Everyone is invited to the 13th Annual Christmas Tree Lighting scheduled for Monday, November 27 at 6 p.m. at the Observation Deck/River View Park in the center of the Village of Ferryville, WI. Santa Claus will be in attendance to hear children’s Christmas wishes, and everyone can sing along to Christmas carols and enjoy treats as the lights of the holiday season are illuminated.
Santa Claus is scheduled to arrive at 6 p.m., and at 6:15 p.m. elves will light the Christmas tree for the season. The Ferryville Tourism Council will lead everyone in Christmas carols and all can enjoy a cup of hot chocolate, holiday cookies and treats. There will also be gift bags for children.
Early in November, students at East and West Elementary Schools in Waukon enjoyed a visit from renowned illustrator and author Derek Anderson. Students were excited to see his hidden pictures in his drawings, learn about the process of becoming an author/illustrator, and watch Anderson create a drawing from scratch of Ally the alligator.
Anderson currently resides in Minneapolis, MN but is a native of Ames and attended Iowa State University for a degree in art and design. He has illustrated over 30 books and authored more than 20. Some of his most famous works include: Little Quack, Hot Rod Hamster, Benny McGee and the Shark, and Croc and Ally. Anderson also took time to sign some of this books for students in attendance.
In October, students from East and West Elementary Schools in Waukon participated in the annual fall book fair hosted in the East Elementary School small gym and organized by Mrs. Lisa Snitker, Allamakee Community School District Teacher Librarian. Students at East and West Elementary Schools visited the book fair during their scheduled library periods, with West Elementary students taking a field trip to East Elementary to see the array of books.
The Allamakee Community School District (ACSD) Board of Directors met for a special meeting Tuesday, October 31. The single item on the agenda was the replacement of a main kitchen convection oven. The board approved the purchase of a new oven from Wilson Restaurant Supply for $15,049 to replace the oven.
Monday, November 20, the board met for its regular monthly meeting, first approving the consent agenda. During the Communications portion of the meeting, the board heard from the 1st Grade Professional Learning Team (PLT). They explained about how they assess if students are learning the materials and what they do to assist those who are in need of extra help to learn the material and those who have mastered the material.
The Waukon girls wrestling team got its 2023 season underway at a large tournament hosted by Decorah High School Saturday, November 18, making some good first impressions for this initial competition of the new season. Eleven different young ladies took to the mat for the Indian grapplers in eight of the tournament’s 14 weight classes, with five of those mat ladies finishing in the top six placewinnings of their respective weight classes to rack up 92 team points and place the mat Tribe sixth in the final 16-team standings.
The Indian mat ladies will return to the mat following the Thanksgiving holiday, hosting Crestwood Tuesday, November 28 before competing in the Coralville Tournament Thursday and Friday, November 30 and December 1. They will then host Waverly-Shell Rock in a girl/boy double-dual format Thursday, December 7 before competing in the Luther Tournament in Decorah Friday, December 8.
The Waukon bowling program continues to maintain its good level of participation as the 2023-2024 season gets underway, with both the Waukon girls and Waukon boys teams featuring double-digit numbers in team members for this winter’s campaign. The Lady Indians actually grew a bit from last season, as 11 young women take to the lanes for this season, while the boys also stayed right in that low double-digit participation number with 12 young men reporting for early-season practice this winter.
Within the combined 23 participants between those two squads, a total of eight of them return with varsity letterwinning experience from last season. The Waukon boys will return two of those seasoned bowlers, while the bowling girls will benefit from the return of nearly their entire team from last winter, including six with veteran experience from a squad that lost just one dual match in 10 tries last winter.
The 2023-2024 Kee girls basketball team will benefit from the return of eight letterwinners from a team of 12 players last season that played to a 7-14 overall season record. A majority of those eight returning veterans will still be just in their second year of high school basketball, as five sophomores, two juniors and one senior will lead the Hawks’ veteran experience gained a season ago.
The Lady Hawks were scheduled to get their 2023-2024 season underway Tuesday, November 21 against one of those fellow Upper Iowa Conference squads, as they travel to Turkey Valley. They will then return from the Thanksgiving break to host Central Elkader Tuesday, November 28.
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National Home Care Month ... November is National Home Care Month. The Veterans Memorial Hospital’s Community and Home Care RNs and trained home care aides travel the entire Allamakee County area and beyond helping their patients to remain living independently in their own homes. Referrals for their services can be made by family members, physicians, neighbors, friends, and other health care facilities. Patients can also request Community & Home Care themselves when being discharged from another health care facility. Pictured above, at left, is Lee Koehring of Waukon with Home Care RN, Juli Viet, at right, who cares for him. Submitted photo.
The month of November is National Home Care Month. Veterans Memorial Hospital Community and Home Care (Allamakee County Public Health) travels the entire Allamakee County area and beyond offering adults the assistance they need to remain living in their homes, as long as possible.
Registered nurses and trained home care aides offer a variety of services including nursing visits, medication set-up and administration, dressing cares, IVs, catheter and colostomy cares, overseeing rehabilitation in-home programs and assistance with personal cares. RN staff is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
More EMTs needed locally ... Seven area ambulance services regularly bring patients to the Emergency Room (ER) at Veterans Memorial Hospital including Harpers Ferry, Lansing, Monona, New Albin, Postville, Waterville and Waukon. More EMTs are greatly needed in all area communities. NICC will be offering a face-to-face EMT Class in Waukon beginning in January. Registration for the class must be completed prior to the orientation night January 8. Pictured above, left to right, Jamie Melcher of Harpers Ferry and Elliott Evanson of Waterville recently became EMTs to truly help others, and are now encouraging others to take this class as well. Submitted photos.
The number of Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) in this area has dwindled over the years as licensed EMTs have retired. Allamakee and northern Clayton Counties are fortunate to have many emergency response services, but nearly all of them are in need of more EMTs on their service to share the call time, ensuring local emergency services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Jamie Melcher of Harpers Ferry is an EMT and states, “I became an EMT to assist our great crew in helping our community when they need it most. I continue to be an EMT because it feels good seeing the relief and reassurance on people’s faces when we arrive.”
Decorated trees on display at the Christmas Fantasy ... The Veterans Memorial Hospital Health Care Foundation’s 32nd Annual Christmas Fantasy drew many Grinch fans last weekend, hosting nearly 50 decorated full-size Christmas trees at the event held November 10-13 at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds Pavilion in Waukon. These trees, some of which are pictured above, were all decorated by local individuals, businesses, organizations and classes and each had a local person or business sponsoring them as well. Submitted photo.
Entertainment at the 32nd Annual Christmas Fantasy ... Many local entertainers also performed at each event during the course of the Christmas Fantasy weekend. Pictured above is the Waukon High School Band directed by JoAnn Sherman, performing at the Monday luncheon. Pictured below, local story-sharing enthusiast Sue Kiesau read stories to youth in attendance and the Grinch also made an appearance at the Fantasy. Submitted photos.
The 2023 Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation’s Christmas Fantasy drew many Grinch fans to the events and viewing of the large numbers of Christmas trees and silent auction items on display. The event was held last weekend, November 10-13, at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds Pavilion in Waukon, and was a huge success thanks to all of the overwhelming community involvement.
A near record number of auction items were donated to this year’s Fantasy by area businesses and individuals. The 115 auction items were displayed and auctioned on a silent auction bid to the highest bidder Monday night at 7 p.m.
Trees on display during this 32nd annual Foundation Fantasy highlighted nearly 50 full-size Christmas Trees decorated by individuals, businesses and many groups around the area. Many individuals worked, served and donated to this community celebration.
