Andy Hallman

The city of Kalona will hold a grand opening celebration of its downtown renovation Saturday afternoon. The day will feature music, food, bike rides, a fun run and a free movie.Nearly all of the events take place at the intersection of B Avenue and Fifth Street. The bike rides begin at 3 p.m. from that intersection. One group of riders will go on a 3-mile long route through Pleasant View Home. Mayor Jerry ...

Washington Park Board Commissioner Carol Ray announced today that she will not seek election this November. Ray was appointed to the park board in January to fill the seat previously occupied by Fran Stigers. Ray said she is still interested in improving city parks but said six years on the board is a long term ? too long for her. ?I could have done two years but I couldn?t commit to six,? she said Wednesday. Ray ...

Ron Wehr doesn?t mind the occasional bee sting. Over the past 25 years, he?s had quite a few of them. It should come as no surprise since he houses tens of millions of bees on his property east of West Chester.Wehr farms full-time, raises hogs and sheep and runs a construction business. What little free time he has left he devotes to growing honeycomb. Wehr said he got into bees many years ago because he had ...

The Washington County Historical Society has organized a tour of the state?s coal mines. The tour spans two days and begins Monday. The bus will pick up people in several towns in southeast Iowa before finally departing on the tour from Coralville. Local historian Mike Zahs will be one of the tour guides on the trip. Zahs said the tour will make stops at mines in Keokuk, Mahaska and Monroe counties. Zahs said ...

Guests of Washington?s Farmers Market were treated to quite a sight Thursday evening. Vendor Juanita Benedict made her farmer?s market and showed off many of her homemade trinkets. One of those was a spherical pillow made from sewn together pieces of recycled denim.The pillows are composed of pieces of stuffing that are sewn together in the shape of cones. When the cones are all pointed inward the pillow takes ...

The band ?Flannel? performed as the Thursday Night Live Entertainment on the bandstand. It was the final Thursday Night Live act of the year. The band is based in Iowa City and consists of Scott Cochran (guitar, vocals), Steve Ellis (lead guitar, vocals), Rich Paterson (drums) and Ryan Bernemann (bass, vocals).

Washington City Councilor Mike Roth announced at the council meeting Wednesday that he will not seek re-election this fall. Roth has represented Ward 3 on the council for the past eight years.?I?ve deliberated for several months about my future on the council,? Roth began. ?I?ve come to the conclusion that it?s time for me to step away. The reason I am making this announcement now is to give someone in the ...

The members of the Iowa National Guard?s 134th Medical Company based in Washington returned from a year-long deployment in July. A free concert will be held Saturday night to celebrate their return. The concert is from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Washington County Fairgrounds and will feature country artist Jason Brown. The public is invited to attend. Jaimee Edwards is the family readiness group leader for the 134th ...

Barb and Tom Jamison of Johnston watch over their 1931 Ford Model A that they parked in Washington?s square Thursday evening. The Jamisons? Model A was one of about 30 Model As that descended upon Washington that night. The Des Moines based group GAMARAI (Great Annual Model A Ride Around Iowa) organized the event. Tom said his model A was purchased by his great-grandfather and was the first car Tom learned to drive.

A female singing group from Washington will make its third appearance at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines this weekend. ?Just Us Girls? will showcase their musical talents on the Budweiser Stage at 3:30 p.m. Sunday. The Budweiser Stage is on the west end of the fairgrounds? grand concourse.Just Us Girls is a group of 12 women who have sung together for the past five years. Teresa Swift and Beth McBride, both ...

The Washington County Sheriff?s Department will join a nationwide campaign to crack down on impaired driving in late August and early September. The effort is known as ?Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over? and will last from Aug. 25 through Sept. 7.Washington County Deputy Sheriff Jared Schneider said there will probably be more officers on the highway during this campaign. He said there are many tell-tale signs ...

RIVERSIDE ? The Riverside City Council voted Monday to offer the position of utility billing clerk to one of the 23 applicants. The opening was created earlier this summer when the former billing clerk, Missy Carter, accepted the council?s promotion to city clerk June 20. Prior to that time Carter had been the billing clerk since January.Deputy City Clerk Donna Leyden said at Monday?s council meeting that the ...

Thursday night was a perfect night for a farmers market. The weather had been in the 90s and even 100 at a few of the recent markets, but Thursday?s market was notably cooler than that. No one appreciated the mild weather more than Dalton Sorrells. Dalton is the son of Cara and Brett Sorrells, and he was at the market selling chocolates and candy.It must be said that Dalton?s candy was no ordinary candy. ...

The Washington City Council has chosen Brent Hinson of Garner to be its new city administrator. The council interviewed Hinson and four other candidates Saturday during a closed session. Upon entering open session, the council voted unanimously to select Hinson. Hinson will begin work Oct. 17.The five finalists for the position met at the Washington Free Public Library Friday afternoon for a meet-and-greet ...

The public can meet the five finalists for the Washington City Administrator position this afternoon. The Washington Free Public Library will host a meet-and-greet today from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Washington State Bank meeting room on the second floor.The five candidates all have experience as city administrators. Candidate Deborah K. Nier is the former city administrator of Marengo, Ill. Danny L. Gifford is the ...