Community News

As part of the Waukon Corn Days Annual Weekend Celebration, there will be a Corn Days Parade through downtown Waukon at 7 p.m. Friday, August 14. The parade route will be the same as in past years, beginning from the Allamakee County Fairgrounds and heading south down Allamakee Street to the stoplight intersection with Main Street. Turning right on to West Main Street, the parade will venture up to Second Street NW, where the entries will turn right at the Post Office, travel down Second Street NW, and then turn right on Eighth Avenue NW to head back to the fairgrounds.

Iowa State University recently released the results of a 20-year study of life in Iowa’s small towns. In 1994, one town was selected from each of Iowa’s 99 counties to participate in a survey regarding various aspects of small-town living, with Waukon being the town selected to represent Allamakee County and 150 surveys distributed. The surveys were sent again in 2004 and a final time in 2014. Those three survey years were then used to identify trends and generate an average in the various categories to use as a baseline for comparison.

by Bob Beach

Tuesday, June 30 the Waukon Police Department and Allamakee County Sheriff’s Department conducted a search warrant at 13 Lyle Drive in Waukon. The warrant yielded a controlled substance (marijuana) and drug paraphernalia. Dakota Voves, age 24, was arrested and charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance (third or subsequent offense) - Marijuana and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.
The Waukon Police Department was also assisted by the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office K-9 unit. The filing of a criminal charge is only an accusation and the accused are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
 

“Every Hero has a Story” is this year’s theme for the 2015 Summer Reading Program (SRP) at Robey Memorial Library in Waukon. The four-week Reading Challenge runs from Monday, July 6 through Saturday, August 1. Children ages infant through sixth grade (completed) will be given prizes for each week of participation. Teens, grades seventh through 12th (completed), will receive prizes for reading, with a special prize for the top reader. Visit the library website or stop in for more details and participation rules.

The installation of the baghouse air filtration system (dark towering structure at left in above photo) at the Aveka Nutra Processing plant in Waukon should be complete by July 7, according to Aveka General Manager Bob Hendricks. While Aveka is no longer processing the product that was the cause of the majority of complaints about the smell from the facility, Hendricks said that the baghouse should help with any smells created by the use of the large dryer at the plant, adding that complaints have fallen off to almost nothing since Aveka stopped processing that certain product. Waukon City Clerk Al Lyon said that he had logged 56 e-mailed complaints since last summer in regard to smells from Aveka, but that the last complaint he has received was logged June 1 this year.
 

by Brianne Eilers

Erbal Ink Tattoos, owned and operated by Jay Erb, opened for business at a new downtown location at 32 Spring Avenue in Waukon June 15.
Erb completed his tattoo training at the Tattoo Learning Center in Rotterdam, NY in February of 2012 and has previously worked as a tattoo artist in New York, Pennsylvania, Florida and England.
A lifelong resident of Waukon, Erb is now the only licensed tattoo artist in Allamakee County. He says that opening his own business “just felt like the thing to do” and that creating art on human skin allows him to be himself. He hopes to continue tattooing for as long as he is able and to keep up with the challenges of the skin art people request.
Erbal Ink tattoos is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and Saturdays for walk-ins starting at 9 a.m. For more information, call 563-568-7509.
 

by Bob Beach

A one-block portion of Allamakee Street near the Allamakee County Fairgrounds in Waukon was either closed or trimmed to limited traffic for several hours Monday morning, June 15 as installation of the “baghouse” air filtration system began at the Aveka Nutraprocessing facility, requiring two large cranes to maneuver the largest portion of the system (pictured) into position. Plant owners and area residents are hopeful that the air filtration system will mitigate the smell emitted by the plant's food processing system that has been the cause of numerous complaints throughout this past year. Standard photo by Bob Beach.