Local News

By Pam Reinig
Register Editor

A product often found in barns was integral a painting that will be auctioned off this weekend during Art in the Park.

Retired art teacher Ken Balk of West Union formed the painting’s central element—a large, dramatic, 3-dimensional tree—using cattle markers. These oversized paint sticks were originally made to mark animals for identification purposes. Artists have been using the medium for years, citing the inexpensive cost, array of colors, consistency and fast drying times as their reasons for turning to this unusual product. One artist likened it to painting with a large tube of lipstick.
Cattle markers are also the reason Balk became involved with Clayton County Artists, who are sponsoring the work.

By Pam Reinig
Register Editor

It started as most new business ventures do—with a dream.

Robert Grau dreamed of working directly with landowners to show them how to make money from their trees while also preserving their woodlands for generations to come. He decided that the only way to realize his dream was to start his own sawmill.

Bob grew up in western Iowa, served as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force, and earned a degree in forestry at Iowa State College (now Iowa State University). He worked as a forester with the Extension Service for a short time before his love for the heavily wooded bluffs of Northeast Iowa drew him to Clayton County.  With his GI insurance and a loan from the local bank he purchased a used sawmill and a couple of used trucks. In August of 1948 he bought four acres of land on the east edge of Elkader and started Grau Logs and Lumber.

By Pam Reinig
Register Editor

There are a handful of historically significant experiences that stand above all other events in our shared identity as Americans. These are the moments we always remember. Despite the passage of time, we still respond in great detail when someone asks “Do you remember where you were when. . . .”
This month, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of one such defining moment: The first moonwalk, which took place on July 20, 1969. At 9:30 p.m. CDT, astronauts Neil Armstrong and “Buzz” Aldrin put on their bulky moon suits, wriggled out of a square opening in the lunar module, and backed down a ladder onto the moon’s surface. Back home, 600 million people watched as Armstrong took those first steps and spoke these memorable words: “That’s one small step for man. . .one giant leap for mankind.”

By Pam Reinig
Register Editor

In a move as innovative as the products his company designs and sells, Fire Farm owner Adam Pollock has commissioned a mural for one side of his downtown Elkader office building. Upper Iowa University art student Jordyn Brennan has spent the past few weeks transforming the concrete “canvas” into a colorful, larger-than-life flower garden. She’s even added a nod to one of the town’s special festivals: Her garden includes several giant milkweeds.

“This is my first really big project,” said Jordyn, a native of Hortonville, WI. Usually I can carry around the pieces I do but, of course, there’s no doing that with this one. I’ve been taking lots of pictures, though. My mom’s pretty excited about it.”