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Ozzie Quandahl selected as Grand Marshal in Waukon

After being modified - or even canceled altogether - last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the Memorial Day observances in the local area will return to their traditional format this year in honor of those who made the ultimate sacrifice in serving their country. With the exception of the community of New Albin and its yet modified observance this year, the traditions of parades, full cemetery programs and wreath laying will be returning to area communities.

Memorial Day 2021 observances in the area communities of Waukon, Lansing, Harpers Ferry and New Albin are further detailed in the boxed listings surrounding this article. All are scheduled for Monday, May 31.

The Allamakee County Dairy Promotion Board has scheduled its 2021 Allamakee County Dairy Banquet for Saturday, June 12 at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds Pavilion. The meal will be served from 7-8:30 p.m. and the awards program starts at 8 p.m. Tickets may be purchased at the door.

The annual Allamakee County Dairy Banquet celebration recognizes the importance of the dairy industry in Allamakee County and the contributions dairy families make to the industry. Every year top producers from the county are recognized at the banquet. In addition, several other awards are presented that evening. The 2021 Allamakee County Dairy Princess will also be crowned.

by Julie Berg-Raymond

Lesya Ryzhenkova - originally from Ukraine and co-owner with her partner, Mike Kolsrud, of The Good Life Gallery and Frame Shop in Lansing - recently turned in the green card she has been carrying for nine years and became a citizen of the United States.
“But I still have my Ukranian soul inside of me,” Lesya says.

When visitors and locals head to Lansing’s annual “Taste of Lansing” Thursday, May 27, they’ll find Lesya, body and soul, serving her homemade vareniki - a dumpling stuffed with meat, potato or cabbage filling, and a national dish of her birth country.

“Taste of Lansing” is Thursday, May 27, from 4:30 to 7 p.m. One ticket allows the purchaser to walk to the community businesses and taste the food they have to offer. Tickets will be available at Main Street Lansing, Red Geranium, and Kerndt Brothers Bank. Each ticket purchase is entered into a drawing for a $100 prize.

Waukon native Paul Osterholm has an inspiring story to tell in regard to organ donation, and that story is now part of a book that not only became available in late April of this year but also climbed to Best Seller status on Amazon just a few days following its release. Osterholm will be returning to his native hometown Saturday, May 29 with the woman he shares that story and - as of October 2018 - one of his kidneys with for a book donation presentation and signing event at Robey Memorial Library.

“Because of Organ Donation: A Collection of Inspiring Stories Celebrating the Gift of Life” is a collection of 25 organ donation stories from a variety of individuals, including NASCAR Cup driver Joey Gase telling his late mother’s story, with a forward written by Bill Ryan, President and CEO of Transplant Games of America and the Transplant Life Foundation.

As of Monday, May 17 both the Allamakee Community School District (ACSD) and the Eastern Allamakee Community School District (EACSD) are no longer requiring the wearing of masks by students or staff in their school buildings. Those decisions were announced this past weekend by each district’s Superintendent in released statements following Iowa Department of Public Health guidance issued Friday, May 14 that was based on a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announcement Thursday, May 13 that those fully vaccinated do not need to wear masks outdoors nor in many indoor settings.

Flatland Ridge will open Friday’s music performance; Full slate of new and traditional activities planned

For the many who were disappointed that the headline musical grandstand act at the 2020 Allamakee County Fair was one of the many events that fell victim to the COVID-19 pandemic this past year, this year’s Fair will offer that same opportunity to rock with the next best thing to legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Bon Jovi. That musical headliner is just part of the planned full Fair experience the Allamakee County Fair Board is working to return to this year after last year’s modified version due to the pandemic.

by Joe Moses

Iowa Senator Charles Grassley held a Q&A session Tuesday, May 4 at the Waukon Wellness Center’s Community Room as part of his annual 99-County Tour, an effort to hear directly from his constituents about issues affecting Iowans. Over 20 individuals were in attendance representing a cross section of business, industry, health care and economic development within Allamakee County.

CEO Michael Coyle of Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) in Waukon began the discussion with Grassley by providing some background relating to the recent opening of the VMH Waukon Medical Clinic. Coyle discussed the Mayo Clinic’s decision to leave that clinic space a year and a half ago, leaving many without a local primary health care provider. Coyle noted that the Gundersen Clinic on the VMH campus has done a great job in serving patients but with the loss of the Mayo Clinic, there was a need for additional providers in this community.

by Lissa Blake

Customer Service representatives are often the heart and soul of successful organizations.

And in order for a community to be successful, it has to make sure those representatives have the tools to promote their assets.

Beginning June 1, Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC), in partnership with Allamakee County Economic Development (ACED) and Tourism, will offer an “earn and learn” month-long class (33 hours of class instruction) to help local businesses and existing or potential workers develop their customer service skills. At the end of the course, participants will earn a customer service certificate.

The Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) Medical Clinic is now open, offering primary family health care to the entire northeast Iowa area with the opening of its doors for the first time Monday, May 3. The new clinic is located in the former Mayo Clinic building on East Main Street in Waukon, with Mayo Clinic having ceased operations in Waukon in December 2019.

Renovation of the clinic building began in January of this year and was completed in April. The building now meets the privacy and technology needs required by rural health care clinics today.

“Now, with both the Gundersen Clinic and VMH Waukon Clinic, northeast Iowa has the access to primary health care they need and deserve,” VMH officials shared.

by Julie Berg-Raymond

People who live near the Upper Mississippi River in northeast Iowa tend to know a lot about that river.

They know about its long (and, increasingly, long-ago) history of commercial fishing, and many of them have their own favorite fishing spots among the great river’s “lakes” and backwaters; their local media provides river levels throughout the season, alongside other news and informational reports. They think of the first barge the way other people think of the first robin - as a sure sign that spring has arrived.

But here’s a fact even many river town dwellers may not know: The Guinness World Record for paddling by canoe the 2,300-mile length of the Mississippi River is 18 days, four hours and 51 minutes - set in 2003, by Bob Bradford and Clark Eid.