Celebrating The People And Businesses Who Go Above & Beyond
Each year, the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Community Development Group (CDG) has the honor of recognizing individuals and businesses who exemplify the best of our community. These are the people who give their time and energy because they care deeply about making our towns better places to live, work, and gather.
This year’s honorees represent that spirit in every way. Please join us in celebrating the recipients of the 2026 CDG Awards:
Citizen of the Year – John Bardsley
John Bardsley has been a citizen of Lisbon for over half a century and has always been an active part of the communities of Mount Vernon and Lisbon. He has been on the Lisbon City Council for 23 years. He has a total of 43 years of working on economic development in our communities, with the Chamber of Commerce before transitioning to CDG when it was created. He currently acts as a liaison between the City of Lisbon and CDG, as well as with eight other community organizations where he attends most meetings. He is one of our Ambassadors that helps with new business ribbon cuttings. Over the years he has been a Master Gardener, a Master Forester, and served as President of The Wellness Coalition of Linn County, Rotary, and The Chamber of Commerce.
Community involvement and helping others has been a part of his entire life. As a child he got involved with the Boy Scouts, becoming an Eagle Scout before transitioning to leadership with Boy Scouts where he went on to be Lodge Chief of North Central Iowa. He served 6 years in the Army National Guard. On top of everything else, he is active in the Friends of the Lisbon Library and he and his wife Barbara diligently worked to keep the First Street Community Center library organized for many years.
Over the years, he’s been awarded Volunteer of the Year at Southeast Linn Community Center, and was named Citizen of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce in 1992. This year he will be the Grand Marshall at Sauerkraut Days.
This past year John lost his wife Barb, whom many know from her years of work at Southeast Linn Community Center and her own active volunteer presence in the community. But John is still showing up, continuing to make a quiet, but significant, impact on this great place we call home.
Above & Beyond – Community Gardens
Since 1984, The Mount Vernon Lisbon Community Development Group has found the need to recognize a person or company that stands out in their support of the community, what is called the Above & Beyond award. This year we are recognizing several groups working together to maintain our community gardens and fight food insecurity in our towns.
Southeast Linn Community Center volunteers John & Cindy Pospisil and Linda Handsmeier started a small garden beside the Lisbon Rehabilitation Center in 2018. That garden produced 665 pounds of produce that went to the food pantry. The next year The Linn County Master Gardeners became partners in the effort, and things really began to grow. 12 garden beds at the Lester Buresh Center came in 2020 and the Lisbon garden moved to a permanent home at Seeds of Faith Lutheran Church in 2025. In 2025 these gardens, along with the crop donations from local gardeners, produced over 7200 pounds of locally grown produce – that’s over 10 times the amount grown just seven years earlier. This fresh produce is the most requested item in the food pantry.
The Linn County Master Gardeners, in partnership with the Iowa State Extension Service, help provide seed, plants, advice and education. Examples of their classes include making stepping stones that were placed in the garden to help the gardeners, and just this week they taught a class about fruit that included making and enjoying fruit smoothies! They’ve helped not only with these gardens, but getting local gardeners to Share A Row – grow extra crops and share them with the food pantry, and work with other communities to duplicate the success we’re seeing here.
Besides SELCC and the Linn County Master Gardeners, the award is also recognizing the Lester Buresh Center and Seeds of Faith Church, as well as giving a nod to all of the individual volunteers and groups of volunteers that show up to help make these gardens flourish. This is truly a community going Above and Beyond for our community.
Business of the Year – The Bijou Movie Theater
The Bijou Theatre celebrated 50 years in business at the end of 2025. Kelli Kennon-Lane and her family became the current owners in the fall of 2024, and after just 30 days of cleanup and renovations, reopened the theater for public movies, private rentals, and fundraiser events. In the past two years, The Bijou has become much more than a movie theater—it has become a place where the community comes together. Through creative programming, they have hosted character screenings, free Community Matinees, free outdoor movies, sensory-friendly screenings, dog-friendly movies, early-out matinees for students, and fundraiser events for local schools and nonprofit organizations.
The Bijou has also partnered with organizations throughout the community to create unique experiences. From hosting a red-tailed hawk during a screening of H is for Hawk and organizing a book discussion with local libraries, to screening The Librarians with a panel discussion on book banning, to showing Balto alongside an adoptable husky from Homeward Bound, they have found meaningful ways to connect movies with the people and organizations around them. They also continue to bring documentaries, independent films, and traveling film festivals to Mount Vernon while offering the first-run family movies The Bijou has always been known for. Community partnerships extend beyond the screen. The Bijou has worked with local businesses, bakers, schools, youth organizations, and nonprofits through special events, fundraising opportunities, popcorn donations, and community celebrations.
Sustainability is another value that guides the theater. Kelli and her family have introduced bulk candy, compostable concession products, a popcorn composting system, reusable concession containers, and rewards for patrons who bike to the theater. They continue to look for ways to reduce the theater’s environmental impact while serving the community.
Owning The Bijou in Mount Vernon has allowed Kelli and her family to blend their work with their passion for community. Every day they see grandparents bringing grandchildren to the movies, parents introducing children to their first theater experience, teens on first dates, Cornell students looking for connection, and families who travel to Mount Vernon simply because they love The Bijou. Through creativity, partnership, sustainability, and a genuine commitment to Mount Vernon, Kelli Kennon-Lane and her family have made The Bijou more than a historic theater. They have created a place where people gather, memories are made, and community thrives.
Volunteer of the Year – Sue Margheim
Sue Margheim has been a dedicated volunteer in the Mount Vernon-Lisbon community for many years. She currently serves as Chair of the Chili Cookoff Committee, a role she has held for the past five years. Having volunteered with the event long before becoming chair, Sue has helped grow it into a successful community tradition alongside a dedicated committee.
In addition to leading the Chili Cookoff, Sue volunteers for Chalk the Walk and Heritage Days through the Community Development Group. Her commitment to the community extends even further, having served as treasurer for WETAP, worked countless concession stands for the Mount Vernon Schools Fine Arts Association, volunteered with Vacation Bible School and the Living Nativity at her church, and performed monthly water quality monitoring at a local creek.
Sue volunteers because she believes community events only happen when people are willing to step up and help. She finds the greatest reward in seeing these events bring people together and knowing she played a part in making them possible.
Professionally, Sue is a metallurgical engineer at Collins Aerospace. She has called the Mount Vernon community home since 1999, and through her many years of service, she has made a lasting impact on the place she proudly calls home.
Project of the Year – Child Care Solutions Group
Mount Vernon-Lisbon Child Care Solutions was formed in 2021 by the League of Women Voters to address a growing need for accessible child care after the community was identified as a “child care desert.” Following a community summit in 2022 led by the Iowa Women’s Foundation, the organization became a formal nonprofit with a volunteer Board of Directors. Today, the board is led by President Craig Engel, Vice President Linda Bigley, Treasurer Michele Thomsen, Secretary Katrina Anderson, and board members Jane Carlson, Rick Elliott, and Carol Wozniak-Rebhuhn.
Since its formation, Child Care Solutions has worked to strengthen and expand child care opportunities throughout the Mount Vernon-Lisbon community. The organization surveyed both families and child care providers, collecting more than 400 responses that helped identify the community’s greatest needs. Those efforts led to raising more than $125,000, which has been distributed to local child care providers through wage enhancement bonuses and gift cards to help support and retain this essential workforce.
In 2025, Child Care Solutions helped recruit and place the Academy of Early Learning in Lisbon, expanding local child care options. The organization is also using an $11,000 grant from the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration to help families bridge gaps in child care affordability when state assistance is inconsistent.
Entirely volunteer-led, Child Care Solutions is a true grassroots effort made possible through the dedication of community leaders and the generous support of local businesses, organizations, and donors, including the Greater Mount Vernon Foundation, the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Community Development Group, Gary’s Foods, Budget Blinds, and the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.
The impact of Child Care Solutions has been significant. Since its founding, the community has moved beyond the “child care desert” designation, creating more opportunities for local families and providers. Beyond expanding access, the organization continues to advocate for the value of early childhood education and the professionals who care for and help shape the next generation of our community.
