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Recap of April Meeting in Council Bluffs
After the meeting members enjoy lunch at Dixie Quicks. © Jan Gammon
The Lincoln Highway Association gathered in Council Bluffs on April 11, 2015. The meeting was held at the St. Francis Center and called to order by President Deb Rothmeyer. Those in attendance were: President and Crawford County Consul- Deb Rothmeyer, Secretary- Jan Gammon, Treasurer and Greene County Consul- Joyce Ausberger, Cedar County Counsul- Joe Goodlove, Tama County Consul -Allan Richards, Boone County Consul- John Fitzsimmons, and State Director- Dean Parr. Others in attendance were Kathy Lees, Thomas Coenen, Don Willard, Bob Owens, Afan Pasalic, Jeannie Parr, Brenda Blom, Fred Blom, Bob Ausberger, and the Mayor of Council Bluffs -Matt Walsh.
Mayor Walsh welcomed the LHA to the city of Council Bluffs and thanked the group for their efforts over the years. The Lincoln Highway has been very important to his community and to Iowa.
The minutes of the January meeting and the Treasurer’s Report were approved. State Director Dean Parr gave a membership number update and our totals to date in Iowa are 285. Dean and Van Becker urged everyone to sign up to attend the National Convention in Ann Arbor, MI this June. Discounted hotel rooms are going fast, so get your reservations in.
Jessica Johnson, from Prairie Rivers of Iowa, joined the group via phone and gave an overview of the new look for the LHA website
The Spring LHA newsletter was distributed recently. Prairie Rivers of Iowa also shared that the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway is the first of the Iowa Byway series in the magazine Edible Iowa. That edition just came out and features the Youngville café, the Lucky Pig in Ogden and other food options along the Byway.
Prairie Rivers of Iowa is also hosting public Corridor Management Planning (CMP) meetings in communities along the Byway. Everyone is encouraged to attend the meeting in their county. After the CMP is completed, an Interpretive Plan will be done. A current Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) will help place two interpretive panels in the Lions Tree Park near Grand Junction and the Lincoln Prairie Park in Ogden. These signs will be in the same design all of the Byways are adopting.
The Lincoln Highway Bridge Park Tama-Toledo group applied for the National Lincoln Highway Association Grant and Tama County LHA has submitted a teacher for the National Educator Award. The Grant will be awarded at the National Convention in June. It appears they have won the educator award. Congratulations!
The 2015 Auto Tour is finalizing the tour route. The 2017 National Convention will be in Denison, Iowa. Deb Rothmeyer and Jeannie Parr are the chairs for the convention and say preparations are well under way. It is unclear if the Grand Junction overpass will be completed in time for the Convention, but we hope so.
Greene County is working on a new brochure and John Fitzsimmons is doing some artwork for it. He also repainted a metal sign that will be hung in the restored gas station in State center, now used as the police station. Bob Owens would like an article written about Portage Tires in the newsletter and submitted to the National magazine, the Forum. There is a building near the Eureka Bridge in Greene County that has an ad for Portage Tires painted on the outside and the building will be restored as an auto-related museum.
County reports were then given. Boone will be celebrating their 150th this year. It might be in conjunction with their Pufferbilly Days. Youngville Café will try to extend their hours. Tama is continuing to work on their kiosk, garden, and working on saving tourist cabins. Harrison County has had some restaurants move to different locations and some new ones start up.
The next Lincoln Highway Association meeting will be in July at the Pizza Ranch in Clinton, Iowa.
