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After traveling a different route last year, The Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited (CPKC) Holiday Train is scheduled to make its return to the Lansing and New Albin areas again this year as part of its 2025 trek to help raise money, food and awareness for local food banks in communities along the CPKC network. The festive railway celebration is scheduled to make its way through northeast Iowa Monday, November 24, traveling southward this year instead of northward as in year’s past and making Allamakee County stops in New Albin and Lansing that afternoon, before continuing south to Marquette, Guttenberg and Dubuque that same Monday.

The Iowa and Wisconsin Departments of Transportation (DOT) announced Tuesday, October 7 that they will be permanently closing the Black Hawk Bridge between Lansing and Crawford County, WI Monday, October 20 at 7 a.m. in order to facilitate further construction of the new bridge spanning that same area, with that new bridge scheduled to open in spring of 2027. The October 20 closing date follows an initial announcement made July 14 of this year that the Black Hawk Bridge would have to be permanently closed much earlier than originally anticipated in the bridge project plans due to the driving of pile used to support the steel being utilized to build the new bridge causing movement and impacting the integrity and safety of the Black Hawk Bridge beyond allowable protocols.

The Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office reports that Tuesday, September 30 at 10:39 a.m., the Allamakee County Dispatch Center received a 911 call reporting that portions of a hillside involving heavy rocks had slid down into a house in the rural Harpers Ferry area and a male resident of the home was unable to be located.

Emergency personnel responded to the 1100 block of Red Oak Road north of Harpers Ferry in rural Allamakee County. Upon arrival, first responders located Michael Dan Stok, age 76, of Harpers Ferry inside the residence, and verified that he had been struck by a large rock as it crashed through the back wall of the home, causing fatal injuries and resulting in Stok being pronounced deceased at the scene.

Everyone is invited to join area youth on athletic fields across the nation this Wednesday evening, October 8 in sharing their Christian faith with other students and the general public for this year’s Fields of Faith event. The local event is now in its 14th year and will open to the public at 6:30 p.m., with the event scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at the Waukon High School football field that October 8 evening, or in the Waukon High School gym in the event of inclement weather.

Main Street Lansing, in conjunction with the Lansing Lions Club, the City of Lansing, the Light the Way Committee and other community organizations and businesses, is planning a Black Hawk Bridge Memorial Day Farewell Celebration scheduled for this Saturday, October 11, prior to the upcoming closure and demolition of the Black Hawk Bridge. A variety of community events are being planned throughout the day this Saturday, with that day culminating in a Memorial Party at T.J. Hunter’s throughout the afternoon and a Last Lighting of the Bridge Party at Shep’s Patio along the riverfront of the waters over which the Black Hawk Bridge has spanned for nearly a century.

Tuesday, November 4 is scheduled as the City/School Election to determine which candidates will be elected by voters to leadership positions at the most local levels of government and guidance. Out of the six communities and three school districts within Allamakee County, there will be a total of five contested races, according to candidate listings from the Allamakee County Auditor’s Office following the September 18 candidate filing deadline.

CITY GOVERNMENT
There are five mayor seats up for election within the six Allamakee County communities featuring a city government system. Lansing is the only community where the mayor’s office is not on this year’s ballot, and that community’s three at-large city council seats on this year’s ballot are all being pursued by current incumbent candidates Stan Schwartzhoff, Mike Manning and Steve Murray, with none of those three having a declared opponent in this year’s election.

To commemorate the closing of the Black Hawk Bridge in Lansing, a group of Model A automobile enthusiasts took “one last trip” over the bridge Monday, September 22.

Drivers of the vintage vehicles were members of the Hawk A Model A Ford Club, founded in January 1971 and based in Cedar Rapids. The non-profit organization is dedicated to preserving and promoting the 1928-1931 Ford Model A. “[The Black Hawk Bridge] opened in 1931, the last year of the Model A Ford production,” says Dennis Zuber, of Homestead (one of the Amana colonies), who started creating club tours with his wife, Elaine, in 2007. “With thousands of Model A [vehicles] crossing that bridge in those first few years, it was only fitting we celebrated with a Model A-crossing at the end.”

Everyone is invited to join area youth on athletic fields across the nation Wednesday, October 8 in sharing their Christian faith with other students and the general public for this year’s Fields of Faith event. The local event is now in its 14th year and will open to the public at 6:30 p.m., with the event scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at the Waukon High School football field that October 8 evening, or in the Waukon High School gym in the event of inclement weather.

by Brianne Grimstad

U.S. Senator for Iowa Chuck Grassley made a stop in Waukon at Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) in Waukon for a tour of the facility and a question and answer session with VMH personnel Thursday, September 25 during his 45th annual tour of Iowa’s 99 counties. This was the senator’s first visit back to VMH since he made a stop there back in 2017.

Senator Grassley was given a tour of the hospital, led by VMH Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael Coyle. Coyle provided a brief history of the hospital and showed the senator around the main floor of the facility, pointing out the various services provided by VMH, as well as discussing some of the areas that were not viewed on the tour, including Community and Home Care-Public Health and Obstetrics.

Waukon High School seniors Zach Perkins and Avalea Burns were crowned Waukon High School's 2025 Homecoming King and Queen at the "Burning of the W" pep rally held Thursday evening, September 18 at Waukon High School. Additional photos of Waukon High School's 2025 Homecoming events are featured on Page 32 in this week's issue, as well as coverage of the Waukon football team's Homecoming victory over Forest City featured on Page 17. Even more photos from this year’s Homecoming festivities can also be found at the Photos link on this webpage.

Pick up the Wednesday, September 24, 2025 print edition of The Standard or subscribe to our e-edition or print edition by clicking here.