This was a year of many firsts for graduating seniors at Belding High School. A new arena with an indoor track, auditorium, cafeteria and commons area, sports facilities — the list goes on and on. Through a year of constant transformation, where the very school they attended changed dramatically before their eyes, the 140 graduates experienced their final moment as members of the student body Thursday evening before walking out of the school one last time as official alumni.

Jake Jones just didn’t care. He didn’t care about grades, he never studied and, as he admits, he assumed he could get through high school without applying himself beyond walking through the front door of the building.

More than 64 years ago, veterans in the Belding area celebrated Memorial Day by marching through the streets of the city and holding a ceremony at the original Freedom Wall located on the corner of Bridge and Main streets. Now, years after that wall was decommissioned, leading to holding Memorial Day ceremonies in various locations including the Veterans Memorial Bridge and Riverside Cemetery, veteran and Belding resident Denny Craycraft is proud to see that once again, Belding has a central location in Veterans Park for the community to come together and honor its veterans.

The demolition of the Belding Bros. Clock Tower, constructed in 1903 and located on the property owned by Electrolux on the corner of Bridge and Main streets in Belding, began Monday with the successful removal of the steeple. Construction workers described the process as “like clockwork” with no major complications.

More than 2,500 people crowded the halls of Belding High School for the 17th annual Belding Community Showcase on Tuesday night, where area community groups and businesses came together to show off what the area has to offer. According to event organizer Tiffany Jackson, 53 community groups and 37 businesses were at the event, handing out goodie bags and endless amounts of information about services they provide.

As Christina Funk strolled around the center room of the Belrockton Museum Saturday afternoon, 6-year-old Xander Rickert sat patiently in excitement as Funk carried an often misunderstood creature within her hands. Rickert, among 65 other visitors to the museum, knew what he was in store for him and was hoping for a very close look at the mysterious animal Funk was presenting to children and parents around the room.

Shortly after Meg Mullendore began the position of Belding city manager earlier this month, she tackled one of the first items on her agenda — purchasing some “Belding gear.”

On the edge of the city near a heavily wooded border of trees sits a garden where students, teachers and residents of Belding come together to share and enjoy in the experiences that come with growing fruits and vegetables and beautiful flowers and plants. That little garden, known as the Belding Community Garden, is now receiving statewide attention after taking top honors at the Michigan Municipal League (MML) 2013 Capital Conference in Lansing, winning the MML Region 3 Community Excellence Award (CEA).

BELDING — It’s been a year of adjustments at Belding High School with the construction of a new gymnasium, auditorium, band room and other various additions to the school. But as of last week, the final touches of interior construction were completed with the opening of the new spacious high school cafeteria and commons area. [...]

Whether you call it a variety show, comedy show, or collection of skits performed entirely by students, there’s one thing the Belding High School Band Follies show is guaranteed to be — entertaining.