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Recap of January Meeting in Scranton
The quarterly meeting of the Iowa Lincoln Highway was held January 9, 2016 at the Scranton Community Center. Those in attendance were: Joyce Ausberger, Jan Gammon, Cathie Nichols, Van Becker, Alan Richards, Scott Berka, John Fitzsimmons, Dean Parr, Bob Ausberger, Jeanne Parr, Randy Winkelman, Bryan and Caron Osberg, Bill Scrivner, Connie Scrivner, Melinda Hinners, Ethel Subbert, LeRoy Starrett, Maril Callery, Larry Teepler, Gerald Herrick, Joe McCullough, Joyce Frazier, and Larry Frazier
A guided tour was given to those interested to see the renovated school. The City Council Chambers (where the meeting was held) was a former shop class. It also includes offices for the mayor and city clerk. The group also saw the kitchen, meeting room, gym, and memory room. The downstairs has all been renovated and after doing some landscaping this spring, the focus will turn to the second story.
After social time which included coffee, juice, and doughnuts, President Pro-tem Dean Parr called the meeting to order.
The group introduced themselves and Scranton’s newly-elected mayor, Randy Winkelman, welcomed the group to Scranton. Barbara Hackfort was welcomed as the new Carroll County Consul.
The minutes of the previous meeting and the treasurer’s report were approved.
Dean Parr gave the membership report with numbers of: 26 Complimentary, 62 Iowa only, 10 Lifetime, and 202 National= 300 Total.
Dean Parr also gave the State Director’s report and said several people on the National board have complimented Iowa on their newsletter. The compliment will be passed on to Meredith Ponder, the intern working at Prairie Rivers, and let her know her hard work is being recognized. Dean would like a .pdf of the Greene County Brochure be added to the ILHA website. He will see if it can be included with the Forum magazine as well.
Nationals would like to close a storage unit in Franklin Grove, but unsure where to store the back issues of the Forum.
There is a new volunteer, Jeff Stonesifer, who will be the State Director of PA. He lives in Gettysburg and will be a real asset to help with the 2016 conference.
Prairie Rivers of Iowa would like for everyone to make a list of events and send it in as well as old photos for Throwback Thursday on the ILHA Facebook page. Meredith will be working on ads for the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway’s new brochure. There will be space for 1-2 ads per county and wants to contact preferred LHA businesses first, so send in suggestions. She is also working on a Powerpoint presentation about the 2017 Conference to be given at the 2016 Conference.
The deadline for the next newsletter will be February 15th. Please send in articles, photos, and events.
Prairie Rivers is working on their Economic Impact study, creating maps of intrinsic quality points (for consuls to review after the meeting and give input), reviewing City and County comprehensive plans, and writing sections of the Corridor Management Plan. The Plan should be ready this summer for another round of community meetings for attendees to review the plan.
Bryan Osburg reported the Auto Tour this year will be Aug 19-23 with a pre-tour event on Aug 18th. The route will be from Clinton to Boone and will deviate a bit from the Lincoln Highway with a visit to Iowa City and the Amana Colonies. Bryan still has some T-shirts left from last year’s tour. They are $10 each.
Jeanne reports that Deb has working on a Save-The-Date magnet for the 2017 Conference to give out at 2016 Conference in Gettysburg.
The next ILHA meeting is in Belle Plaine in April and it might be a good idea for those interested in helping with the conference to meet in Denison in March to tour the Boulders conference center. A tentative date has been set for March 16th with a tour at 10:30 and a working lunch at Cronk’s.
Bob would like each county to have at least 5 people attend the Denison conference- LHA members or non-members. He would like a great showing of Iowa people at the event.
In new business, Bob Ausberger reported there will be a visioning/planning meeting on Monday in Grand Junction. He would like to take Lincoln Highway Association ideas and share them with that group. He would like to see the businesses and residences along the Lincoln Highway be placed on the National Register of Historic Places, if not the whole length of the road in Greene County and maybe into adjacent counties.
He would like to have information and brochures available for tourists along the road- especially signs near the Moss Marker and other important locations. He has identified 52 possible interpretation sites within Greene County.
John Fitzsimmons would like to see a business association formed. He would like an on-line listing of participating businesses. The ILHA is redoing the membership brochure, so this might be a good time to add this option.
Joyce suggested the ILHA hire another intern to help create a membership program. A job description and budget would need to be created and ads placed by at least the end of March to hire an intern for the summer and/or fall semester. The intern then would work with each County Consul to develop the program and identify/contact businesses.
For County Reports, Cathie (Clinton) has scheduled a new cleanup day on April 23rd at 1 PM. Meet at the Pony Truss Bridge at the Syracuse Access in Clinton County. Help is needed to trim trees, cut brush, mow, and weed. There is poison ivy, so wear appropriate clothing. Contact Cathie Nichols at 563-659-8050 or email her at scampcat@iowatelecom.net
Joe (Cedar) is working on the original Lincoln Highway route that was in question.
Van (Linn) reports the Bloomington Road bridge has been removed. Second Avenue is now 2 ways and has bike lanes and picnic benches so the 6-lane road is now a 2-lane road.
Allan Richards (Tama) reported there will be work done to add a Monarch Butterfly area to the park. The bridge on E 5th St remains a concern as it has been given a life span of 8 years and the city is reported to be spending $ 4 million to make that road a truck route with half a million to put in a new bridge. It is hoped though that the current bridge will be repaired and restored instead.
Harlan Quick (Marshall) emailed in his report of a list of events.
- May 27th– Oct 7th is the 16th season of State Center’s Farmers Markets from 5-7 pm at West Main
- May 28th – Sept 5 (Memorial-Labor Day) historic Watson’s Grocery Store open for tours 1-4 PM on weekends or by apt. 106 West Main St
- June17-Sunday June 19- the 59th Annual State Center Rose Festival
- July 22- the 4th Annual Depot Dog and Sweet Corn Feed 5-7 Pm at downtown Farmer’s Market
- Aug 5-Aug 7- the 32nd Annual Mid-Iowa Antique Power Show- Marshall County Sheriff’s Office at 2369 Jessup Ave, Marshalltown
- Oct 7- Watson’s Fall Festival 5-7PM in area around Watson’s Grocery Store on West Main Street
- Dec 2nd-the 17th Annual Old-fashioned Christmas on Main. All day in State Center area businesses.
Scott Berka (Story) said the Reed-Niland corner replaced the boiler in the motel as it had been a problem for some time. The Colo Cross Roads Festival will be July 8,9,10. The theme is “Bringing Back Colo Fun Days”. There are many fun activities planned. The fire department will be doing demonstrations including a car blow-up and extraction. Outhouse races, a parade, inflatables, bingo, food, balloon man, photo booth and fiddler’s contest are just some of the fun events planned. Saturday evening will include a dinner and raffle at Niland’s Café and a family friendly musician will perform in a street dance/concert. On Sunday, a community service will be sponsored by the Colo United Methodist Church. Also planned is an extended bicycle ride around the Colo area with various food stops. Check the Cross Roads Facebook page for continued up-to-date information.
Classic Car Roll-Ins are planned again at the Reed-Niland Corner in Colo. Last year the event was held one Sunday per month. Dates and times for 2016 will be announced soon and will be posted on the Reed/Niland website and Niland’s Café Facebook page.
The Farmer’s Market will be held in downtown this year rather than at the Reed-Niland corner.
Nevada’s Lincoln Highway Days are planned for Aug 26-27. The dates may expand as other possible events are added. The Chamber has taken over the event and is looking for volunteers to help with the activities.
The Jefferson Highway Association completed an application for the Heritage Byway Signage in the state of Iowa and it was submitted to IDOT on Nov 21, 2015. The 2016 JHA conference will be held on April 29-30 in Carthage, MO.
Lyell Henry’s book on the Jefferson Highway in Iowa is in the hands of the publisher and the book should be ready for sale this spring. The Colo Development Group will be sponsoring a book signing when the book becomes available. The CDG will use the book signing as a fundraiser for the Reed/Niland Corner and the ILHA members wanting to purchase the book are encouraged to order their signed copies through the group.
John (Boone) doesn’t have anything to report, but challenges everyone to find the largest tree in their county near the Lincoln Highway and measure the circumference and guesstimate the height
Joyce (Greene) says Bob Owens birthday will be January 14th and he will be 89! People are encouraged to send him a birthday card. The Ralston bridge is scheduled for repairs in 2017 and officials will try to make sure it is not under construction until after the 2017 Conference is held in Denison. Joyce is not sure on Grand Junction overpass construction dates. It is scheduled for 2017.
Joyce had earlier shared the new Greene County brochure with the members and Dean Parr stated he felt it was a great example and would like other counties to create the same type of brochure. He liked that a transportation timeline was included.
Barb Hackfort, new Carroll County Consul, said there are 5 members in her county. One just turned 100 years old. She will make contact with all of them and gain ideas for her county. She would like to do a county brochure and reports the city might do something related to Lincoln Highway at Hwy 30 and Grant Rd in a left-over piece of road. But then again, it might just go to concrete as it is a busy and often dangerous intersection.
Deb (Crawford) did not attend due to weather. She gave no report.
Kathy Dirks (Harrison) emailed in her report. As with all counties, it’s quieter with activities this time of year but she is busily preparing for another summer full of events. She is excited for the Welcome Center to be a stop on tours during the Heartland Byway Conference in Council Bluffs April 4-6, which she hopes to attend. And she hopes LHA members will be there as well.
Sad news is the Museum of Religious Arts closed Jan 11th and last day for the public was Jan 10th. She is sad to see this gem close as they have been a great neighboring attraction and good supporter of the Lincoln Highway.
In other reports, the Transportation Museum in Grinnell has closed. Joyce said the ILHA had some things in there and someone will need to make contact with someone to retrieve the items.
The meeting was adjourned.
Lunch was on your own at Uptown Café in Jefferson. Bob Ausberger encouraged all to come for lunch and discuss topics for the Grand Junction planning/visioning meeting.
The next meeting will be on April 9th in Belle Plaine.
