News in Bluffton

Plans are underway for the first-ever Ride to Remember bicycle ride this summer in Bluffton.

The Saturday, July 11, event offers short bike routes for families interested in biking together all the way to a 100-mile route for experienced riders.

Based at BFR Sports and Fitness and the Buckeye lake area of Bluffton, the event serves as a springboard to a make Bluffton a bicycle destination and bike center for enthusiasts of the sport.

Details are still in the planning stages, but sponsors hope to offer routes of 15, 31, 62 and 100 miles on July 11.

Bluffton Area Chamber of Commerce offers a “speed dating social media” program during its 7 a.m., Friday, March 13, breakfast meeting in the third floor of the town hall. A social media workshop will follow the program.

Four Bluffton University students, who are chamber members, will present the program. Tables at the breakfast will be arranged in four clusters. Each student will give a seven-minute presentation at each table cluster during the program.

February was a month for the weather books. Consider: 10 days with the minimum temperature in the minus column and only six days with the maximum temperature above freezing.

Here’s the summary, according to Pandora weather observer, Guy Verhoff.
• Average temperature = 14.8 degrees
• Normal average temperature = 28.6 degrees
• Precipitation = 17.2 inches snow; 1.48 inches rain
• Normal average precipitation = 2.02 inches
• Maximum temperature = 47 degrees on Feb. 8
• Minimum temperature = -9 on Feb. 27

Blanchard Valley Hospital was today named one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals® by Truven Health Analytics,TM a leading provider of data-driven analytics and solutions to improve the cost and quality of healthcare. This is the third time Blanchard Valley Hospital has been recognized with this honor (2005, 2011, 2015).