{"id":37954,"date":"2013-05-01T06:37:20","date_gmt":"2013-05-01T11:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=37954"},"modified":"2013-05-01T06:37:20","modified_gmt":"2013-05-01T11:37:20","slug":"vanilla-ice-doing-diy-project-in-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2013\/05\/01\/vanilla-ice-doing-diy-project-in-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Vanilla Ice doing DIY project in county"},"content":{"rendered":"

CINDY WOOD\/<\/strong>independent feature writer<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s that song that got into your head, and stayed there for over two decades. And there\u2019s a better-than-average chance that it\u2019s still in your playlist today.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Rapper and DIY home improvement show host Vanilla Ice (center) chats with fans outside Fricker's in Van Wert on Tuesday. (Cindy Wood\/Van Wert independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The year was 1989 when Rob Van Winkle became an overnight sensation with \u201cIce Ice Baby.\u201d Easily transcending the generation gap, the rap song appealed to everyone from teens to grandmas and remains a dance floor mainstay today.<\/p>\n

While Van Winkle is not a household name, his stage personality, Vanilla Ice, is. And if Lady Luck has been on your side the last couple of days in Van Wert, you might have scored a picture with him. Van Winkle is in the area taping footage for DIY Network home-improvement show and he\u2019s been spotted all over town, mingling with residents and promoting his much-hyped home improvement show.<\/p>\n

Social media networks have offered a constant buzz of Vanilla Ice sightings and pictures with the rapper turned home improvement star. Kelli Cheney of Convoy made sure the odds were stacked in her favor for a possible encounter. Cheney and her sister drove by the area where filming was taking place and pulled over in a parking lot pondering what to do. \u201cThen my sister with her eagle eyes actually saw him coming down the road and I jumped out and ran down the road,\u201d Cheney said. \u201cThey had missed their turn and my sister asked me what we should do. I said I\u2019ll flag him down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Winkle stopped to talk, and was impressed with Cheney\u2019s tenacity. \u201cHe asked me how I found him and I laughed and said \u2018honey, this is small town Van Wert. Everything is known.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Winkle\u2019s crew filmed the girls during the encounter, which may be used in the show. \u201cHe stated to us we\u2019d be on his show. It was so awesome. What a great guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Vanilla Ice poses with Convoy resident Kelli Cheney on Tuesday afternoon. (photo submitted)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tarra Waltmire of Van Wert was also impressed with Van Winkle\u2019s laid-back and easy personality. Waltmire first spotted the star at a local hotel early this week, but wasn\u2019t exactly sure who she had spotted. \u201cI knew he looked familiar but I had no clue who he was,\u201d she said, adding \u201che just looked at me and smiled. He was probably thinking to himself \u2018this girl has no clue who I am.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Later, though, Waltmire and some friends drove to the site near Wren where filming was taking place with hopes of meeting Van Winkle. \u201cWe saw him leaving and we asked if we could get pictures with him and he was more than willing,\u201d Waltmire noted. \u201cHe was extremely nice and willing to take some of his time to make our day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later in the evening, Van Winkle spent some time at Fricker\u2019s and greeted guests and fans, reminding them to watch his show. \u201cCheck it out. You\u2019ll like it,\u201d he told fans gathered outside the restaurant.<\/p>\n

Seth Kopp, already hyped up from a record-breaking performance at the county track meet earlier in the evening, jumped at the chance to get his picture taken with Van Winkle. \u201cHe told me he liked my socks and asked if they had batteries in them,\u201d Kopp said of his neon socks.<\/p>\n

Van Winkle said he was happy to be filming in the area and remarked how friendly the locals were. \u201cIt\u2019s great here,\u201d he said. \u201cThe people are really friendly. I\u2019m having a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Winkle began filming the reality television show in 2009, and the third season kicked off in January on the DIY Network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CINDY WOOD\/independent feature writer It\u2019s that song that got into your head, and stayed there for over two decades. And there\u2019s a better-than-average chance that it\u2019s still in your playlist today. The year was 1989 when Rob Van Winkle became an overnight sensation with \u201cIce Ice Baby.\u201d Easily transcending the generation gap, the rap song […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-04 13:41:11","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37954\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}