River Valley

The Lansing Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Auxiliary Post #5981 and the New Albin VFW Auxiliary Post #5603 recently selected the winners of their Annual Elementary School Essay Contest. Students in third through fifth grades at New Albin Elementary School participated in the contest. The top entries from each grade level are pictured in the surrounding submitted photos, including information about any of their results at the District level of competition.

Ferryville Vision and Promotion Board (FVPB) announces the return of its Sweetheart Pancake Breakfast scheduled for this Saturday, February 25 from 8-11 a.m. in the Ferryville Village Hall. The breakfast was last held in 2020.

All of the profits will be used by the Ferryville Vision and Promotion Board for its annual projects. This includes the barrel planters that are placed throughout the village and the plantings at River View Park from May through October. For more information, follow the organization on its Facebook page at facebook.com/ferryvillewi.
 

The New Albin City Council is seeking input from the public on the possibility of installing speed cameras within its city limits along State Highway 26 that runs through the community. As a supplementary source of speed limit enforcement in light of the limited police presence in the community of New Albin, the cameras would reportedly track traffic speeds and result in the mailing of speeding tickets when vehicles are clocked at 10 or more miles an hour over the posted speed limit, with a majority of that fine revenue being received by the City of New Albin.

Lesya Ryzhenkova and her family earned a reputation for their Ukrainian cuisine last year in a free-will donation fundraiser for the Ukraine war effort in March of 2022, shortly after the beginning of the Russian conflict with the family’s native country. Offering specialties such as Varenyky and Chicken Kyiv, residents of the Driftless region enjoyed the offerings and wondered when they might be able to enjoy them again.

From that demand evolved Ryzhenkova’s new venture to provide weekly carryout meals through her “Facebook Restaurant” called Ukrainian Village. With the new meal service launching Sunday, March 12, Ryzhenkova and her family will hold a Ukrainian Day and Open House at Lansing Office Works and Kitchen Works Sunday, February 26 where visitors can sample a variety of these specialties and note their favorites to prepare for their orders in March.

by Julie Berg-Raymond

During its regular meeting Monday, February 6, the Lansing City Council approved a City of Lansing Parks Board request to apply for a Wellmark Grant related to “environments to be physically active in” for 2023, with matching funds up to $10,000 to be provided by the City of Lansing. The funding would be used to resurface and update the City’s sports courts.

“The budget is about $40,000 and it’s a 50/50 match,” Parks and Recreation Board Chairperson Maryann Baldwin noted. “We’ll request half that from Wellmark. Ten thousand dollars of the match funds will come from the City and we’ll be looking for additional contributions from private donors and fundraising for the other $10,000.”

The council also approved a request by the Water and Sewer Department to submit a grant application for water/wastewater generators through the Allamakee County Community Foundation Grant Program, with that grant application due February 24.

All are invited to a Soup and Salad Supper red table cloth event this Thursday, February 9 at the Ferryville Village Hall from 5-7 p.m. Freewill donation proceeds will go 100% to the upgrades being planned and completed at the Ferryville Village Hall. Bathroom renovations have been the first priority for these upgrades, and the work is already progressing.

For additional information, see the advertisement on Page 4 in this week’s edition of The Standard.
 

The Mississippi Valley Sportsman’s Club presented Lansing Iowa Food Trust (LIFT) with a check for $1,040 at the end of the calendar year 2022. Meeting with the Sportsman’s Club representatives were volunteers who assist with LIFT stocking Tuesdays and distribution Wednesdays. Pictured above, left to right, at the check presentation are LIFT volunteers Pastor James Buckhahn, Jean and Bob Protsman, and Donna Johnson, and Mississippi Valley Sportsman’s Club representatives Tony Diersen, Dan Mattson and Jim Berry. Submitted photo.
 

Main Street Lansing will be holding an inaugural Trivia Night event Saturday, February 11 with all proceeds benefiting the Main Street Lansing organization’s historic preservation and economic development efforts in 2023 and beyond. The event will be held at TJ Hunter’s Banquet Hall at 377 Main Street in Lansing and will feature a grand prize of $1,000 to the winning trivia team.

Trivia questions will cover a wide variety of topics and additional games of chance will be held in between trivia rounds, so everyone has a chance to win. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. with trivia beginning at 6 p.m.

The City of Lansing is seeking community input from residents and visitors to help create a vision for local community development for the future. This process is important so the City of Lansing and city and county organizations can plan projects and development with the input from community members at the front of the decision making process.

The survey is available online at the following link: https://confideresearch.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8DgiKvl538hK21g. A link to that survey can also be found at the Lansing, Iowa website, Lansingiowa.com. The survey will be open for the public to complete through February 5.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds recently announced that 23 communities in the state of Iowa have been awarded a total of $9 million in grants to advance water quality projects. The funding is made available through the Wastewater and Drinking Water Treatment Financial Assistance Program, which was created as a part of Senate File 512, the first legislation signed into law by Governor Reynolds in January 2018.

Among those grant award distributions was the City of New Albin, which received $500,000 for its new wastewater treatment project that is currently under construction. The innovative and more environmentally conscious Algaewheel treatment system broke ground in May 2022 in New Albin. The $4.3 million project was anticipated to be completed within approximately 18 months of that groundbreaking date, according to project engineers.