Known as “sugar clay,” the Loess Hills are a beautiful habitat that stretch along the Missouri River Valley. George Catlin has labeled the hills as “soul melting scenery.” Cornelia F. Mutel calls them “fragile giants.” And Dr. John Price explains their essence as “sacred ground.” Western Iowa is celebrating this beautiful formation during the first Literary Loess event, connecting food and literature, on Saturday, September 22 from 10:00-2:00 pm in Waubonsie State Park at the Washawtee Lodge near Hamburg, Iowa. This event is kicking off Loess Hills and Heritage Week, which celebrates the region’s unique and cultural assets.
Local and regional authors and producers will be making connections between the landscape, literature, and local foods. Participants can come and go between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm or stay the whole time. Producers will provide local food samples, and authors will be featuring excerpts from their books at various intervals throughout the day. Featured authors at this event include Dr. John Price, Jack Phillips, Jeff Koterba, Ruth Harper, Marcy Seible, Matt Mason, Sean Doolittle, Kelly Madigan, Lisa Knop, Angela Glover, Mike Whye, and Sarah Mason. Fresh produce and tastes of the region will include cheese and wine, mixed greens, lamb, beef, wild game, honey and more. This family-friendly event will incorporate hands-on writing opportunities, a craft, and “Hoop the Fair,” which will provide “easy, beginner’s hula hoops and gentle coaching to help people of all ages get hooping with ease,” said Kelly Madigan, author and founder of “Hoop the Fair.” Golden Hills RC&D and Dr. John Price, University of Nebraska-Omaha English Professor, collaborated to coordinate this event. “The inaugural Literary Loess is the result of a long-time dream to bring together area writers and independent food producers to share the many ways this place inspires us. The beautiful Loess Hills is a local natural treasure, and those who join us will find nourishment for both body and mind,” said Price. Literary Loess will be followed by a “Hike and Write” with naturalist and nature writer Jack Phillips, principal of the Naturalist School from 2:00-4:00 pm. Phillips will guide us through the hills and lead us through a writing exercise following the walk. “Mindful walking and writing makes us porous and through these natural acts we become wilder,” said Phillips. Partners to support this event include Golden Hills RC&D, Friends of Waubonsie State Park, Loess Hills Scenic Byway, and the UNO English Department and Creative Nonfiction Writing Program. Connect. Listen. Taste. Learn. Experience. Grow. All in the Loess Hills. For more information about this event contact Tina at Tina@goldenhillsrcd.org or call 712.482.3029.
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Last year, Golden Hills RC&D coordinated and collaborated with conservation boards, Loess Hills Alliance, Bill Blackburn, and others, creating Loess Hills and Heritage Week to celebrate western Iowa’s unique and cultural assets. During this week, individuals can escape from the hustle of work life and enjoy western Iowa’s Loess Hills during the second annual Loess Hills and Heritage Week, September 22-30, 2018. This week will “showcase the unique geological, topographical, archeological, and other distinct aspects of the Loess hills, including their special plants, animals, and history.”
The events span to several western counties in Iowa: Woodbury, Monona, Harrison, Pottawattamie, Mills, and Fremont. Some of the events include Literary Loess, Hike and Write, and a Pawpaw festival at Waubonsie State Park, Nature Calls in Sioux City, Apple Fest in Woodbury, Loess Hills Parks and Peaks Bike Ride, and multiple events at the Hitchcock Nature Center in Pottawattamie County. The complete list of events can be located on the following website: http://www.visitloesshills.org/events-list.html. The Loess Hills (pronounced “Luss”), meaning loose or crumbly, is one of Iowa’s important natural resources, ranging 640,000 Acres, across Western Iowa. Blackburn said, “To get people to protect the hills, we have to get people engaged, being mindful of the economic, social, and environmental impacts.” According to the Nonprofit Scenic America, these hills have unique plant and animal species and native Iowa prairie, making the Loess Hills one of the 10 ten most scenic byways in the United States. Experience the Loess Hills. From a bike. On a hike. With food. All during Loess Hills and Heritage Week. For more information, contact Tina at Tina@goldenhillsrcd.org or 712.482.3029. By Tina Bakehouse, Outreach & Communication Coordinator Golden Hills RC&D
Five years ago a group of rural artists and Golden Hills RC&D, a Southwest Iowa nonprofit, had a vision. They wanted people to visit small town Iowa to promote art. Thus, in 2014, the Southwest Iowa Art Tour initiated its inaugural debut. The tour is celebrating its 5th year and has grown. The first tour featured nine community stops with 30 artists. The event has grown to include fourteen unique stops with more than 85 artists. Southwest Iowa has become a creative hub of artists. This self-guided tour allows participants to come and go from location to location at their leisure, exploring diverse art forms, including metal, sculpture, quilting, paint, jewelry, and more from more than 85 artists. This event will be held Saturday, September 15 from 10:00-5:00 pm and Sunday, September 16 from noon-4:00 pm, which includes 11 unique stops in the following Southwest Iowa towns: Glenwood, Macedonia, Malvern, Red Oak, Harlan, Shenandoah, Tabor, Avoca, Neola, Sidney, and Council Bluffs. The Southwest Iowa Art Tour is coordinated by Golden Hills and supported by local artists from throughout the region who collaborate to provide opportunities for the public to view and purchase their work. Funding to support this free event has been provided by the Iowa Arts Council, Art Works, the National Endowment for the Arts, and numerous local businesses. The Southwest Iowa Art Tour wants to connect rural communities through visual art. Paul Koch, potter from Painted Camel in Macedonia, said, “The Southwest Iowa Art Tour celebrates the talents of artists living in rural communities and brings people to gathering places who may not have experienced the beauty and charm of these smaller towns.” By promoting and educating rural art, the art tour assists in the viability, recognition, and support of artists to cultivate visual arts appreciation and celebrate the traditional and contemporary arts. For more information be sure to check the “Southwest Iowa Art” Tour Facebook page, visit their website: www.swiarttour.com, or contact Tina Bakehouse at 712.482.3029 or tina@goldenhillsrcd.org. Come support our artists in Southwest Iowa, and be a part of “connecting communities through art.” Golden Hills RC&D is a nonprofit organization with a mission “to develop and promote sustainable cultural and conservation projects that enhance the quality of life and preserve the assets of rural western Iowa.” It takes the financial support of southwest Iowa organizations and community members for Golden Hills RC&D to continue offering projects in arts, culture, and conservation. For more information about Golden Hills RC&D visit www.goldenhillsrcd.org. Support Golden Hills RC&D and your community. Together, we can help make rural towns vibrant. In 2015, The Storyteller Project began in Des Moines, Iowa. Each week, tickets sell out. Following this success and the storytelling success on both coasts, Southwest Iowa is catching up and has produced multiple successful storytelling shows recently. Three at Classic Café. One at Art Church. And now, shifting from Mills County to Page County, the Cottonwood Pavilion in Shenandoah, Iowa is hosting an event, Saturday, June 30 as a fundraiser for Golden Hills RC&D. (mostly) True Things, a storytelling show created and hosted by NY storyteller and singer/songwriter Jude Treder-Wolff, is headlining the evening’s performances. People want to hear a good story. Last September, Kim Gee, co-owner of the Cottonwood Pavilion with Gil Gee, attended (mostly) True Things for Ladies Night at Classic Café in Malvern. She loved the show. “Storytelling is a wonderful art form, and it’s such a delight to hear storytellers weave a story,” says Gee. Inspired by the experience, she and Becca Castle, project coordinator for Golden Hills, discussed the idea of doing the show at the Cottonwood. After the two stood in the old sale barn and listened to its acoustics, Gee and Castle knew Cottonwood Pavilion would be a great venue for entertainment. Treder-Wolff will perform and host the show, along with four storytellers from four different counties: Nathaniel Adkins of Red Oak, Carolyn Steinbrink of Shenandoah, Shawn Booher of Omaha, and Nadine Portillo from Germany, a friend of Treder-Wolff and Bakehouse. The three met at a conference in Montreal, Canada in 2015. Three years later, they’re reuniting for this show. Storytelling connects people. Like Tracy Segarra, Moth Grand Slam winner says, “When someone is telling a good personal story, it’s like we’re all in this together.” Adam Wade, an 18-time Moth storytelling winner says, “With all the technology in the world today, people are looking for some type of real connection with other human beings, and storytelling gives them that.” Listen to some great stories. Connect with friends and make new ones. Support Golden Hills RC&D’s efforts to continue assisting communities with conservation and cultural projects. Audience members can come for dinner and the show or for the show only on Saturday, June 30 at the Cottonwood Pavilion, located at 1308 West Ferguson Road in Shenandoah. Happy hour is from 6:00-6:30 pm, followed by dinner at 6:30 pm, and then the show at 8:00 pm. Cost for dinner and the show is $40 per person, limited to 60 people. Cost for the show only is $20. Reservations can be made online on the Golden Hills webpage: http://www.goldenhillsrcd.org/storytelling-events1.html or email Tina Bakehouse at Tina@goldenhillsrcd.org or call 712.482.3029 and mail payment to Golden Hills RC&D 712 S HWY St. PO Box 189 Oakland, Iowa 51560. Proceeds will go to Golden Hills RC&D to assist with future projects for rural development in western Iowa. Come join in the fun. See a great story. Be entertained. Maybe be inspired to share your own story in the future. Treder-Wolff will return to Southwest Iowa in November 10 for her one-woman show at the Wilson Performing Arts Center in Red Oak. by Tina Bakehouse, Outreach & Communication Coordinator, Golden Hills RC&D As children, we use our imagination. Playing school or cowboys and Indians or dressing up as movie stars. Or, in the 1980s we may have tuned into the television series Little House on the Prairie, highlighting Laura Ingles Wilder’s life. These moments in time can be experienced this summer at the Nishna Heritage Museum in Oakland, Iowa during their summer day camp series. Escape back in time and learn about the people, the landscape, and Iowa’s past, in five different, enrichment camps. Nishna Heritage Museum is partnering with Golden Hills RC&D to provide these day camps for kindergarten to six graders, each Tuesday in June and the first Tuesday in July from 9:00-10:30 am. Below is day camp schedule: Tuesday, June 5: Original Iowans View the Native American collection and learn about indigenous people through hands-on activities. Tuesday, June 12: Early Settlers and Tool Time Imagine you’re a pioneer. See a thrashing machine and old tool room. Even churn and taste homemade butter! Tuesday, June 19: No Stop Shop…General Store and Vintage Fashion Reenact the “good ‘ol days” of shared phone lines, a butcher store, and more. Have a tea party dressed in vintage attire. Tuesday, June 26: Life before Legos Play old-fashioned games, like croquet, marbles, and more. Tuesday, July 3: One-room school house Travel to an old, one-room school house to role-play a day in the life of Laura Ingles Wilder. Even enjoy a game of softball outdoors! Each day camp provides hands-on learning opportunities, rich in Iowa history and culture. Come join in the fun. Cost for the each camp is $10 or $25 for all five camps. And, for two children, is $25. As Gayle Strickland, volunteer and member of Oakland Historical Society believes, “Learn from yesterday. Live for today. Hope for tomorrow.” Strickland, along with other volunteers, will inspire children to think, feel, and learn about the past and how it influences the future. |
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Address712 South Highway Street
P.O. Box 189 Oakland, IA 51560 |
ContactPhone: 712-482-3029
General inquiries: info@goldenhillsrcd.org Visit our Staff Page for email addresses and office hours. |