned a lot from each of these experiences. Most notably, his ability to find the balance between unique groups and to galvanize their individual passions to become one that  promotes the economic values of tourism. Which, as Rustin aptly puts it “gets each group to where they want to go.”

This is not only true of the City of Fairfield, but in his role at the FACC where he seeks to mend fences and to bring everyone in town with a stake in the future of Fairfield to join together to support the Center for the betterment of the entire community.

Rustin resides in town with his daughter Jada, and when asked what he loves most about Fairfield, he sincerely had trouble keeping his response to less than 20 minutes. So when pressed, he summed it up as being with Jada and to attend events as a regular guy having fun with family and friends – to not be “on the job.” He loves to eat out in town and while doing so, to people watch,  thoroughly enjoying Fairfield’s diversity.

In addition to running the CVB and the FACC, Rustin serves on the boards of the Fairfield Beautification Commission, FPAC, The Volunteer Center and Rotary. He is also Iowa’s representative on the Tri-State Development and Tourism Taskforce as well as the VP of Marketing for the Eastern Iowa Tourism Association.

Rustin believes that Fairfield’s  unique selling proposition is that we are like a big city in small town Iowa. We’re heavily influenced by arts and culture and a strong manufacturing community, yet supported by Midwestern values. He believes we have the “best of both worlds” right here in our backyard. And he wants residents to come out and experience everything that visitors are coming to Fairfield to do and to enjoy our community as much as they do.

His role with the FACC is a natural, as it is one of the many assets we have that draw meetings and visitors to town. What he loves about it, is that the FACC provides residents with a great venue to host activities and to feature the community’s talents. He also loves that it’s a gathering place for all generations -  kids, adults, and seniors. Rustin is working hard for it to become the entertainment hub in Fairfield doing everything from hosting weddings and the high school prom, to trade shows, and featuring performers of all kinds. With all that the Center provides the community, he just wants it  to be on peoples’ minds when they are looking for something to do to have fun. To be in the mix and to be known as a place where there is always something to do for practically everyone in town…

Rustin clearly loves both of his jobs. He is passionate about promoting the unique community that Fairfield has become. For as he likes to say “Fairfield offers something for everyone, and you don’t have to look very far for something that will make you smile.”

And smiles are something that Rustin Lippincott always seems to have something to do with…

Fairfield is filled with interesting people, many of whom you may recognize but can never put your finger on exactly who they are.

One of those people may be Buddy Biancalana, this week’s Fairfield Story.

Buddy grew up in California where he was a baseball prodigy.  He attended High School in Larkspur and was drafted by the Royals in the first round (25th overall pick) of the 1978 June Regular Phase draft. Biancalana made his Major League Baseball debut on September 12, 1982, and played his final game on October 4, 1987.

After playing for a few years in the minors, Buddy got the call to “the show”, as a member of the Royals team that won the World Series in 1985, where he was an adept fielder but didn’t hit well for average. Yet he managed to win himself an everyday job.  Despite having started only 35 games all season, manager Dick Howser benched regular Onix Concepcion in favor of Biancalana on September 20.  Biancalana started 13 of the next 15 games as the Royals won the American League West division by one game over the California Angels.

Unbeknown to Buddy, or his team, something about that experience enabled Buddy to get into the “zone” – that fabled place that professional athletes talk about where time slows down and they can do no wrong.  He was the starting shortstop for the Royals in all 14 post-season games, playing error-free defense in every game, and was an integral part in several run-scoring innings for the Royals in the World Series. He batted .278 in the series with an on base percentage of .435, both well above his career numbers.

Buddy and his family moved to Fairfield three years ago, attracted by what he had heard about the many opportunities we offer for personal growth – including TM. He had also become familiar with the discovery of Steve Yellin, to quantify the processes in the mind that enable athletes to find and consistently be in the “zone.”  Buddy and Steve formed Perfect Mind-Perfect Motion shortly after his arrival.

What they now teach to athletes in Major League Baseball, the PGA, tennis, and the NBA, is how to consistently find the zone – where time slows down, the intellect shuts down, and the motion becomes more fluid and effortless. Through a three step program, they’ve helped numerous athletes affect the processes in their minds and have built the business strictly by word of mouth.

One such success story is pro golfer Lee Janzen. After winning two US Opens, Lee lost his stride and languished near the middle of the pack. After working with Buddy, Lee came bounding back – making $800,000 last year and is showing signs of his old self. Another recent story involves major league baseball’s Bobby Keppel, the 2001 1^st round pick by the NY Mets who had a 5.50 ERA in AAA. After working with Buddy,  he lowered his ERA to 2.43 pitching 14 scoreless innings in his big league debut, and helping the Minnesota Twins win game 163  – a tie-breaker – that got then into the playoffs in 2009

Very few athletes are naturals like Michael Jordan, or can perform at high levels with the consistency of a Brett Favre. What comes naturally to some is the biggest challenge for most athletes who don’t know how to get back mind body coordination when it breaks down and this, according to Buddy, is the secret to consistency. Through a series of drills and concepts, Buddy asserts that athletes who use this proprietary methodology will avoid slumps. The Perfect Mind-Perfect Motion method is not a philosophy, rather, it implies that Steve and Buddy have uncovered how the mind-body connection works and they can teach it to athletes in any sport.

Buddy, his wife and his boys Alex and Gavin love all that Fairfield has to offer, most notably going to Revelations for Pizza and bike rides on the Jefferson County trails.  He feels that Fairfield is a very powerful place for those who take advantage of its resources. He encourages all of our local athletes to learn more about the benefits of meditation as it is his belief that it strengthens mind-body coordination and any time you can quiet your mind you will be more successful at anything you do.

Forever grateful for “Fairfield’s existence” as Buddy put it, and the way the community has embraced he and his family, he is available to help the community in any way he can. In fact, welcomes the opportunity to help kids in town interested in becoming better at Baseball.

A little known fact about Buddy is what happened during the countdown to Pete Rose breaking Ty Cob hits record in 1985. David Letterman instituted a Buddy Biancalana countdown calendar. Biancalana later appeared as a guest on Late Night with David Letterman, quipping “I’m closer to Cobb than you are to Carson” ( Buddy finished his big-league career with 113 base hits, over four thousand short of Cobb or Rose.)

Our end of year Fairfield story is about Kay Ferguson, born and raised in St. Joesph, MO and relocated to Fairfield in 1984.

Many of you know Kay as the person whose house you went to with your parents where you ate so many of her famous “protein balls” that your mom had to hide the bowl!

Kay is the oldest of 6 siblings and until her Parkinson’s got the best of her, she ran a thriving Shaklee business which is now handled by her son Bob. Kay ran the business out of her home on E. Burlington avenue from 1984-2000 with an employee  who fulfilled orders from her home office.

During that time, Kay held meetings at her home to invigorate her distributors, educate customers, and indoctrinate new distributors. Many of those attendees brought their kids who were only too happy to munch on Kay’s protein balls which she originally created to demonstrate how tasty the products she sold could be while providing the added benefit of instant protein. The balls were kept in a little Chinese box which all of the kids became accustomed to. In fact, Eileen Hawthorne’s kids were so crazy for them that they were on a limit to how many they could have on any given visit!  A combination of honey, fiber crunch, cashew butter and, of course, instant protein, Kay’s protein balls are almost as legendary in Fairfield as Kay herself has become.

Kay also held dinners which typically drew as many as 15 people who would enjoy each others company and tell stories about, well, anything they wanted to including their experiences with Shaklee products that helped them with various ailments. Ann Lamansky from Brighton for example, has fibromyalgia which became debilitating to the extent of not being able to even sit on the floor to play with her kids. Ann started taking Shaklee products and as a result, increased her energy and vigor. She was so impressed with her own success with the products that she became a distributor as well.

What amazed me most as I talked to Kay, who is now 89 and still as vibrant as can be, was how she reminisced about her business and those who attended her dinners as being a part of “the family”. You see, her business and all of those who partook were and still are family to Kay. Obviously, this became a recipe for success, but for Kay, it was simply a natural thing to do. Her belief in the products she sells, and in the friendships she has created is what enabled her, and now her son’s, success in their business. And after doing some extra snooping into the company – Shaklee – I can understand why. Yes, it is a network marketing business. But it really seems to be unlike those that we’re most familiar with. Not unlike Kay’s natural approach to building her business, Shaklee is about creating relationships and spreading the wealth. And although it is not my cup of tea per se, if you are interested in what Shaklee calls “social marketing” , I’d encourage you to find out more about the possibilities here.

Until the time that she was 82, Kay would drive from Fairfield to Boston, Connecticut and all the way to Maine to meet with her distributors and their prospects -  two times a year.  Although she can’t do that drive any longer, and has turned the business over to Bob, Kay continues to use her home as a gathering place. In lieu of business, the Garden Club, writing group, and peer group are where Kay spends most of her time these days.

An avid gardener, Kay grows all of the vegetables she can eat, various fruits, and numerous flowers in her well kept yard. She has so many apples in fact that in addition to barrels and barrels of apple sauce, Kay and her son who lives in Illinois can 50-60 quarts a year that they sell to a Slovakian Strudel maker in Bloomington, IL.

The writing group was started by Kay to preserve her and her friends’ memories of their children’s childhood  so that they are not lost. Many times when these parents tell their children about what they wrote about, the kids hadn’t even recalled what had happened…

The group Kay seems most proud of which also greatly interested me is what she calls the peer group. This group of as many as 27 people are Kay’s peers – vital, active people from 70 to well into their 90’s. Some are retired, many are not. A pot-luck format, Kay always makes a hot casserole and they almost always end up with a complete meal. Each meeting has a theme. The largest this year was when Bob (her son) discussed sustainability with the group. December’s meeting (held after I interviewed Kay) was themed “Christmases I Remember”  where they told stories of Christmas with their families as their kids were growing up.

When asked about her favorite thing to do in Fairfield, Kay’s response was expected. “To help people work as people and to do what she can, where she can, and when she can.” Bob added that it’s hard to go to HyVee with Kay as she is always stopped by old and new friends and acquaintances whose lives that Kay has touched.

Kay loves Fairfield and appreciates small town life. If she had one wish, it would be to “live the way we used to live.” This translates to being more self-sufficient, growing our own food, living off of the land. “Going to the grocery is just not natural” said Kay. Any wonder why she chose a “green” company to represent and has a son who is the committee chair of Fairfield’s sustainability effort?

Next time you see in her in HyVee, say “hi” to one of Fairfield’s true gems, Kay Ferguson.

Welcome back to this week’s installment of Fairfield Stories. This week, we’re featuring the annual Thanksgiving feed held at the First United Methodist Church, just off of the square.

This event has taken place every year for the past 5 years. I first found out about the event from Dave Goehring,  who works for Pierson and Pierson Plumbing, when he was under my sink a few days before Thanksgiving this year. After thanking him profusely for fixing it prior to my company arriving, Dave asked how many people we’d be having for dinner. When I responded with “10″ he chuckled and said, “oh that’s not so many.” That begged the question, “how many are you having Dave?” The answer “Oh, 300 or so.”

With that, I asked Dave to meet me at Second Street for a cup of coffee as I knew that this was a story that needed to be told.

5 years ago the Church sent a group of students on a mission to the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Lame Deer, Montana. After an exhilarating few days helping out in any way they could, one of the students wondered aloud why they have to go so far away to help people. Why couldn’t they do it in their own town? The Thanksgiving Feed was conceived.

That first year they fed 61 people. Associate Pastor Dave Peterson still has a momento of that event that practically brought tears to Dave Goehring’s eyes when he described it to me. It’s a napkin. A napkin with a note written on it from the very first person they fed that evening, expressing his appreciation for the feast.

The feed has grown enormously since that first year. Dave has been running it for two years now and as you’d imagine with giving souls like Dave, his wife Rhonda, his daughter Amy (who is now away at college) and even his parents work with him to plan and execute this amazing local event.

They feed people from “all walks of life” according to Dave. Who, by the way is so humble that he wouldn’t allow me to take a picture of him and he insisted that I give as little credit to him as possible. Surely, it takes a village, and as you’d imagine, he gave Christ his due, but it also takes a leader and IMHO there seems to be no better leader for an endeavor like this than Dave Goehring…

So back to the feed. Not only does First Methodist participate, but so do other congregations from around Fairfield. Volunteers come from as many walks of life as the people who are fed, and they do everything from outreach about the event, to cooking, serving and clean-up. Dave characterized the volunteer effort as a “family reunion” that comes together once the word is put out to local churches. According to Dave “it just happens.”

In 2009, 230 people were fed by Dave and his crew of about 40 volunteers. The meal included numerous turkeys donated by the local Hy-Vee, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, dinner rolls, cranberry sauce (new this year) and 15-20 different home baked pies served in the “pie room” as Dave referred to it. “Something for everybody.”

The feed doesn’t just serve people at the Church either. A few years ago, they took on Meals-on-Wheels duties on Thanksgiving Day which happened after parishoner Jack Glass who was heaily involved in Meals-on-Wheels passed a few years ago. They also serve other folks who are too feeble to leave their homes and who are not a part of Meals-on Wheels. This effort served about 70 of the 230 people who were served in 2009.

The entire event comes together in about 2-3 weeks. The call goes out and the volunteers just start working. Right up to Thanksgiving day conversations such as “can we use another pie?” occur and another one is delivered to the pie room.  Dave doesn’t ever worry about it coming together – it just does. In fact the only complaint he ever gets is that there’s too much food. So as you’d imagine, there are doggie-bags for all – with extra helpings of pie, of course.

This Thanksgiving feed not only has something for everybody, but is attended by everybody – rich, poor, religious, non-religious, townie, meditator. This year a family of 13 showed up. And as powerful a draw as free, home-cooked food is, Dave believes that most people are showing up for the atmosphere and cameraderie as most stay long after the food stops being served.

As Dave said in closing about his experience with the Thanksgiving feed, “truly a gift” and I do believe that it is.

This is the first in a new weekly series of articles about Fairfield. Fairfield Stories will feature people and businesses in town that, well, make good stories! They’ll come from all walks of the community so please, if you know of a person or business with a unique, fun, or impactful story to tell, email me at markhcohen@gmail.com.

Our first story is one that some have heard and others, such as myself, have only recently come to appreciate. That is, the place to “see and be seen” as I had once read in the Iowa Source – Revelations Cafe.

Run by the Howland sisters – Jen, Joan and Julie – and their mom Betsy, Revelations may be best known for it’s books and pizza.

The Howlands came to Fairfield almost 20 years ago because they were looking for a change and Julie and Joan wanted to attend the University. Years later,  younger sister Jen had the idea to start a library where people could read books and hang out – and Revelations was born.

Originally situated in an old auto body shop  just outside of Everybody’s, Revelations was the place to trade books. Walter Dey contributed the box of old science fiction books that got them started and since then, thousands of books have passed from person to person, via Revelations’ shelves. The concept is simple – donate a book and you receive points that you can use towards other books.

While in that old garage, Jen thought it a good idea to serve coffee. Since the health department didn’t like that idea, the sisters brought in a drip pot so that book-traders could read, sip some joe, and chit-chat.

After their first winter in the garage, as the melt cascaded down the walls, across the floor, and into the drain in the middle of the bookstore, the sisters had decided that this wasn’t good for their beloved books and purchased their current building from Fracesco Volponi – whose short-lived Italian restaurant left them with lovely wood floors, tiling and the amazing wood fired pizza oven which came straight from Italy.

They also like to look at their renovations and know the people who helped to bring things to fruition. For example, Duncan McMasters crafted the beautiful front door and cornice in the new space (the picture at the bottom,) Creative Edge created the new sign, and  Victor Orne did the wood grates and trim in the entry.

Today their hard labor is limited to running the place, although that includes cutting their own wood for the pizza oven which has Betsy running the chainsaw and the girls  running the log splitter and loading wood.

Serving food started about 2 years into the new building, with pizza on Saturdays. Revelations appreciates local farmers and their delicious bounty and want to share it with the community. At any given day you could eat local goat and mozzarella cheese on your pizza, drink local milk or eggnog in your latte, or savor local broccoli and cauliflower in one of their homemade soups -  and their sandwiches are now served on locally grown rye or wheat bread.

Revelations also gives back to the community through various volunteer and donation efforts in addition to serving on the Art Walk and Live on the Square Concert Series boards.

Perhaps their biggest challenge is growth. It’s led to growing pains which make for quite a personal/business balancing act and unfortunately, effect service -  which just makes Julie crazy! She and her sisters are well aware of how slow things get, and how even Internet orders seem to get messed up. But they’re committed to finding new ways to balance making everything fresh and “to-order” with the needs of patrons to eat and get back to business. In fact, they are so committed to doing better that they’re always open to your suggestions.

Another thing they’re open to are new menu items and as such, we’re pleased to announce that they’re launching a contest for new pizza combinations! Email Julie with yours and who knows, you may soon be the next great pizza served at Revelations.

The owners of Revelations love that the restaurant has afforded them the opportunity to work together. They appreciate the support they get from the community, and don’t believe they could have been as successful elsewhere. That in conjunction with the Jefferson County Trails and the numerous philanthropic efforts in town make Fairfield the place to thrive for the Howland sisters…

I hope you enjoyed this inaugural installment of Fairfield Stories and will come back next week. As always, let us know what you think!