River Valley

by Susan Cantine-Maxson

The Lansing Splash Pad, also locally known as the Big Splash Project, officially opened for public use Monday, June 22 at the Lansing City Park behind the ball diamond along South Front Street.

Arlen Wonderlich, along with Steve Casterton, on behalf of the City of Lansing and its Park and Recreation organization, spent the past two years raising money for the construction of the splash pad, adjacent to the new “Our Ship of Dreams” playground made possible by the Lansing Lions Club three years ago.

While the splash pad team will be making a few more tweaks to fine tune the water pressure on the splash pad, it is now open from 1 p.m. to dusk daily from now until mid-September. Those using the splash pad can hit a giant red button that sits atop a white post (pictured at far right in the photo at right) to start the water flow. The water will run for three minutes, when it can then be reactivated for continued use.

Public reading event scheduled to be held July 11 in Lansing

The 2020 Allamakee Bible Reading Marathon is ongoing now through Tuesday, July 14. Residents of Allamakee County can participate by requesting one or more 30-minute segment(s) of scripture by using one of the following measures:

1. The SignUpGenius website: Visit https://tinyurl.com/2020AllamakeeBibleMarathon
OR
2. Text or call this number: 563-217-9814. This phone number is operational from 7 a.m.-7 p.m., Monday-Friday through July 14.

Participants can start reading their chosen segment(s) immediately, completing them at their convenience, wherever and with whomever they wish. The goal of the marathon each year is to read the entire bible throughout Allamakee County from Genesis through Revelation.

Main Street Lansing, in partnership with Main Street Iowa, needs the public’s help to assess the impacts of COVID-19 on Lansing as the community enters and progresses through its reopening and recovery phases. Main Street Lansing is requesting that both visitors and residents fill out the survey at the website link below that should take about three minutes or less to complete.

Responses will be valuable to their efforts, and the efforts of Lansing businesses, to welcome the public back to a clean, safe and comfortable setting; and to strategize and prioritize actions as the community continues to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. All information is collected anonymously.

The survey will only be available until Monday, July 13, so everyone is encouraged to act quickly and to also invite others to participate. The survey can be accessed at the following link: https://getfoureyes.com/s/2efhx/.
 

by Joe Moses

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, June 22 to address a full agenda of items including allowing the placement of the Freedom Rock near the County Museum, Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) agreements for County Bridge Funding and COVID-19 related matters.

During Public Comment, Executive Director Val Reinke of Allamakee County Economic Development (ACED) discussed supplying Driftless Byway maps to various locations during recent in-person visits. Reinke indicated that tourism related information requests relating to cabins, kayaking, among other tourism related requests continue with 150 mailings being sent in response recently. Reinke provided an overview of several upcoming and ongoing events within the county with restaurant/shopping maps being made available at several events including Waukon’s Music in the Park concerts each Thursday.

June 5, representatives of Lansing’s American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post installed new signage at the entrance to Mt. Hosmer Memorial Veterans Park on Sixth Street in Lansing. The sign contains metal emblems of the American Legion and VFW and a brief narrative about the origin of the park, which was created by Lansing’s Legion Post 50 and gifted to the City of Lansing in 1923 as a World War I Memorial. Three more veterans memorials were added to the park over the years. Installation of the sign, assembled by Tumbleweed Welding of Lansing, helps to mark the 100th anniversary of the Legion.

Organizers of River Bluff Daze in Ferryville, WI have announced that events associated with the annual celebration have been canceled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those events include the Antique Tractor Pull, morning hike on Sugar Creek Bluff, kid’s games and fireworks display at dusk, all previously scheduled for Saturday, July 25.

“Our first concern is for the public health of our community and our visitors,” organizers shared in explaining the cancellation. “We are all very disappointed, and we look forward to having a grand celebration for River Bluff Daze in July 2021. Thank you for your support and understanding.”

The quilt raffle held annually as part of the event will also be postponed until 2021. Those who have already purchased raffle tickets will have those added to any sold in 2021 and still be eligible for the drawing.

Coffee on the River, located along the Mississippi River in Lansing, has been honored with the “Best Small Commercial Project” award from Preservation Iowa. Coffee on the River was one of 14 projects recognized during the annual “Preservation at Its Best” awards ceremony held June 4. The ceremony, held during the Preserve Iowa Summit, was originally set to take place in Dubuque, but due to COVID-19 it was instead hosted digitally.

Bruce Perry, President of Preserve Iowa, verbally presented the award to Coffee on the River owners Diana Wilson-Thompson and Wendi Eiden. Perry stated that Coffee on the River was a remarkable project, using a modest business loan and 1,500 hours of their own time to transform an 1868 grain elevator into the only coffee shop in Lansing. Perry further highlighted their interior design that reflects both the period of construction and contemporary standards, utilizing reclaimed furniture and scrap lumber when possible.

Marylu and John Baker of Lansing recently noticed a bird which seemed unusual for their neighborhood and soon discovered that a racing pigeon had come calling. Marylu noticed a band on the pigeon’s foot and felt the need to find out where the pigeon belonged. The Bakers gave the pigeon water and food, and it seemed content to hang out on the deck of their home, except when it followed John into the house; it was obviously tame.

Main Street Lansing Executive Director Andy Kelleher released the following statement on determining the future of the Farmers’ Market held in Lansing this year:

In the past, Main Street Lansing has held its farmers’ market in the Main Street Plaza. Over the past couple years, we have received a suggestion to relocate the farmers’ market to Lioness Park (the green space next to the sports complex, where the gazebo is located).

Reasons supporting the move include better parking, easier access, more shade, and more room for expansion. Reasons against a move include lack of foot traffic and lack of visibility. Every time we have received this suggestion, we have discussed it with both the Main Street Lansing Board of Directors and the vendors themselves; both groups have always been in agreement that the benefits of foot traffic and visibility far outweighed any other considerations, and therefore decided to remain in the Main Street Plaza.

Mississippi River Pool 9 fishing guide Capt.  Ted Peck’s latest book “Tails, Trails & Tales with the Old Guide” (pictured at left) is now available through Amazon.com in paperback, on Kindle ebooks and through retail sales outlets. The book is a collection of vintage outdoor columns and magazine articles Peck has written the past 20 years.

Peck said “unprecedented events with an uncertain future” was his primary reason for releasing the book at this time, 10 years after publishing his first book “Mississippi Musings with the Old Guide” in 2010.

“Life in these United States may never return to the normalcy we knew in pre-COVID times,” Peck said. “My intent with this book is to provide folks who love the outdoors with a back trail to reference as our country moves forward.”