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Variety of free entertainment and events; Tickets for grandstand admission go on sale this Friday

The Allamakee County Fair Board continues to make plans for the 2020 Allamakee County Fair, an event that will be modified this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigation guidelines put in place as a result of that virus. Despite the modifications, all involved with the planning process have been working hard to provide the best variety of events and entertainment possible under the unprecedented situation presented by the pandemic virus.

The 2020 Allamakee County Dairy Days Parade was able to take place Monday, June 15 in Waukon, being postponed from its original date of June 1 due to concerns and mitigation guidelines in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the postponement and virus concerns, approximately 35 entries traveled the parade route with a good number of parade viewers lining the route as well. The annual celebration brings together those representing the future of the industry, such as the Allamakee County Dairy Ambassadors and Allamakee County Dairy Royalty (all pictured above), as well as those who have represented or supported the industry in a variety of ways currently and throughout its storied past in Allamakee County, all in an effort to recognize the importance of the dairy industry to all who live, work and play in Allamakee County.

For the second time in three weeks, and just the second time since case statistics began to be reported in March of this year, Allamakee County recorded another full Monday-to-Monday week of no new confirmed cases of COVID-19. This past week of no new cases follows a previous week of just one new case reported, which actually followed the first week of no new cases for the county.

The 2020 U.S. Census has been underway since early spring this year, basically limited to self-reporting mode thus far due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With U.S. residents being invited via mail to complete the Census online, over the telephone or through the mail itself, Allamakee County ranks as one of the lowest counties in the state of Iowa in regard to self-response rate to that counting measure.

As of Monday, June 15, the state of Iowa average for self-response was listed at 67.5% overall, with Allamakee County’s response rate being listed at just 54.0%, which ranks 97th out of all of Iowa’s 99 counties. Only Ringgold County (53.3%) in southwest Iowa and Dickinson County (43.0%) in northwest Iowa have lower response rates from their residents. The last time the U.S. Census was conducted, in 2010, the state of Iowa response rate was 73%.

by Lissa Blake

What started out as a way to help a family member, turned into a way to help hundreds of others.

“It’s been an interesting journey,” said Tina Lyon, Waukon, of the 400 masks she and her sister, Michele Stahl, have sewn for people since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March of this year.

Lyon said the idea for sewing masks got started as an effort to help her step-daughter have some clean N-95 mask covers. As a retired nurse with 30 years experience, Lyon said she understood the importance of trying to slow the spread of COVID-19 through the wearing of masks.

“Al’s daughter, Amanda Horne, works in Cedar Rapids in a dialysis unit. At the time, she was expecting, and masks were in short supply, so she was having to use the same one each day. I thought it would be nice to try and sew some mask covers for her, so she had several,” recalled Lyon.

Once she made the mask covers, she thought, “I can do better than this.”

The closure of Wisconsin Highway 82 (WIS 82) across the Mississippi River between Wisconsin Highway 35 (WIS 35) and the Black Hawk Bridge at Lansing has now been extended to July 2, according to Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) officials. The closure, originally scheduled for June 6-14, has been extended to accommodate additional construction activities along 1.4 miles of WIS 82 between the intersection of WIS 82/WIS 35 and the Black Hawk Bridge over the Mississippi River.

Project Manager Travis Buros of the Wisconsin DOT explained that when crews opened one of the smaller slough bridges they were working on as part of the planned improvement project they discovered some necessary repair work that they had not anticipated. He said that the worst case scenario is that the highway will now be closed through July 2. However, he said if weather cooperates and work is relatively straightforward, the closure could end as early as June 24.

Fair Board, ISU Extension finalizing plans with mitigation guidelines in mind for early July event

Following a lengthy meeting Wednesday, June 3, the Allamakee County Fair Board has made the decision to continue plans to host the 2020 Allamakee County Fair, but in a modified format due to the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigation guidelines put in place as a result of that virus. The board sought input from the Allamakee County Public Health Department, Allamakee County Emergency Management and a variety of City and County officials in making the decision, working in conjunction with the Iowa State University (ISU) Extension Allamakee County office to help make the decision on whether to proceed with the annual event and now working on details of just what a modified version of the Allamakee County Fair will entail.

by Lissa Blake

After six years of planning, New Albin’s new splashpad site is starting to take shape.

According to Splashpad Project Coordinator Betsy Whitlatch, the idea to create a family-friendly place for people of all ages started about six years ago. Alexie Grotegut and Hope Lemke founded New Albin Improvement League (NAIL) in 2014, along with several other New Albin residents, with the goal of building a splashpad in the community. Six years later, NAIL organizers and many other volunteers are still working toward fully accomplishing this goal, but are beginning to see the end in sight.

The Allamakee County Dairy Promotion Board has rescheduled its Annual Dairy Days Parade to Monday, June 15, postponed from its original June 1 date due to COVID-19 restrictions. The parade will be held in Waukon, beginning at 7:30 p.m. The route will begin at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds in Waukon, traveling south down Allamakee Street to the stoplight intersection and then west on Main Street to the Post Office, where it will then turn north on Second Street NW and travel to Eighth Avenue NW, turning east to return back to its original fairgrounds location.

No candy or other treats or items are allowed to be thrown or shared by parade participants. All parade entrants and parade viewers are reminded to conduct themselves according to the proper social distancing guidelines. The Allamakee Dairy Wagon and Allamakee County Cattlemen will be at the Waukon City Park serving their respective specialties, beginning at 4 p.m.

Kelleher and Reiser win party nominations for Board of Supervisors, other races mirror broader results

The Tuesday, June 2 Primary Election yielded one of the best voter turn-outs for Allamakee County in recent history, actually about double the percentage of registered voters as in more recent best turn-outs with 35.41% of the county’s registered voters casting a ballot this year. Of those 2,377 votes cast in this year’s Primary Election, a vast majority of those - 2,063 votes - came in the form of absentee ballots, a process encouraged by Allamakee County Commissioner of Elections Denise Beyer and Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate for this election due to the COVID-19 pandemic.