Community News

The Allamakee County Veterans Museum will be offering its next public program at its museum located at 105 Allamakee Street, Waukon this Thursday, May 18, beginning at 1 p.m. There is no charge for admission and no membership requirements to attend the program presentation.

The late Dr. Frank Norden left his optometrist practice in Waukon in 1942 to join the U.S. Navy. Initially, he was assigned to medical duty, but he volunteered to go to sea and was assigned to a tugboat, the USS Sakaweston YTB-289, and he was later appointed its captain. He returned to Waukon in 1946 after discharge from naval service and resumed his optometrist practice.

His daughters, Kristen and Margaret, will share their recollections of his naval service. The program will also include a video tour of a typical WWII era military tugboat.

by Joe Moses

The Waukon City Council met in regular session Monday, May 15 to address a full agenda of matters including a Public Hearing Amending the Current City Budget, discussion of the process to fill the mayor vacancy, and discussion of changing the July 2023 City Council meeting dates.

Mayor Pro Tem Kevin Johnson called the meeting to order with approval of the meeting agenda to include the removal of one item relating to the Partial Pay Request of Retainage for the Wastewater Treatment Plant Project. Johnson noted this matter would be addressed at a later date.

This Friday, May 12, the original members of four local bands will be reuniting as “Bandmates, Brothers and Friends” from 6-10 p.m. at Goodfella’s in downtown Waukon. This benefit event features a reunion of 11 musicians from the local bands Rising Sun, Horizon, Jackson Junction and Deep River, sharing songs from the 1950s through the 1990s, both country and rock.

These four bands played all across the Midwest, but most often locally at the Waukon Opera House and the Drawing Board, Old Rossville Store, Dreamland Ballroom in Postville, Decorah’s Knob Hill and Matter’s Ballroom, and the Burr Oak Dance Hall.

The Allamakee County Pioneer Cemetery Commission is hosting an open house at the Freedom Bank lower level in Waukon Tuesday, May 16 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A short presentation will begin at 1 p.m. but those interested can stop in anytime for a cup of coffee.

Someone will be present to answer questions all day about the Commission. Anyone who cannot attend and has questions or information to share is asked to contact Commission member Marcia Rush at 563-880-3014.

On display at the May 16 open house will be pictures of work already done; copies of old cemetery plat maps; items and ideas to use to clean and preserve tombstones - and what not to use; as well as a map of Allamakee County with all the cemeteries.

by Joe Moses

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, May 8 to address a full agenda of matters including the consideration of the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, the Public Hearing for the Fiscal-Year 2023 (FY23) Allamakee County Budget Amendment and the Liquor License Renewal for Empty Nest Winery.

The meeting was called to order by Board of Supervisors Chairperson Dan Byrnes with Supervisors Dennis Keatley and Mark Reiser in attendance. There was no Public Comment during the time allotted for that agenda item.

Tuesday, May 2, the Next Gen Welds program through Waukon High School received a donation of $10,000 from Gemini at its Decorah location in an effort to provide funding and learning opportunities for students, in the interest of promoting local advanced manufacturing. More than a dozen students under the guidance of Waukon High School Industrial Arts instructor Caleb Ferring made the trip to the Gemini manufacturing facility in Decorah to receive the donation and also tour the facility.

The Allamakee County Veterans Museum will be offering its next public program at its museum located at 105 Allamakee Street, Waukon Thursday, May 18, beginning at 1 p.m. There is no charge for admission and no membership requirements to attend.

The late Dr. Frank Norden left his optometrist practice in Waukon in 1942 to join the U.S. Navy. Initially, he was assigned to medical duty, but he volunteered to go to sea and was assigned to a tugboat, the USS Sakaweston YTB-289, and later appointed its captain. He returned to Waukon in 1946 after discharge from naval service and resumed his practice.

His daughters, Kristen and Margaret, will share their recollections of his naval service. The program will also include a video tour of a typical WWII era military tugboat.

As predicted by the National Weather Service, water levels on the Mississippi River at the Lansing gauge reached their spring flooding crest Friday, April 28. However, the crest the Service forecasted of 20 feet that would have reached major flood stage and ranked second all-time behind the April 1965 record of 22.5 feet was, fortunately, off by about half a foot, ending up at 19.61 feet in Friday’s early morning hours. That crest is actually the fourth highest recorded by the National Weather Service at that Lansing measuring gauge, also behind the river’s most recent highest crest of 19.93 feet in April of 2001 and the earliest highest crest recorded of 19.90 feet in June of 1880.

Peoples State Bank’s new Waukon location recently received a First Dollar Visit from the Waukon Chamber of Commerce during a ribbon cutting ceremony held at the bank’s newly-opened building at 802 West Main Street in Waukon. Pictured above at that First Dollar presentation and ceremony are members of the Waukon Chamber of Commerce, employees of the Peoples State Bank Waukon location and members of the Peoples State Bank Board of Directors. Submitted photo.
 

The Allamakee County Pioneer Cemetery Commission is having an open house at the Freedom Bank lower level in Waukon Tuesday, May 16 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A short presentation will begin at 1 p.m. but those interested can stop in anytime for a cup of coffee.

Someone will be present to answer questions all day about the Commission. Anyone who cannot attend and has questions or information to share is asked to contact Commission member Marcia Rush.

A Pioneer Cemetery is defined as a cemetery that has 12 or fewer burials in the last 50 years. A Pioneer Cemetery may be an individual burial, a family plot or an area within an existing cemetery.

It is estimated that in 1996, Allamakee County had 20 cemeteries in the county plus six small plots and several single burials that would meet the qualifications of a Pioneer Cemetery. Since then, at least two more plots and one cemetery can be added to that list.