Community News

The rollercoaster of COVID-19 cases continued throughout this past week in Allamakee County, as a recent downward trend saw another reversal to a slight increase within the past week’s timeframe of Tuesday, January 19 through Monday, January 25, with 42 new local cases being confirmed. Still, the overall new case total for the county has remained at 50 or fewer for the fifth consecutive week, an overall improvement from the range of 65-110 new cases experienced for the previous eight weeks from mid-October through mid-December.

“Imagine Your Story” was the theme of Robey Memorial Library’s 2020 Adult Reading Challenge. A total of 175 books were read this year for the challenge. Prize winners for this year’s Challenge included (clockwise from top left in photos above): Kiefer Meyer, who won an eReader/tablet; Lori Heitman, who won an eReader/tablet; Miann Barr, who won a business gift certificate bundle; and Melodye Protsman, who won Waukon bucks. Not pictured is Jody Meyer, who also won Waukon Bucks. Readers were challenged to read books from 12 categories throughout the year. Each category read earned an entry into the  prize drawings.

by Joe Moses

The Waukon City Council met in regular session Monday, January 18 to discuss a full agenda of items including appointment of a City Engineer, discussion of an ambulance purchase for Veterans Memorial Hospital and approval of the City’s portion of a local match for a grant relating to the installation of fiber optic cable.

During Public Comment, Street Department employees Cory Huinker and Pat Egan briefly discussed matters relating to the Union contract currently under negotiation. Huinker mentioned that City employees have eight holidays, not 14 as was published in the January 6 Standard’s coverage of the January 4 City Council meeting.

Serving local communities during times like what has been experienced this past year is extremely important. The River Valley Panthers 4-H club hosted a 2020 Christmas Toy Drive. Members of the 4-H club asked local businesses to serve as drop sites for the toys. December 10, members dropped off five totes full of toys to the Allamakee County Relief Office in Waukon, as evident in the photo above. Submitted photo.
 

Studio Five Eleven, a hair salon opened last year at 511 East Main Street in Waukon, recently received a First Dollar visit from the Waukon Chamber of Commerce. Pictured above at that First Dollar presentation is Tiffany Rixen, owner of Studio Five Eleven. Photo courtesy of the Waukon Chamber of Commerce.
 

by Julie Berg-Raymond

When Bob and Kristi Hager of Waukon decided it was time to sell the campground they’d owned for 22 years, they knew they wanted more time to travel and to visit family; they also knew they wouldn’t sell unless they found the right people to take over the business they’d nurtured for more than two decades.

“I said that if we sell our campground, I would like to find a nice, hardworking young family to continue building a wonderful business,” Bob says. “Colton and Tessa Willie and their two boys fit that standard better than I could have imagined. They are going to continue to operate Upper Iowa Resort with high standards; and they will bring many new ideas to make the campground even better.”

by Julie Berg-Raymond

If it weren’t for the fact that Don Blocker knows almost everyone in town, people might not realize that this past weekend marked the end of an era - and the beginning of a new one - for a long-time business in Waukon.
Double D Liquor Store is under new ownership; but the name will stay the same. The “D”s that once stood for brothers Don and Dennis will now, instead, stand for Dillon Dietrich of Waukon. He and his wife, Nicole, took over ownership of the business Monday, January 18.

The past week’s timeframe of Tuesday, January 5 through Monday, January 11 marks the third consecutive week that new COVID-19 case numbers in Allamakee County have been around 50 or below, those being the lowest weekly numbers since a late October weekly total of 39 cases. However, this past week is the only one of those three past lower case total weeks that did not involve a holiday that closed testing sites yet still yielded the lowest weekly total, 45 new cases, since those 39 cases were reported for the week of October 20-26 - which, at that point, was a new weekly high of reported cases for the county since the pandemic began.

“Reading Colors Your World” is the theme of Robey Memorial Library’s 2021 Adult Reading Challenge, which began January 1 and continues through December 31 of this year. Robey Memorial Library challenges area individuals to read something new or different this year.

Receive a prize drawing entry for reading from one of each of 12 categories: Based on a true story; Book set in one of 49 states (not Iowa); Book that teaches you something; Book with a blue cover; Graphic novel or Picture book; Hobby-themed; Humorous; Listen to an audiobook; Science; Short Story or Essay; Set in another country; and Suspense.

A storefront with a mixture of antiques and new gifts has been opened at 5 East Main Street in Waukon since October of this past year. Rain or Shine Treasures was established at that location by Daneela McKee and Brady Sorum of Waukon in an effort to expand from an already established online sales arrangement (www.rainorshinetreasures.com) to a retail storefront location welcoming in-person customers. “We love working with people and meeting new people,” McKee and Sorum said.

McKee first moved to the Waukon area in 2003. She remained here after her husband passed away in 2012, and their now 12-year-old son is a seventh grader at Waukon Middle School. She and Waukon area native Brady Sorum began dating three years ago, and the two felt that starting their retail business in Waukon was a good fit.