Community News

Who can resist going to a Wild West show? Certainly not the Allamakee Community Players. Complete with Annie Oakley (played by Rachel Hagen), Frank Butler (Karsten Snitker), Chief Sitting Bull (Barry Mueller), and Buffalo Bill (Paul Wesling), the stage was set for bringing this sharp shooting rivalry to life at the Postville Fine Arts Center in July of 2005. The haunting ballads and competitive songs filled the audience with great memories. Allamakee Community Players, Inc. is planning a medley show entitled "A Night to Remember" for June 25 that will feature bits and pieces of past performances such as the one pictured above and other memories involving the local volunteer group that shares a love for theater and has entertained local residents for nearly half a century. Submitted photo.
 

The kick-off of the 2016 Great Cycle Challenge officially begins June 1 and local residents Tracey Tepesch and Linda Wilder are ready to take on this challenge once again. Over the next four weeks, they will bicycle over at least 700 combined miles while raising money for Children's Cancer Research. Their goal is to raise $10 for every mile they pedal in June, hoping to reach their goal of $7,000, but they are asking for the support of the whole community to make this a success. Anyone who may happen to see them out pedaling during the next four weeks is encouraged to give them a honk in support of their efforts.

The group of volunteers pictured above spent Saturday morning, May 21 doing their share to make their hometown look as good as it can by participating in the annual "Keep Waukon Beautiful Day". The annual event is hosted by the Dr. Steve and Stefanie Perkins family and allows local residents the opportunity to pitch in and clean up various areas throughout the community (as evident in the surrounding photos). Standard photos by Krystal Johnson.
 

In honor of the 150th anniversary of the Iowa State Fair in June of 2004, the cast of the Allamakee Community Players took the audience on a trip to the Iowa State Fair. The cast of "State Fair" that year consisted of people from Lansing, Postville, Waterville and Waukon. The story centered around the Frake family from Brunswick, Iowa and their adventures at the Iowa State Fair. A side note would be the fact that the song “It Might As Well Be Spring,” sung by the heroine Margy Frake, was the Academy Award winning song of the year in 1946. Allamakee Community Players is planning a medley show entitled "A Night to Remember" for June 25 that will feature bits and pieces of past performances and other memories involving the local volunteer group that shares a love for theater and has entertained local residents for nearly half a century. Submitted photo.
 

For many, buckling up in a vehicle is second nature.  However, in 2014, 9,385 people nationwide lost their lives as a result of not buckling their seat belt; and in Iowa in 2014, 118 of the 322 crash fatalities were not buckled up. In the predominantly rural state of Iowa, it is important to note that nationally 61 percent of pick-up truck fatalities were not buckled. Iowa’s seat belt compliance rate is at 93 percent, one of the best in the nation but, still, too many of the state’s traffic fatalities are unbelted.

For many, buckling up in a vehicle is second nature.  However, in 2014, 9,385 people nationwide lost their lives as a result of not buckling their seat belt; and in Iowa in 2014, 118 of the 322 crash fatalities were not buckled up. In the predominantly rural state of Iowa, it is important to note that nationally 61 percent of pick-up truck fatalities were not buckled. Iowa’s seat belt compliance rate is at 93 percent, one of the best in the nation but, still, too many of the state’s traffic fatalities are unbelted.

by Joe Moses

The Waukon City Council met in regular session at City Hall Monday, May 16 to discuss a full agenda of items including storm sewer improvements, property zoning changes and downtown trash receptacles.

Friday, May 13, officers from the Waukon Police Department police conducted a traffic stop on Rossville Road in Waukon. As a result of the traffic stop, a 17 year old male juvenile was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance. The juvenile was subsequently released to a parent. A criminal charge is merely an accusation and defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
 

The Waukon Park, Recreation and Wellness Department began the process of filling Indian Springs Pond in the Waukon City Park this past week, reversing the drainage measures taken last year before the recently-completed dredging project at the pond took place during the late winter and early spring this year. The dredging of the pond was a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)-funded project following the summer flooding of 2013 and was completed by Jim Hanson. In addition to increasing the depth of the pond, the project also involved the installation of some fish habitat (pallets and greenery visible in the far end of the pond in the above photo), which will welcome bluegill stocked by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources later this summer, as well as catfish and bass next summer. The geese that have made the pond their summer home have recently returned to the pond as well.

The fourth annual "Thunder in the Park" event will be held in the Waukon City Park Saturday and Sunday, June 11 and 12. Confederate and Union camps will transform the peaceful rolling hills of the park into a living photograph of the past.

Attendees of the event will be able to talk with men, women and children in the camps who bring the past to life by portraying families affected by this country’s battle with itself. One might even catch a glimpse of President Abraham Lincoln, portrayed by Lance Mack, as he strolls through the park.

The Patent Medicine and Magic Show of Professor Chalmers Bodkin-Childs includes snake oil being transformed into a healing elixir. A bit of sleight of hand and magic tricks also make up that hour-long show.