Kingsley Celebrates “August Fest”
(Kingsley) — The community of Kingsley is celebrating its home town festival of August Fest. Today’s events include the color run beginning at 9:00 a.m. A craft fair will take place on 2nd street starting at 9:00 a.m. and continuing until 3:00 p.m. At 10:00 a.m. this morning, and running through 12:00 noon will be the Kids Carnival at the Care Initiative Nursing Home. A poker run will occur beginning at 11:00 a.m. Registration will be held at the Kingsley Park. The Kingsley Fire Department will sponsor a water fight in front of the KMK Apparel starting at 11:30 a.m. A bubble show will be in front of the library starting at 11:30 a.m. For two hours between 12:00 noon and 2:00 p.m. people can participate in a game of BINGO at Midstates Bank. At 1:00 p.m. at the flag pole, will be the crowning of the Little Miss Kingsley along with the Mr. Muscle and Smile Contest. The Dynamic Dancers will perform also at the flag pole. The parade is scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m. with line up at 2:00 p.m. at the Care Initiatives Nursing Home. This year’s parade will feature Abu Bekr Shriners, with the Shriners presentation scheduled for 4:00 p.m. From 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. will be a foam party with a DJ. A chamber appreciation meal consisting of hamburgers, watermelon and sweet corn will be held at Midstates Bank between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Pie and ice cream will be served at the Methodist Church. Later at 8:00 p.m. and continuing until 12:00 midnight will be the street dance featuring Pink Cadillac and the pie auction is scheduled for 9:00 p.m.
Marcus Celebrates 150th Anniversary For The Town And 85th Edition of the Community Fair
Plymouth County Cattlemen To Hold Appreciation Supper
(Le Mars) — Area cattle producers are invited to attend the Plymouth County Cattlemen’s Appreciation Supper scheduled for this evening, Saturday, August 14th to be held at the Willow Creek Golf Club at Le Mars. Social hour will start at 5:30 p.m. with the grilling of steaks beginning at 6:30 p.m. You can contact Plymouth County Cattlemen’s President Mike Jurrens at (712) 540-7510 and let him know if you have an interest in attending.
Redistricting Process Underway
(Des Moines, IA) — The process of drawing new maps every decade for Iowa’s congressional and legislative districts is underway The U-S Census Bureau released population numbers Thursday which are used to decide the districts. There was a court fight when the rules were created and as Iowa Supreme Court overturned the 1971 redistricting plan the Republican-controlled legislature developed. The Supreme Court consulted with an attorney in the Legislative Services Bureau to draw up the congressional and legislative district maps used in that decade.
Deadline Approaching For Derecho Tree Grants
(Undated) — About one week is left for Iowa’s cities, counties, and groups to apply for state grants to plant trees as part of the recovery process from last year’s derecho (duh-RAY-cho). The state legislature is allocating 250-thousand dollars for the Derecho Community Forestry Grant Program. D-N-R urban forestry specialist, Gabriele Edwards, says the grants will go a long way toward helping our towns restore some of that lost beauty. The grants range from 500 to five-thousand dollars, and are to be used to buy and plant trees suitable to Iowa on publicly-owned lands. That can include all sorts of places like street right-of-ways, parks, school grounds, courthouse lawns, fairgrounds, cemeteries, libraries, and trails. The deadline for applications is August 20th. www.iowadnr.gov/urbanforestry
Transportation Commission Approves Airport Funds
(Ames, IA) — The Iowa Transportation Commission has approved seven million dollars for the 2022 State Aviation Program. D-O-T aviation program manager, Shane Wright, says four million dollars is for safety initiatives and planning, and the rest of the money is for infrastructure improvement. He says the eight commercial service airports have the most infrastructure and usually see the most funding. The other general aviation airports across the state also get funding for a wide variety of projects. The airport funding is a mix of federal money and also taxes and fees paid at the airports. Those fees dropped along with traffic during the pandemic — but he says things have turned around and that money is increasing again.
Book Chronicles Clinton’s Lumber History
(Clinton, IA) — The director of the Sawmill Museum in Clinton has written a book about Clinton’s 19th century “lumber kings.” Matt Parbs’s book Hidden History of Clinton, Iowa” deals with some of the myths about the city’s position as a leader in the logging industry. He says you hear tales about how the city had the most millionaires per capita or that we were the lumber capital of the world — but he says none of that is quite true. Parbs says the most impressive thing is Clinton was the headquarters of the monopoly that controlled like 90 percent of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois lumber. Parbs released the book in March of 2020, at the start of the pandemic, so a tour to promote the book was canceled.
