Community News

A total of 110 participants ages 10 and under took part in the Annual 4-H Toppers Easter Egg Hunt held Saturday, March 30 at the Waterville Community Center, Waterville. The 4-H club and other event organizers appreciate the support provided to the event by the Waterville Community Foundation, 4-H Toppers 4-H club families, Allamakee Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP), Fareway, the Allamakee County Fair Board, Midwest Dental, Nita Grangaard, Waterville Fire Department, Dunkin’ Donuts, Allamakee County Iowa State University (ISU) Extension and the Waterville Community Center and City of Waterville.

Midwest Veterans of America will be hosting its 2024 Midwest Pie Championship from 1-3 p.m. Sunday, April 14 in the Community Room of FreedomBank in Waukon. The event will feature both a pie judging and a pie eating contest, along with an auction.

The  pie judging will take place at 1 p.m. and will feature competition classes for apple, pumpkin, raisin cream, nuts, fruits and berries, meat and best decorated pies. Judging will be based on taste and flavor, creativity and overall impression, with ribbons distributed for first-, second- and third-place winners. All pies to be judged must be accompanied by their recipe and delivered on site by 1 p.m.

A pie eating contest will take place at 2 p.m. with some local celebrities competing in the event. Anyone attending the event can also enjoy all the pie they can eat for a $5 fee, with ice cream, whipped cream and fruit available to go along with any pie. Pies will also be auctioned off at 3 p.m.

A total of 27 area military veterans from the Vietnam War era were honored during an event hosted Saturday, March 30 at AJ Bar & Grill in Waukon. The event was hosted by Midwest Veterans of America and included each of those veterans receiving a plaque and small American flag, in addition to rounds of applause and gratitude from the many in attendance for their years of service to their country. Many of those honored veterans are pictured in the photo at right, standing on the staircase at AJ Bar & Grill for a group photo, and many of their family members, friends and acquaintances were also in attendance to witness and share in their honoring. The event was emceed by retired U.S. Army Master Sergeant Kevin Herman, a 1984 graduate of Waukon High School, who is pictured standing among the honored veterans in the middle of the top row of the photo. Standard photo by Joe Moses.
 

The 12th Rusty Rides Run scheduled for this Saturday, April 6 will benefit Vera Ahlstrom, five-year-old daughter of Justin and Ashley Ahlstrom of Waukon. In June of 2018, at the age of six months old, Vera was diagnosed with Alternating Hemiplegia of Childhood (AHC), a rare, life-threatening neurological disease affecting approximately one in one million people.

AHC impacts Vera in a number of ways, with the most common episode being paralysis (hemiplegia) to her left or right side and her most severe episodes involving bouts of full body paralysis and severe dystonia, which is a movement disorder that causes the muscles to contract involuntarily. When working through episodes of this type, she is unable to eat or drink anything other than a small syringe of water at a time. Anything more and she could aspirate as her esophagus, larynx and trachea do not function correctly.

Tuesday, March 12, Cub Scout Pack 64 in Waukon went “Scouting for Food” around Waukon. In just an hour and a half, the Scouts collected 724 pounds of food and $28 in donations (such as pictured above), resulting in a record amount of food the Scouts have donated to the Allamakee County Food Shelf. “The Waukon community came out to help like always and made it a successful food drive for the Scouts!” local Scout leaders shared. “Some even dropped food off at the Allamakee Farm Bureau office to make sure the Scouts got their donation!” Submitted photos.
 

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met Wednesday, March 27 for the required Public Hearing for the County’s Proposed Property Tax Levy for Fiscal-Year 2025 (FY25).

The meeting was called to order by Board of Supervisors Chairperson Dan Byrnes with Supervisors Dennis Keatley and Mark Reiser present. Members of the public in attendance included Tom Clark, John Sweeney and Executive Director Val Reinke of Allamakee County Economic Development (ACED).

The Public Hearing was opened with County Auditor Denise Beyer providing an overview of the letter that taxpayers received prior to the date of this meeting and hearing relating to the County’s proposed FY25 (July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025) property tax levy. Beyer advised that this public hearing is a new requirement relating to Iowa House File 718 (HF718), legislation relating to local government property taxes, financial authority and budgets, among other matters.

Midwest Veterans of America will be hosting an event honoring Vietnam era veterans this Saturday, March 30 at AJ Bar & Grill (previously called AJ Steakhouse) in Waukon, beginning at 1 p.m. Midwest Veterans of America will be honoring more than two dozen local veterans who served their country during the Vietnam War era at the event.

All of Waukon will have fiber internet by the end of 2024

Due in part to the unseasonable winter weather, the final phase in a planned deployment of fiber optic internet in Waukon is set to begin early this spring, according to representatives from AC Skyways, a division of Allamakee-Clayton Electric Cooperative (ACEC). With the conclusion of the fourth phase of the project, the entire city of Waukon will have fiber internet available.

Beginning in late March or early April, the physical work of boring the main fiber optics lines will begin on the south Waukon project, which will bring over 300 “drops” to that part of the community. At the same time, contractors and AC Skyways technicians will begin the final steps to deploy fiber in Phase 3, those homes in the northern portion of Waukon. By the end of the spring, roughly 800 homes and businesses will be able to connect to fiber internet that was deployed last fall.

Waukon Cub Scout Pack 64 held its annual Pack Pinewood Derby Saturday, March 9 at the East Elementary School large gymnasium in Waukon. A total of 29 Scouts brought their hand painted and best designed cars to race for Leader of the Pack honors. Participants and award winners are pictured in the surrounding submitted photos. Cub Scout Pack 64 will also host the District Pinewood Derby Saturday, April 6 this year.

Additional photos are available in the Wednesday, March 27 edition of The Standard. Pick up this week's print edition of The Standard or subscribe to our e-edition by clicking here.

Jason Gearhart of Strawberry Point has announced that he will seek the Republican nomination for Iowa House of Representatives District 64. The district encompasses all of Allamakee County and Clayton County, as well as Concord Township in Dubuque County.

Gearhart was born and raised in northeast Iowa. He and his wife Kayela, a fourth grade teacher at Starmont Elementary School, reside in Strawberry Point with their two children, Jayden and Kendyl, both students at Starmont Middle School. In his free time, Gearhart enjoys coaching youth basketball and has had the privilege of coaching the Starmont Middle School girls basketball team the past two seasons.