Community News

submitted by the Waukon Chamber of Commerce

As the year comes to an end, so does a tourism project for the Waukon Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber was awarded an Iowa Tourism Grant to help promote a series of events and simultaneously build a digital media library. Chamber staff worked with non-profit Northeast Iowa RC&D and local business partners to accomplish the project, which helped promote the town to a broader audience and created a digital content legacy that will continue to benefit the community for years.

The project featured five Waukon events throughout 2024 including the Cupid Shuffle, Spring Fling, Corn Days, Wine with the Witches, and the Holiday Hop.  The project brought together multiple organizations that coordinated events over five weekends throughout the year to demonstrate to tourists that they could fill their weekends with activities in the community.

Scout Outreach has begun at the afterschool program for elementary schools in Waukon. Once a month at each school, including West Elementary, East Elementary and St. Patrick Schools, kids can take part in activities to learn about camping and Scouting. Scout Outreach is led by Scoutmaster Amy Russell and assisted by Troop 64 Scouts. Submitted photos.
 

by Joe Moses

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, December 16 to address a full agenda of matters including the appointment of a full-time Sheriff’s Deputy, consideration of the County Highway Safety Pledge, and the opening and consideration of County Farm pasture and cropland bids. The meeting was called to order by Board of Supervisors Chairperson Dan Byrnes with Supervisors Dennis Keatley and Mark Reiser present.

Robey Memorial Library in Waukon is honored to celebrate the career of Ellen Thiele, who will retire December 21 of this year after 30 years of service to the library and the Waukon community. In honor of her retirement, Robey Memorial Library will host a reception Saturday, December 21 in its community room from 1-4 p.m. The community is invited to share stories, memories and cake.

When Ellen Thiele began her library career in 1994 she was following in familiar footsteps. Her mother, Mrs. Ellen Thiele, served on Robey Memorial Library’s Board of Trustees for 25 years. During that time, the library moved from City Hall to its current location on First Avenue NW. Thiele’s work as a librarian saw the further expansion of the library in 2014. Her career, alongside her mother’s years of service, has profoundly impacted the Waukon community and made Robey Memorial Library become a leader in cultural and community life.

Waukon High School 2024 graduate Olivia Marti shares her experience, both in Iowa and globally

by Alaina Gebel

Globally, one child dies from hunger-related causes every 10 seconds. One-third of all food on the planet is wasted, and one out of three schools worldwide do not have safe water and sanitation. According to the World Food Prize website, by 2050, there will be at least nine billion people on the planet. Of those nine billion people projected to inhabit the planet, who is willing to solve the world’s global dilemmas?

Saturday, December 14, at 10 a.m., the Allamakee County Veterans Museum will present a program commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge during World War II at its museum located at 105 Allamakee Street in Waukon. The program will also be repeated Monday, December 16 at 10 a.m. at the museum.

The German Army’s attack on the Allied front lines in Belgium and Luxembourg in the Ardennes Forest through Bastogne and St. Vith was intended to seize the port of Antwerp in a last ditch effort to stop the Allied attack on the German homeland from the west. The Battle of the Bulge began December 16, 1944.

by Joe Moses

The Waukon City Council met in regular session Monday, December 2 to address a full agenda of matters including a Hazard Mitigation Plan presentation, discussion of the Fiscal-Year 2026 Budget and discussion of downtown signage relating to snow removal and parking.

The meeting was called to order by Mayor Arvid Hatlan with council members Steve Wiedner, Nicholas Engrav and Dave Blocker present in the City Council Chambers. Councilman Kevin Johnson was present via Zoom web-conferencing. There was no Public Comment with the meeting moving into Department Reports.

Again this year, as part of National Rural Health Day, Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) in Waukon has announced that it has earned the Performance Leadership Award for excellence in Patient Perspective. Compiled by The Chartis Center for Rural Health, the Performance Leadership Awards recognize top quartile performance (i.e., 75th percentile or above) among rural hospitals in Quality, Outcomes and/or Patient Perspective.

Each year, in honor of Giving Tuesday, Peoples State Bank gives a donation to local community food pantries in the area. In 2024 Peoples State Bank donated a total of $8,000 to local food pantries, including West Grant Lions Club, Clayton County Food Shelf, Coulee Cap Food Pantry, Gays Mills Food Pantry, Lancaster Food Pantry, Living Faith Food Pantry, Allamakee County Food Shelf and Six Rivers Food Pantry.

Pictured above at the donation presentation to the Allamakee County Food Shelf located in Waukon are: Left to right - Front row: Food Shelf volunteer Mary Axmear accepting the donation check from Peoples State Bank Ag Relationship Manager Dennis Lyons; Back row: Peoples State Bank Ag Relationship Manager Reid Mahoney, and Food Shelf volunteers Vicky Thorson, Gary Rumph and Charles Berg.

The Waukon City Council passed a new Winter Parking Ordinance at its November 18 meeting in an effort to better facilitate snow removal in the downtown Waukon area. The new ordinance is scheduled to go into effect from November 15 through April 1 each year, and will become effective immediately as of the publication of the ordinance in this week’s edition of The Standard (see Page 10).