Thirty-odd years ago there were two locations with which I was familiar in Hemingford. Due to my membership in 4-H, the Box Butte County fairgrounds was the first. The other was the intersection on the east side of town, specifically the tidy patch that hosts the official welcome sign. If anyone remembers the previous sign before it partially blew down, that was my Eagle Scout project. The lumber yard down the main drag where some of the supplies came from is now Village Pizza.
The Hemingford business, as I mentioned last week, is among Keep Alliance Beautiful’s newest recyclers. Deb Henzler, who also works afternoon shift at the recycling center, told me how the pizza place’s owners had recently expanded beyond cardboard on our regular Hemingford route.
Wayne and Amanda Knote opened Village Pizza on Feb. 13, 2019. Amanda explained this type of venture was a first for the couple. “(I) always wanted to have my own restaurant,” she said, noting the location sold pizza (as Hometown Heroes) before it closed. Wayne and Amanda discussed the opportunity. She recalled her husband saying “let’s do it” as they thought it would be nice to “have a pizza place still.”
Touting their hand-tossed pizza, Amanda said they also offer wings, subs and salads. The centerpiece of the country rustic interior decor is the original Hemingford Lumberyard sign.
Recycling has long been important to Amanda though she was encouraged to take advantage of KAB’s services by Henzler, her aunt. “I worked at a different place before and they threw the boxes away and it drove me nuts,” Amanda said. “(Our business) was going to SWANN (Solid Waste Agency of Northwest Nebraska), then started taking boxes to KAB.” After talking to Henzler five or six weeks ago, she explained they began collecting other items from the kitchen. Amanda said they use 2-3 No. 10 tin cans a day and go through numerous gallon jugs. Now, she pointed out, the trash container that Village Pizza filled is now half empty.
Time and effort is often the initial excuse for not picking up the recycling habit. “It’s not that hard to do,” Amanda contended. “We have a back kitchen. Just spray them (containers) in the sink and take them out. Our employees are all about checking to see what we can recycle.”
Like Brenda’s Cottage in Alliance, Village Pizza is a place people can quickly pick up something to eat and/or drink or stay awhile. Amanda said that even though carryout represents more of their traffic, people enjoy stopping to dine in as well and appreciate having the restaurant in town.
Beyond the recycling center and curbside collection, KAB has a presence in Hemingford similar to Alliance. Area residents are able to deposit the most common range of materials (cardboard, paperboard, glass, office paper, No. 1-7 plastics, milk jugs, etc.) in our trailer just southwest of the Farmers Co-op elevators.
Our business collection route begins south of town at Pat’s Creative. The sewing/quilting draw has a container for cardboard/paperboard. However, the store often has everything from electronics to magazines depending on the week. The ag side of the family business also adds feed sacks, cardboard/paperboard and whatever else accumulates in the shops.
Currently, in addition to Village Pizza, once in Hemingford, we pile on bags from Dave’s Pharmacy that contain a little of everything; aluminum cans from a downtown bar, and miscellaneous items from an alley container. Tabletop Meats is the last stop before hooking up the trailer. This location breaks down a pile of heavy-duty boxes and often adds bags of whatever else they can recycle.
Hemingford, Alliance or in between anyone can be “on our list.”