FROM FACEBOOK__The Bluffton Community Pool will officially open for the season this Saturday, June 21, with updated hours, swim lessons and pool rentals for residents and visitors.
Over my 32 years behind the camera, one truth has become clear: it’s not just about the action. It’s about the relationships—the quiet moments behind the scenes, the camaraderie between competitors, the traditions and quirks that make each athlete unique. The way an athlete bites their necklace for comfort. The lucky socks. The verse on their spikes. The pre-race prayer.
These are the moments you don’t see from the stands—but they are the soul of the sport.
FROM THE EDITOR: The Icon is fortunate to have a number of excellent sports photographers in the community. In 2025 Jamie Nygaard and Marvin Foster offered to take photos of the OHSAA DII State Track Finals. We asked them both for some of their favorite pictures and an account of their experience.
CLICK gallery to enlarge and view at your own pace
By Marvin Foster
I believe this is the 14th time I have had a credential for State Track. Most of those years have meant grabbing a spot in the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium locker room turned media room, and calling it home base for the next two days. It is always interesting to see how the professional photographers and newspeople go about their job, and I will often be grateful that I am not trying to scratch out a living doing the same.
By Karen L. Kier, Pharmacist
ONU Healthwise Pharmacy
Wipe Out was the surf music instrumental released in 1963 by the group Surfaris. The members of the group included Bob Berryhill, Pat Connolly, Jim Fuller and Ron Wilson. Wilson was the drummer for the song and his fast-paced drumming is considered a classic by musicians. The song has been featured in over 20 films and TV series since 1964.
Thank you to the reader who let us know some links were broken!
By Paula Pyzik Scott, Icon editor
Here's a work in progress: Bluffton Icon Highlights for June 2025. You'll find our April and May 2025 Highlights at the Bluffton Public Library in the print news collection and online HERE. A location at Bluffton University's Musselman Library is coming soon!
A June 23 hearing has been scheduled before Allen County Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey Reed in the state’s case vs. Ronald Powell, who is charged with allegedly shooting at Bluffton Police Department officers in December 2021.
Powell, age 53, faces five charges including felonious assault, discharge of firearm on or near prohibited premise, failure to comply with an order or signal of a police officer, improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle and having weapons while under disability with firearm.
JUNE 16 MEDIA RELEASE__The Bluffton Area Chamber of Commerce is excited to announce the first annual Music at the Gazebo, a free summer concert series debuting in downtown Bluffton.
Presented by the Bluffton Area Chamber of Commerce and GROB Systems, this new community event will be held on the lawn of Bluffton Presbyterian Church (112 N. Main Street) every other Thursday evening from June 19 through September 25, 2025, with music beginning at 7:00 p.m.
Lewis Metzler Naylor passed away on June 12, 2025, in Goshen, IN, from a heart attack. He was born in the old Goshen Hospital in Goshen, IN, on July 14,1942, to Deltha (Metzler) Naylor and Wilbur Jerald Naylor. He lived in Nappanee, IN, until finishing high school in 1960. He volunteered in 1964 for 1-W Service with the Mennonite Central Committee with his late wife, Ann Musselman, where they were teachers for three years in Musoma, Tanzania. Ann died on October 27, 2010. He married Belle (Detwiler) Duerksen on June 22, 2013.
Blanchard Valley Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, a division of Blanchard Valley Health System, now offers the nationally recognized "Own the Bone" program at four convenient locations throughout the region. Patients can now access the program in Findlay, Bluffton, Carey, and Ottawa.
GARDENERS OF THE BLUFFTON PANDORA AREA FACEBOOK POST — A Grow Your Own Flower Bouquets program will be presented at the Bluffton Community Gardens at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 19.
The guest speaker is Kay Studer. She is an Allen County Master Gardener Volunteer and retired owner of Buckeye Blooms.
The meeting is outside. Organizers suggest “bring a friend and a chair.”
