The City of Kalona and KCTC should be congratulated on cleaning up the front of the old Kalona Bakery building. They have removed the store hours and the name “Kalona Bakery” from the front window. KCTC has applied for a grant to help fix up the building to prepare it for a new business but won’t know if they get the grant until April.

Kalona Bakery signage that hangs on the front and side of the building, however, still needs to be removed.  From an iconic bakery that operated for more than 40 years, it seems these signs would have value, and I wonder where they will end up.

In addition to our weekly newspaper and special sections on Senior Living (Jan. 19) and Weddings (Jan. 26), The News staff is working hard on getting the Spring & Summer Kalona Area Visitor’s Guide ready for publication in mid-February.

The new edition of the guide will feature a variety of articles on local events, such as the Kalona Quilt Show & Sale in April, Kalona Days and Riverside’s TrekFest in June, and Wellman’s 4th of July Celebration, as well as many other local highlights and activities. We hope to create our best publication yet to attract more visitors and new residents to our communities.

If you have advertised in this publication previously, either I or our ad designer/salesperson Anna Kahn will contact you this month to renew the ad you ran previously. 

If you would like to advertise in this publication and have not done so before, please contact me at publisher@thenews-ia.com or Anna at design@thenews-ia.com, or call us at 319-656-2273.  Anna can design an ad for you at no extra cost, or you can submit a pdf or jpeg of your ad for publication.  Ad prices range from $150 for 1/8th page to $300 for full page (best value); please contact us for more information and details.  Ad deadline is Feb. 10.

We distribute 16,000 copies of our Visitor’s Guide statewide to promote the many exciting events, businesses, and attractions in our local communities.

On New Year’s weekend, Helen, Beryl and I traveled to my hometown of Denison in Western Iowa for nephew Mark Slechta’s wedding at the Denison Country Club. The Cobblestone Inn, where we stayed, was right next door to the country club’s banquet hall where the wedding and reception took place. As the oldest member of the Slechta clan, it was fun seeing all the youngsters and their families. At times the music was loud and hard to understand, but the young kids seemed to enjoy being on the dance floor.

The weather was perfect for traveling to and from Denison, so I was surprised to find out Monday that the Mid-Prairie boys basketball game against Denison-Schleswig at Wells-Fargo Arena had been canceled due to icy weather. Denison is also the hometown of Mid-Prairie boys’ basketball coach Daren Lambert. Hopefully that game can be rescheduled.  It would be a really good story if they could meet in the state playoff finals at Wells-Fargo Arena.

I and the rest of The News staff are looking forward to providing you with a high-quality local newspaper for the coming year. We always welcome your ideas and suggestions for news stories.  Be sure to contact us for advertising to promote your business.

While circulation numbers continue to decline for many other newspapers, The News staff is pleased to have a growing number of subscribers to both our newsprint and online editions. We are dedicated to providing our communities with a newspaper produced in-house with original local stories relevant to our readers.

We greatly appreciate the continued support of our subscribers and advertisers.  You make this paper possible.