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Cider Stroll brings visitors to Belle Plaine
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
BELLE PLAINE — For more than 10 years, Sarah Smith, owner of Nettiannes Floral and Gifts, held a successful barn sale on her property in Iowa County, complete with craft vendors, food trucks and live music.
Two years ago, that event moved to Belle Plaine’s main street in a collaboration with Belle Plaine Community Development Committee. Marketed as a fall celebration, it became The Cider Stroll.
From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, vendors lined the street to sell craft items, pumpkins and mums, fresh breads and sweet treats. A petting zoo with a calf, a rabbit and baby goats, attracted both children and adults.
Kroneman Pumpkin Farm, of Luzerne, offered pumpkins, squash and mums to the handful of visitors strolling downtown Belle Plaine. Owned by Bonnie and Keith Kroneman, the pumpkin business is actually run by the Kroneman children.
They sell pumpkins from their farm north of Luzerne and annually at the Cider Stroll. “This is kind of a big day for them,” said Bonnie’s mother, Charlotte Lohf.
“This is the only show we do,” said William Kroneman. Now 19, the Benton Community School graduate attends Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids but continues to help on the farm.
Keith said the Kronemans started selling pumpkins when they moved to Luzerne 10 years ago. The venture was a way for the William and his brother and sister, Colton and Haddie, to learn how to run a business, William said. They also improve their communication skills as they sell their products.
In the spring, they prepare the soil and plant the pumpkins and gourds, said William. They spend the summer keeping the weeds down.
Picking the produce is the most labor intensive, said William, and they hire help to handpick all the pumpkins on the four-acre plot.
The excess rain didn’t help this year, said William. Water pooled and increased disease and the insect population, he said. resulting in smaller crop sizes for pumpkin farmers around the state.
Most of the customers who visit the farm are relatively local, William said — from Benton, Tama and Linn Counties.
They’ve recently started selling mums, though they don’t grow the plants themselves. Mums are hard to grow, said Williams “and we’re not set up for it.”
Tom Kasal, of Chelsea, sold his wood items across from Nettiannes on 12th Street. Among the hand-made wood items he offered for sale were charcuterie boards, rolling pins, bowls and Christmas ornaments.
Kasal works mostly with walnut, cherry and maple wood, he said, but one bowl for sale still had the red tint of the box elder.
Hackberry is “really nice to work with,” Kasal said.
Kasel finds wood to create with in the neighborhood, he said. Some neighbors call him when they have wood they want to get rid of.
Jim Magdefrau and Grace Atkinson provided live music during the event.
