One of the Friends of Yellow River State Forest projects ... The Friends of Yellow River State Forest group was chosen to receive the Sustainability Initiative Award in the Small Market category from the Iowa Travel Industry Partners (iTIP) at the iTIP annual meeting June 9. The award was presented to the group for such projects as the streambank stabilization pictured above, along with installing a solar array to power much of the State Forest facilities, planting trees, and expanding native prairies and wildlife habitat. Submitted photo.
Jackie Cooper of Main Street Lansing is a Rising Star honoree; Friends of Yellow River State Forest receives 2026 Sustainability Initiative Award
Iowa Travel Industry Partners (iTIP), the leading statewide association of the tourism and hospitality industry, has announced the recipients of the annual iTIP Awards. The awards ceremony was scheduled to take place at the iTIP annual meeting Tuesday, June 9 in Amana, and two Allamakee County entities are among the recipients of this year’s awards.
Jackie Cooper, Executive Director of Main Street Lansing, is being recognized as a Rising Star in the Small Market category. Rising Star is an award recognizing someone new to the Iowa tourism industry within the past five years who has demonstrated leadership, commitment, and passion for the Iowa travel industry.
Manning, Stone win Republican nomination for Supervisor in lone local contested race
Helping decide who will square off in the November General Election later this year, Allamakee County voters joined others statewide in casting their decisions in the Tuesday, June 2 Primary Election. Allamakee County Commissioner of Elections Denise Beyer reports that 19.54% of Allamakee County’s 9,638 registered voters took part in this year’s Primary Election, one of the higher percentages for a mid-term Primary Election in recent memory, with 15.35% of Allamakee County voters participating in 2022 and just 10.5% in the 2018 midterm Primary. Across the state of Iowa, 19.16% of registered voters cast a Primary ballot this year.
The first-ever Lansing Liberty Motorcycle Rally is scheduled to be held in Lansing and travel throughout the surrounding tri-state area this Thursday-Sunday, June 11–14. In addition to well over 100 motorcycles registered to attend the event, area residents are invited to also take part in events scheduled to take place late this week in conjunction with the rally.
This riverfront rally is designed to bring riders, community, and Main Street together for a four-day celebration. Set against the bluffs and the Mississippi River, this inaugural event will fill downtown with motorcycles, live music, food, drinks, vendors, and small-town American pride, with the opportunity for rally participants from all over to discover what Lansing and the surrounding area have to offer.
Karen Land with her dog sled team ... Submitted photo.
Robey Memorial Library in Waukon invites the community to an educational presentation featuring veteran Iditarod dog musher Karen Land Saturday, June 13 at 2 p.m. in the library’s lower level Community Room.
This special event is part of Robey Memorial Library’s Live & Learn: Enriching Lives Through Monthly Learning Series and is designed for “kids” of all ages - from preschoolers to retirees. Karen Land brings 25 years of mushing experience to the stage, offering a firsthand look at the world of long-distance sled dog racing, including the legendary Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
Audiences will meet Sophia, Land’s eight-year-old Alaskan husky and the star of the show. The presentation will also offer the unique opportunity to interact with a real sled dog.
Robey Memorial Library, in collaboration with the Oneota Valley Literary Foundation (OVLS), is inviting families to take part in the Main Street Story Walk throughout downtown Waukon this June. This year’s featured book is “I’m Trying to Love Spiders” by Bethany Barton. Families can enjoy the humorous and fact-filled story as it unfolds page by page in the windows of six participating local businesses along West Main Street. The Story Walk encourages families to spend time outdoors, read together, and explore downtown Waukon in a fun and interactive way.
Participants will visit six stops along West Main Street in downtown Waukon, with each location displaying a portion of the story. As families move from one business to the next, they’ll continue following the adventure of “I’m Trying to Love Spiders”.
A video program about rattlesnakes produced by the Allamakee County Historical Society will be presented to the public June 14 and again later this summer. The program includes a presentation by Ross Geerdes, Allamakee County Conservation Director about local rattlesnakes, including their range, life cycle, poisonous nature, and cautions for humans interacting with them, and featuring a video appearance by Tim the Timber Rattler.
The video program continues with an interview with Mary Egan of Harpers Ferry, who was bitten by a rattler in 2023 and was hospitalized for 13 days. The video concludes with interviews by county residents Paul Howes, Kathy Howes, and Kathy Renk, all of whom will recount their interactions with the snakes in years past.
A new resource for birding in Allamakee County has been released thanks to collaborative efforts between the Upper Iowa Audubon Society and regional partners. The Allamakee County Birding Guide is made especially for those who are new to birding in Allamakee County, and those who are just new to birding. Birding locations and opportunities are grouped into categories built around different group needs, skill levels, visit lengths, and more.
The Guide is available for free at local Visitors Centers, including Allamakee County Economic Development in Waukon, the Driftless Area Education and Visitors Center in Lansing, and Effigy Mounds National Monument in Harpers Ferry. A digital copy can be downloaded at www.northeastiowarcd.org.
The 29th Annual Studio Tour is scheduled for October 9-11. This year, 10 new artists will join many of last year’s exhibitors for 41 artists total at 31 studio locations, including Val Miller of Waukon and George Blair of New Albin. New exhibitors this year are three emerging artists, with their host artists, and a guest artist. They will open their doors for a behind-the-scenes studio view not usually offered to the general public.
The public can drive around the scenic driftless area and experience many well-known award-winning artists displaying and selling pottery, paintings, woodcuts, baskets, jewelry, woodworking, sculpture, collage, fiber arts, and more. Tour participants can set their own pace while driving from studio to studio.
The annual WinnMed Hospice Memorial Ride will take place Sunday, June 14, beginning at the WinnMed campus in Decorah. The event will be held rain or shine and is open to the public.
The day begins with a free-will donation breakfast from 9-11 a.m. in the WinnMed Cafeteria. Convenient parking is available in Lot F. Anyone is welcome to attend breakfast, whether riding or not.
Following the breakfast, all vehicles are welcome to participate in the poker run for a per vehicle fee. Sign-in will take place at WinnMed from 9-10:30 a.m. during the breakfast. Bikes and cars will depart at 11 a.m. for a scenic tour of northeast Iowa. The ride concludes at Pivo Brewery in Calmar at approximately 4:30 p.m. with a silent auction, door prizes, and refreshments.
Six strike-outs in single run allowed ... Kee baseball senior pitcher Kyle Mauss fires a pitch toward the plate in the Hawks’ 7-1 home victory over MFL/MarMac Wednesday, June 3. Mauss allowed just three hits and one run while striking out six batters in the complete-game victory. Photo by Danielle Potter. View and find out how to purchase this photo and many more by clicking on the Photos link on this webpage.
The Kee baseball team played a half dozen games this past week and ended up winning four of those six contests. The Hawks split a pair of Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) games at home with Clayton Ridge Monday, June 1, winning by an 11-10 final result before falling by a 12-1 count in the nightcap. Kee then defeated MFL/MarMac at home Wednesday, June 3 by a 7-1 final result and claimed a 15-0 mercy-rule win over Postville Thursday, June 4 before splitting another pair of games at the Madrid Invitational Tournament, falling to eventual tournament champion Estherville Lincoln Central, 8-1, in the opening round before winning the tournament’s consolation championship with a 21-0 triumph over Des Moines North.
