HO SP LID ECI AY AL ISS UE
67
DAY TRIPS
places to go and things to do this season page 8
DAN GABLE The man behind the medal page 40
DANISH KRINGLE
The original holiday pastry page 20
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10/7/14 3:05 PM
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THE IOWAN | iowan.com
November/December 2014 | THE IOWAN
1
contents NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014
volume 63 | number 2 iowan.com
ON THE COVER AND THIS PAGE: Vintage glass ornaments adorn a Christmas tree at the Jacobsons’, page 56. Photographs by Kathryn Gamble
Features 28 A Holiday Weekend in Des Moines
by Carole Gieseke Ho ho — holy cow! You need a holiday break, and Des Moines awaits. Two itineraries — one for couples and one for families — guarantee a good time.
40 Dan Gable by Marc Hansen
Exclusive! The wrestling icon gives us a sneak peek at some of the stories in his new memoir and reveals what’s motivated him all these years. Marc Hansen tells the tale as only he can.
56 Deck the Trees
Photoessay by Kathryn Gamble and Dan Weeks Tony and Jeanne Jacobson go all out to create a visual wonderland with multiple trees and thousands of ornaments. Kathryn Gamble’s photographs capture the magic.
Departments 4
from the editor Season’s Greetings
6 letters
What a Hoot!
8
day trips
Events Worthy of an Excursion
16 garden
Gifts from the Garden
20 food
Kringle!
24 home Artful Ornaments 66 made in iowa A Better Mousetrap 70 flashback: 1954 The Wonders of Progress 72 escapades
Park It, People!
from the editor Season’s Greetings! November is the start of wrestling season, and when we heard Olympic champion and wrestling coach Dan Gable was publishing a memoir, we were as interested in his perspective on life at age 65 as we were in his memories of the sport. In “Dan Gable,” page 40, veteran Iowa sportswriter Marc Hansen offers an intimate and poignant profile that reveals what’s motivated Gable all these decades. His story made us respect the man behind the legend all the more. Of course, it’s holiday season as well — a time to celebrate with food,
PROUDLY PUBLISHED AND PRINTED IN IOWA BY THE PIONEER GROUP Publisher Polly Clark Editor Dan Weeks Creative Director Ann Donohoe Senior Graphic Designer Megan Johansen Image/Photo Specialist Jason Fort Associate Editor Cady Colosimo Copy Editor Gretchen Kauffman Advertising Executives Kimberly Hawn Ronda Jans Meghan Keller Tom Smull Becca Wodrich Circulation Manager Katrina Brocka Subscription Services Becca Leffler
with family, and with all that Iowa’s communities have to offer. Whether you prefer the city, a town square, or your own living room, this Holiday Special Issue is for you. Carole Gieseke lays out two itineraries — one for couples, one for families — for a holiday weekend in Des Moines starting on page 28. They’ll make sure you hit the high spots. Our Day Trips section, pages 8–13, highlights more seasonal events. They include seven celebrations in 12 delightful towns around the state. There you can enjoy everything from shopping to soup suppers to singing to sleigh rides, plus holiday lights, special performances, and more. If you’d rather stay home and decorate for the season, take inspiration from “Deck the Trees,” page 56. Tony and Jeanne Jacobson’s elaborately outfitted Winterset home comes to life in Kathryn Gamble’s stunning photographs. Of course, that’s not all. Also in this issue: the ultimate Danish holiday pastry, Elk Horn-style; gifts you can craft using ingredients from your garden; and easy-to-make ornaments that you’ll love to display or share with friends and family. Happy holidays!
Dan Weeks, Editor editor@iowan.com facebook.com/theiowan @theiowan
Jim Slife Twilla Glessner Accounting Manager Allison Volker CEO
Production Manager
The Iowan, ISSN (0021-0772), is published bi-monthly by Pioneer Communications, Inc., 300 Walnut Street, Suite 6, Des Moines, Iowa 50309. This issue is dated November 1, 2014, Volume 63, No. 2. All content © 2014 The Iowan/Pioneer Communications, Inc., and may not be used, reproduced, or altered in any way without prior written permission. Periodicals Postage Paid in Des Moines, Iowa, and at additional mailing offices. We cannot be held responsible for the loss or damage of unsolicited material. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to: The Iowan, 300 Walnut St., Suite 6, Des Moines, IA 50309. Prices: Subscriptions — Special rate when ordered direct or by mail: six issues per year for $24. International orders require additional postage. Please call for rates. Single copies — on newsstands: $4.95; current issue by mail: $4.95 plus $3.50 S+H. Please call for quantity discount pricing. Single past issues 2005 to present: $5.95 plus S+H, two for $9.95 plus S+H; prior to 2005: $14.95 plus S+H. New Subscriptions, Renewals, Gifts: iowan.com > SUBSCRIBE subscribe@pioneermagazines.com 877-899-9977 x211 Change of Address: iowan.com> CONTACT > Address Change subscribe@pioneermagazines.com 877-899-9977 x211 Past Issues: subscribe@pioneermagazines.com 877-899-9977 x211 Mail Orders: The Iowan Subscription Services P.O. Box 2516, Waterloo, IA 50704 Advertising Information: 515-246-0402 x202 or 877-899-9977 x202 advertising@iowan.com iowan.com Proudly printed in Iowa 10% PCW Paper Made in the USA facebook.com/theiowan
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November/December 2014 | THE IOWAN
5
letters GREAT ARTICLE
EXCELLENT
DIRTY POLITI
Thank you for the great article on the
CS a respectable city in a dirty (Des Moines) — Since Samuel shirt, MAIL ROBBER J. and with four or five inches Kirkwood is campaigning of dirty (Keokuk) — The train boy, as “the leg protruding through a named farmer Candidate,” the Democrat used up William H. Hudson, was s pair of short pantaloons, and detected have dubbed the Republican when and arrested on Monday morning the odor arising from his sweaty State Ticket as the “Plow last, while going to Chicago Handle carcass on revealed that his person Ticket.” The Democrats have the C.B.&.Q. railroad. He also was a stranger to soap and had for questioned Mr. Kirkwood water, some time past been in the ’s status we deem it due the dignity habit of as a farmer. The Campaign of our sleeping on the mail bags, State people to administer to him and it is Journal of Des Moines reviews such a now found that he made use the rebuke as his filthy habits of his candidate’s appearances: deserve.’” opportunity. “Kirkwood has hit upon the Letters containing valuable dodge of playing the farmer, property, drafts, notes, and and NOW I’VE GOT YOU! land thinking to do so he must warrants were found in his dress (Keokuk) — One evening, trucks. slovenly and dirty, rather recently, The total amount of notes over-did a young man of this vicinity, and the thing recently at Davenport while drafts was $11,324.73. Of , walking home with the daughter these the and the Democrat administer of Chicago Tribune of the 4th sa a butcher of this city (who gives a well deserved rebuke. This was also, complete list. Several of the called in the recent election, a candidate drafts out Sam’s pet organ, the Iowa were drawn by H. K. Love for Marshall) insulted the & Co., City Republican, in abuse young J. W. McMillen of the , Cashier, Geo. C. lady, who immediately slapped Democrat, and now the latter Anderson & Co., of this city, him in the face and, upon Meek responds in plain style. We reaching & Bros., of Bonaparte, H. make home, K. Steel, told her father. an extract: of Albia, and various others. In due On Tuesday afternoon, the “‘The Republican is perfectly time all these drafts and letters old man and the young one will aware that we did not say met reach their owners by mail. one on Main street, when a spirited word in disparagement of the neat and hotly contested race ensued but simple habiliments of our for about three squares, the farmers; what we complain old of was man flourishing his fists, and every not that Kirkwood was clothed now and then adding an impetus like a farmer, but that he was of about twenty feet at a jump dressed like a loafer, for we to believe the young man’s speed, by he takes especial pains to yelling, COUNTERFEITERS fix “Now I’ve got you.” himself up in the dirty styles APPREHENDED in The trembling and flying which he appeared before (Muscatine) — Levi Hillington the fugitive finally took refuge people of Davenport. in the and John Ayers were arrested vinegar factory on the corner at “‘Had he been in the plain of Burlington, on the 5th inst. Fifth and Exchange, when [Latin but substantial dress of an the for “last month”] having in Iowa enemy withdrew, after averring their Farmer, we who sprang from that possession complete apparatus the he would catch the offender for soil ourselves, and have worn if he the manufacture of bogus had coin. to run him to hell. Kentucky jeans and homespun They were held to bail in the for many a year, would have sum of $1,000, and in default been the last to note or censure thereof were committed to the jail. simplicity of his attire; but Ayers also had in his possession when a he came to address the people large bunch of assorted keys of which could be made to open almost
As longtime subscribers, my husband
Loess Hills [“Get Loessed!” September/
and I always enjoy The Iowan’s
October 2014, p. 26]. Our organization
excellent photos and stories about our state. In the past few issues, we
THINKSTOCK ®
is a subscriber here through the Iowa Area Development Group, and we
Frontier Scoundrels
are also big supporters of the Loess
True Stories of Robb ery, Bigamy, Hanky-Pan ky, Dirty Politics, and Just Plain Bad Manners from Iowa in the 1800 s.
Hills. In the hills, our grants have helped preserve native lands, establish signage, print Byway publications, supported nature centers, and
From the late 1950s to the early 1970s, The Iowan published a digest of 100-year-o ld Iowa news in the magazine under the heading “The Iowa Record.” Hugely popular, it contained snippets that appeared in Iowa newspapers between 1858 and 1871, edited and compiled in the 1950s and 1960s by William D. Houlette, then a history professor at Drake University. The articles are by turns hilarious, alarming, incredible, tragic, and inspiring. Some are all of that,
40
sponsored Loessfest.
thanks to the often hysterically overwritten style of Civil War-era journalism, but they’re all a great read. They also offer an eye-opening glimpse of life on the prairie frontier, with advice on everything from how to properly kiss a girl to how to survive a duel. We’ve had so much fun reading them lately that we’ve decided to curate and reprint a selection of the best of the best. For this issue, we settled on tales of dirty rotten scoundrels and their Iowa exploits.
THE IOWAN | iowan.com
especially loved reading about the new Iowa-themed DOT rest areas [“Twenty-Minute Resorts, July/August 2014, p. 28], the hints for exploring the Loess Hills, and the artist profiles of Iowa artists Brian Duffy [“Brian Duffy,” May/June 2014, p. 26] September/October 2014 | THE IOWAN
—Jerry Mathiasen Iowa West Foundation Council Bluffs
WHAT A HOOT!
41
and Hilde DeBruyne [“Sculptor in Residence,” September/October 2014,
I’d like to register my vote for more
p. 40]. Thanks for putting together
of those old-time newspaper bits Great job with the story about the
a highly readable magazine that’s as
[“Frontier Scoundrels,” September/
Loess Hills! I’m grateful to see a
entertaining as it is interesting!
October 2014, p. 40]. What a hoot!
statewide publication of this quality
—Cindy Raabe Des Moines
—Tim Ackarman Garner
paying attention to such a significant
SCULPTOR in
resource in western Iowa. We also enjoyed the stories about the frontier
Residence
Please keep the frontier scoundrels
scoundrels [September/October 2014,
stories coming! That’s a fun read.
p. 40] and the threshing machines
As a mom of four active boys, I can
[“Time Machines,” September/October
tell you that those are some great
2014, p. 62]. Great stuff. Thanks for a
bedtime stories of our Iowa ancestors.
great magazine.
There will be some wild (Mid)west
—Chad Graeve Hitchcock Nature Center Honey Creek
Belgian-born Hilde DeBruyne may be the best Iowa artist you’ve never heard of. by SUZANNE KELSEY | photography by JESSICA DEAN
dreams tonight! Thank you for all you do at The Iowan. We sure enjoy our subscription.
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DeBruyne sculpting in her studio.
September/October
—Shannon Hunger Iowa City
Get Loessed!
Re: “Frontier Scoundrels.” Love it!
a unique scenic Iowa’s Loess Hills are ure. and recreational treas fall tour. Join us for a gorgeous
Please keep ’em comin’!
by DAN WEEKS story and photography
—Stu Abens Waco, Texas (formerly Osage, Iowa) We’re glad you enjoyed ’em! Look for more in upcoming issues. —ed.
STAY IN TOUCH! The Iowan 300 Walnut Street, Suite 6 Des Moines, IA 50309 editor@iowan.com iowan.com > Contact Facebook.com > The Iowan
READ OUR BLOG! Local characters, little-known facts, 2014 | THE IOWAN September/October
27
behind-the-scenes images — our new weekly “Iowa Discoveries” blog features these and more every Friday.
6
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2014 | THE IOWAN
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Points of Interest in This Issue
29 33
16
23 22
32
21
10
35
19
34
3 5
24 20
36 18
4
37
13 14 31
11 27 2
12
25
26
8
38 15 28
30
1 176 9 7
1. Albia — p. 12, 66, 67
19. Dubuque — p. 10
2. Amana — p. 9
20. Elk Horn — p. 20, 23
3. Ames — p. 45, 51, 52, 53
21. Fort Dodge — p. 11
4. Atlantic — p. 12
22. Fredericksburg— p. 52
5. Audubon — p. 67
23. Garner — p. 6
6. Bentonsport — p. 13
24. Harlan — p. 22
7. Bonaparte — p. 13
25. Indianola — p. 13
8. Camanche — p. 52
26. Iowa City — p. 6, 53
9. Cantril — p. 13
27. Marengo— p. 10
10. Cedar Falls — p. 11, 12
28. Muscatine — p. 9
11. Cedar Rapids — p. 11
29. Osage — p. 6
12. Clarinda — p. 9
30. Pella — p. 13
13. Council Bluffs — p. 6, 70
31. Shenandoah — p. 70
14. Creston — p. 13
32. Sioux City — p. 11, 52
15. Davenport — p. 8, 50, 51
33. Spencer — p. 9
16. Decorah — p. 8, 53
34. Waterloo — p. 10, 47, 53
17. Keosauqua — p. 13
35. Webster City — p. 8, 50
18. Des Moines — p. 6, 19, 25,
36. West Des Moines — p. 30, 33, 50
29–35, 42, 47, 50, 71
37. Winterset — p. 51, 56 38. Wyoming — p. 13
November/December 2014 | THE IOWAN
7
Events worthy of an excursion
A BEAUTIFUL HISTORY
Love Norway X
Davenport Figge Art Museum
FROM NORWAY, WITH LOVE
Now–January 4, 2015, Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m.–9 p.m.; Sunday, 12–5 p.m.
Decorah Vesterheim Norwegian American Museum
225 West 2nd Street figgeartmuseum.org 563-326-7804 $7 adults, $6 seniors, $4 children ages 4–12, free under age 4, free after 5 p.m. on Thursday African American Art Since 1950: Perspectives from the David C. Driskell Center chronicles the evolution and growing prominence of African American art during the past 60 years. Covering a wide range of art styles and media, the exhibition includes works by such luminaries such as Faith Ringgold, Romare Bearden,
COURTESY NICK CAVE, SOUND SUIT, COPYRIGHT NICK CAVE, WADSWORTH ATHENEUM MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, HARTFORD
African American Art Since 1950
Now–March 2015, Sunday–Saturday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. 502 West Water Street vesterheim.org 563-382-9681 $10 Witness an installation of two monumental artworks, a flag sculpture and obelisk, made by Ian Ward Garlant of Hatlestrand, Norway, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Norwegian constitution. Garlant burns, bathes, and scrapes preused wood, asphalt, and fjord sand to sculpt new interpretations of ancient earthly monuments. They feature an array of both ancient and modern quotations, words, symbols, and patterns that connect Northern Europe to the Far East and reflect mankind’s continued hopes and wishes to create the best of all possible worlds.
Elizabeth Catlett, and Sam Gilliam, along with more recent works by artists such as Kara Walker, Chakaia Booker, and Willie Cole.
Wonder of Words Festival LITERATURE — LIVE AND IN PERSON
Owls of Iowa
Central Iowa Various venues
PROWL FOR AN OWL
Thursday, November 6– Thursday, November 20
Webster City Hamilton County Conservation Office Saturday, November 1, 7 p.m. presentation, 8 p.m. hike 2490 Briggs Woods Trail mycountyparks.com 515-832-9570 Free Bring a flashlight (red covers are provided to preserve night vision) and join Hamilton County Conservation officers as they prowl for owls. Learn how owls have adapted to night hunting, how to perform owl calls to draw the birds near, and about Iowa’s owl species and their importance to our environment. Anyone who enjoys wildlife and hiking at night is welcome.
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wonderofwordsfest.com 515-244-2771 Free–$150 The third annual Wonder of Words Festival celebrates reading, writing, and the joy of lifelong learning. Hear author presentations by such luminaries as writer Gary Soto, poets Michael Robbins and former United States Poet Laureate Billy Collins, author Bill Bryson, author/ journalist Michael Gartner, and more. Join a Pub(lishers) Crawl featuring dramatic readings by authors. Take part in roundtable discussions and workshops on everything from big data to blogging. See website for event schedule.
COURTESY VESTERHEIM MUSEUM
DAY TRIPS
day trips Turkey Trot
The Price Is Right Live!
RUN FOR A TURKEY
COME ON DOWN!
Muscatine Muscatine Municipal Golf Course
Spencer Clay County Regional Events Center
Saturday, November 15, 10 a.m. 1820 N Highway 38 muscatineiowa.gov 563-263-0241
Sunday, November 16, 7 p.m.
$20, $15 if registered before November 7
800 West 18th Street spencerevents.com 712-580-3000
Predict how long it will take you to run a cross-country
$29–$49
course (no timing devices allowed!) and run for your chance
The Price Is Right Live! is the
to win a frozen turkey in your gender and age division (only
hit interactive stage show
one turkey awarded per family). Participants 11 and under
that gives contestants pulled
will run a 1-mile course; those over 15 will follow a 3-mile
from the audience the chance
course. The closer you come to your predicted time, the
to “come on down” to win
better chance you have to win. There are 8 age divisions for
appliances, vacations, and even new cars. Lucky contestants
each gender, and all registrants get a long-sleeve T-shirt.
play classic games such as Plinko, Cliffhangers, the Big Wheel, and Showcase from television’s longest-running, most popular game show. With nearly sold-out audiences for almost 10 years, The Price Is Right Live! has given away more than $10 million in cash and prizes.
Taste of Clarinda TASTE THE RAINBOW
TICKETS: Ticketmaster.com • (800) 745-3000 Clay County Regional Events Center Box Office *NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open to US & Canada legal residents, 18+ (Residents of NY, FL, RI, PR & Quebecineligible to participate as contestants). To register for chance to be contestant, visit http://apps.absolutist.com/partners/pricelive/46/. Complete rules & regulations, including eligibility requirements & free method of entry, visit or call venue box office. Sponsored by Good Games Live, Inc. Void where prohibited. THE PRICE IS RIGHT LIVE™/©2014 FremantleMedia. All Rights Reserved.
Clarinda Thursday, December 4, 4–7 p.m. 115 East Main Street clarinda.org 712-542-2166
1940s Radio Christmas Carol
Free
VINTAGE HOLIDAY COMEDY
Enjoy delicious free samples and collect decorative recipe
Amana Old Creamery Theatre
cards at over 30 participating Clarinda businesses as you start your holiday shopping on the Clarinda square.
Thursday, November 20– Sunday, December 14 Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday, 2 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 7:30 p.m. COURTESY CLARINDA HERALD JOURNAL
39 38th Avenue oldcreamery.com 319-622-6262 $28 adults, $18.50 students and children It’s Christmas Eve in 1943, and listeners to WOV Radio out of Newark, New Jersey, settle in for a one-of-a-kind telling of the classic Dickens story A Christmas Carol. See what happens behind the scenes as the Feddington Players try to save the show from one disaster after another in this delightful holiday comedy filled with the music and the spirit of Christmas. Rated Theatre G.
November/December 2014 | THE IOWAN
9
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy Christmas SWING INTO THE SEASON Dubuque Mississippi Moon Bar Saturday, December 6, 8 p.m. 301 Bell Street dubuquetickets.diamondjo.com 563-690-4758 $30–$55 Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is a rowdy celebration of musicianship, mischief, genius, street smarts, and fun. The high-energy, nine-piece band’s Christmas shows are legendary for turning Yuletide classics such as “Blue Christmas” and “Jingle Bells” into big band extravaganzas. The band has received national critical acclaim and its music has appeared in more than 60 movies and television shows.
Holiday Open House
A Hobbit Tea Party
WINE AND GOOD TIMES
MIDDLE-EARTH MADNESS
Marengo Fireside Winery
Waterloo Snowden House
Saturday, December 6, 4–7 p.m.
Saturday, December 6, 10 a.m.–noon
1755 P Avenue firesidewinery.com 319-662-4222
306 Washington Street gmdistrict.org 319-234-6357
Free Celebrate the season with Fireside Winery during the annual
$10 nonmembers, $8 members
Holiday Open House. Play fun games while listening to live music. If you’ve been nice, you might even win a prize! The
Calling all dwarves,
Ramblers make their musical debut this year with a mix
hobbits, elves, and
rediscovered oldies and familiar tunes with a folksy spin.
Museum District! Join
patio. There will be plenty of wine to keep you warm!
the quest to recover the dwarves’ lost treasure. Make golden glitter slime taken from Smaug’s hoard and Dragon Eye Stones and create ornaments as a souvenir from your adventure. Also partake in a classic British Tea worthy of a Hobbit’s hearty appetite.
THINKSTOCK ®
Geared toward children, but adults welcome.
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THE IOWAN | iowan.com
GET LISTED! Does your organization put on an event worthy of an excursion? We’d love to consider it for inclusion in Day Trips. For more information, email Calendar@iowan.com.
THINKSTOCK ®
humans to the Grout
Dress warmly; the group will play in the enclosed outdoor
day trips Before William Sturgis
MythBusters: Behind the Myths Tour
THE LAND BEFORE TIME Cedar Falls Carriage House
WHO YA GONNA CALL?
Now–Sunday, December 7 Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Sunday, 1–4 p.m.
Wednesday, December 10, 7 p.m.
Sioux City Orpheum Theater 528 Pierce Street orpheumlive.com 712-258-9164
308 West 3rd Street cfhistory.org 319-266-5149
$47.50+
Free
The all-new live show MythBusters:
Explore the Cedar River
Behind the Myths stars Jamie
valley before its settlement
Hyneman and Adam Savage,
by William Sturgis in 1845. Learn the history and culture
cohosts of the Emmy-nominated
of the Ioway, Sauk, and Meskwaki who lived in the area as
Discovery series MythBusters.
their beadwork, pottery, tools, and other artifacts bring
They present a fantastical evening of on-stage experiments
the valley to life. Enjoy the ¼-scale wickiup replica and
and behind-the-scenes stories and videos. Fans assist Jamie
hands-on crafts and activities. Take a look at an elaborate
and Adam on stage as they mix scientific method, gleeful
antique model railroad. Then cinch up your corsets, grab
curiosity, and plain old-fashioned ingenuity to create their
your calling card, and step back more than 100 years to the
own signature style of explosive experimentation — and
Victorian era at the adjoining Victorian House museum.
support or debunk the myths of our times.
GIFTS GALORE
Prazak Quartet
Fort Dodge Webster County Fairgrounds
WORLD-CLASS CHAMBER MUSIC
Saturday, December 13–Sunday, December 14 Saturday, 9 a.m.–4 p.m. Sunday, 9 a.m.–3 p.m. 22770 Old Highway 169 webstercountyfairgroundsia.com 515-955-3764 Free There’s a little bit of everything — no, make that a LOT of everything — for sale here. Items old, new, vintage, retro, handmade, and mass-produced fill the Webster County Fairground’s exhibition building. Last year, there was everything from fine woodworking to army surplus to handmade crafts to used books to old tools to tubs upon tubs of discount cosmetics — and plenty of the glorious kitsch that flea markets are famous for. You can buy, sell, swap, and dicker to your heart’s content — a 4-H food stand serves breakfast and lunch all weekend.
COURTESY GUY VIVIEN
Winter Flea Market
Cedar Rapids Sinclair Auditorium Thursday, November 13, 7:30 p.m. 1220 1st Avenue Northeast coe.edu/aboutcoe/marquis 319-399-8600 $10 students and seniors, $15 general public You could travel to Paris, Milan, Berlin, or New York to hear the The Prazak Quartet, one of today’s leading international chamber music ensembles. But you don’t have to, thanks to Coe College’s Marquis Series. It regularly brings world-class educational and cultural events, open to the public, to Coe’s Cedar Rapids campus. The Prazak Quartet won first prize at the Prague Conservatory Chamber Music Competition and will be playing an all-Czech program at Coe, featuring music by Ryba, Janacek, and Smetana. Don’t miss it!
November/December 2014 | THE IOWAN
11
Hometown Holidays
Albia
Iowa’s small towns pull out all the stops to make the
A CELEBRATION OF ALBIA’S VICTORIAN HISTORY
winter holidays happy and festive. We found a few we
Historic downtown square
think you’ll especially enjoy.
Saturday, December 6, 6–8 p.m.
Atlantic A DAZZLING DISPLAY OF HOLIDAY LIGHTS City Park Thursday, November 20, dusk atlanticiowa.com 712-243-3017 Free More than 200,000 LED lights set the streets of Atlantic, above, aglow — from City Park all the way down Main
albiachamber.org 641-932-2144 Free The town’s historic square, below, comes alive during the daylong Victorian Stroll. Forty storefronts are filled with period-costumed townsfolk; there are also horse-drawn carriage rides, a hobby-train exhibit, free movies for the kids, a festival of trees, costumed carolers, and A Christmas Carol presented at the restored historic theater.
Street starting with the Grand Lighting November 20. On
Cedar Falls
Saturday, December 6, enjoy a lighted holiday parade
A MAGICAL MARCH DOWN MAIN STREET
and fireworks downtown. Check out the shops on
Downtown Cedar Falls
Main Street, where an old-fashioned dime store and two
Kickoff is Friday, November 28, 6–8 p.m.
hardware stores have been in business for more than
cfholidayhoopla.com 319-277-0213
70 years. Also, don’t miss the Festival of Trees (December 4–7 at the Catholic Parish Center, 105 E. 5th St.).
Free How will Santa arrive this year? Find out at the annual Holiday Hoopla kickoff in downtown Cedar Falls. Then he’ll lead a magical march down Main Street and light the tree. A fireworks display caps off the evening. Other special holiday events — such as horse-drawn trolley rides, Jingle and Mingle, and a 5-K fun run — are offered each Thursday and Saturday from Thanksgiving until Christmas.
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THE IOWAN | iowan.com
day trips Creston
Pella
A SMALL-TOWN-AMERICANA HOLIDAY
CHRISTMAS IN A DUTCH VILLAGE
Thursday–Sunday, December 4–7
Various dates and times in November and December
crestoniowachamber.com/index.html 641-782-021
pella.org 888-746-3882
Free
Most events are free
Starting with a lighted parade at 7 p.m. on December 4 —
From Pella’s Historical Village Christmas Walk (November
complete with Santa and fireworks —No Place Like Creston
8–December 31, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.) to the Sinterklaas Parade
is a great way to kick off a family holiday. A festival of trees
(Saturday, November 29, 10 a.m.), Pella is the place to
and the popular Comfort and Joy Quilt Show, an exhibition
be for an authentic Dutch Christmas. Wait, there’s more:
of holiday and vintage quilts, will be on display December
the Pella Opera House Festival of Trees (November 21–29,
4–6. Wrap up your holiday weekend on Sunday with a
9 a.m.–6 p.m.), 52nd annual Christmas Tour of Homes
seasonal concert.
(December 4–6, $15), and the De Kerstdagen Tour of Stores (Monday, November 24, 5–8 p.m.). And visit one
Villages of Van Buren County
or more of Pella’s legendary Dutch bakeries, below, for
WHERE HISTORY AND HOLIDAYS COME TOGETHER
special holiday treats.
Throughout the month of December villagesofvanburen.com 800-868-7822
Indianola HOLIDAY TRADITIONS WITH AN INDIANOLA FLAIR
Most events are free
Downtown square
The communities of Keosauqua, Bonaparte, Bentonsport,
Friday, November 21, 4:30–8 p.m.
Cantril, and others in southeastern Van Buren County team up to make the holidays extra special. During the Christmas
indianolachamber.com 515-961-6269
in the Villages celebration, you can enjoy the Festival of
Free
Trees in Keosauqua (December 5–7 in the Roberts Memorial
The event kicks off with the lighting of the square, a
Building), specialty shopping in the historic district of
lighted parade, horse-drawn buggy and train rides,
Bentonsport (weekends through Christmas), the decorated
pictures with Santa, competitions for the ugliest
walking trails of the Enchanted Forest Walk in Cantril
Christmas sweater, and performances from local talent.
(December 6 in Waubonsie Park), plus soup suppers, cookie
Browse in a children’s shop that provides kids a chance
walks, and more.
to shop for Mom and Dad with assistance from Santa’s helpers. Later in the season, check out the Indianola
Wyoming
Holiday Taste and Tour of Homes (Friday–Saturday,
A CANOPY OF LIGHTS
December 12–13; tickets are $15 in advance).
Main Street Sunday, December 7, 4–8 p.m. showcase.netins.net/web/wyomingabc 563-488-3970 Free The tiny town of Wyoming (population 515) in eastern Iowa lives up to its Christmas City moniker with a ho-hoho contest, bake sale, tree walk, a soup/sandwich supper (fee charged), tree lighting at 5 p.m. in front of City Hall, horse and wagon rides, and more. But it’s the lights — multicolored bulbs crisscrossing Main Street for nearly four blocks — that make Wyoming’s holiday charm truly special.
November/December 2014 | THE IOWAN
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The Iowan_NovDec 2014.indd 1 November/December
15 8:45:31 AM 2014 | THE IOWAN8/29/2014
Gifts from the Garden Make enough to treat yourself, too! by DEB WILEY | photography by DEAN TANNER
garden Perhaps you, like me, have always dreamed of making
Herbal and Floral Sugars
your own holiday gifts, preferably ones that are beautiful,
This is a perfect gift for the foodie in your life. Use fresh, organically grown herbs or edible flowers to avoid those contaminated by chemical sprays or fertilizers. Ensure the flowers have been classified as edible and use only the petals — no stamens, centers, or stems.
practical, garden-related, and, above all, easy. These three botanically inspired items could be what you’ve been looking for. Herbal sugars, flowered candles, and scented bath bombs are all useful yet personal gifts that can be enjoyed throughout the year. Even in an Iowa winter you should be able to find enough materials to craft these projects. Come next summer, you may want to harvest natural materials straight from your own garden or farmer’s market.
MATERIALS 1 c. sugar ½ c.
clean fresh edible flowers or herbs, minced finely, such as leaves of mint, basil, tarragon, and rosemary; lavender flowers or leaves; and calendula or rose petals
Cookie sheet with edges Breaking sugar chunks after baking, left. Rose petal, lavender, and tarragon sugars in their containers, below.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 200°F. 2. In a bowl combine sugar with minced flowers or herbs. Let the flavors mingle for an hour or two. (The flowers and herbs may change color during baking. Pale rose petals, for example, turn brown. If the look of brown petals in your sugar bothers you, chop them coarsely, then sift them out after infusing and baking.)
3. Pour sugar-herb mixture onto an ungreased cookie sheet. 4. Bake 30 minutes. 5. Cool 30 minutes or longer. 6. Place the baked sugar mixture into a bowl or pan, using your fingers to break chunks apart until it has the consistency of sand. For a very fine texture, process the herbal sugar in a blender. Taste the sugar after you’ve made it. If the flavor is too strong, add more sugar. Too weak? Make a stronger batch to blend with the original batch.
7. Place the sugar mix into a decorative container, label it, and adorn with raffia or ribbon. YIELD 1 to 1½ cups sugar mixture. You can use the sugar on the rims of glasses of iced tea, in marinades, as a meat rub, and on top of or as an ingredient in sugar cookies, cupcakes, and other baked goods. Herbal sugars also add a lovely tang to fresh fruit pairings — try basil with strawberries and mint with citrus.
November/December 2014 | THE IOWAN
17
INSTRUCTIONS
1. In a large ceramic or glass bowl use a whisk to completely combine the baking soda and Epsom salts.
2. Work the coconut oil into the dry ingredients until it’s fully incorporated.
3. If using coloring and/or essential oils, blend 1 drop food coloring and 1 drop essential oils with 1 teaspoon of the water.
4. Spray or apply the oil/extract mixture or plain water in small amounts to the dry mixture, a tiny bit at a time, mixing well between additions. This may take a minute or two. Add more coloring and/or essential oils to reach desired color tone or “flavor.”
5. Add the citric acid. Citric acid can be a mild skin and
Garden-Fresh Bath Bombs It’s easy to visit a bath shop and just buy these fizzing bath goodies. But if you’re the least bit crafty (and I’m not), they’re a cinch to make. Rounding up the ingredients from a supermarket or health food store takes the most time. There are many bath bomb recipes; this one uses simple, easy-to-find ingredients.
eye irritant, so warn children who may be helping to immediately rinse their hands with water after they’re done.
6. Mix the ingredients well; stir for at least 5 minutes. When it’s done, the mixture will look dry but should cling together when you squeeze a handful. If you need
MATERIALS
to add more liquid, add ½ teaspoon at a time (or use a
Large ceramic or glass bowl
spray bottle and add just a spray or two). If it’s too wet,
Whisk or nonreactive spoon
the finished bath bombs may be spongy-looking.
1 c. baking soda
7. If you wish, add fresh petals or lavender buds to the
¼ c. Epsom salts 1 T. coconut oil, melted but not warm 1–2 drops food-grade coloring (optional) 2–3 drops essential oils or extracts (optional) 1–3 t. water
mix at this point. Remember that they will litter the bathtub after the other ingredients melt into the water. For easier tub cleanup, place dried petals or flowers at the base of the mold for beauty. Use dried flowers; fresh flowers don’t retain their original shape.
Small spray bottle (optional)
8. Pack the mold with the semidry mixture. Use spoons
½ c. citric acid Fresh flower petals, lavender buds, or dried flowers (optional)
or the bottoms of measuring cups to pack the mold
Molds such as fluted muffin tin, mini cake pan, ice cube tray, plastic two-part Easter eggs, egg carton
drying process.
as tightly as possible. Repack as necessary during the
9. Air-dry at least overnight but ideally for 2 days. Carefully remove the bath bombs from the mold.
Pack the molds with a mixture of baking soda, Epsom salts, and essential oils. Flower petals placed in the bottoms of the molds add color to the finished product.
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THE IOWAN | iowan.com
Store in airtight tins or glass jars. YIELD About 5 regular-size muffin cups. The number of bath bombs you make depends on the size of your mold.
garden Flower Power Candles “Wait,” you say. “Didn’t you promise easy?” Don’t worry. You’re not going to make candles. You’re just going to make them pretty. MATERIALS Metal spoon
Pressing the flower into the candle with a heated spoon holds the flower in place prior to dipping.
Extra candle to use as a heat source Tweezers Dried flowers or leaves, pressed flat (from crafts stores or garden). Choose those that are naturally slender — they’re easier to work with. Pillar candles (size and color of your choice; ivory or white work well because they allow the candle flame to backlight your design) Small scissors Plain paraffin Container to melt the paraffin, such as a disposable pie pan
Dipping the candle in melted wax with a light rolling motion adds a protective clear layer of wax over the flower.
Waxed paper or glass plate INSTRUCTIONS
1. Gently warm the bowl of the spoon over the top of the lighted heat source candle. Keep the spoon about an inch above the flame to prevent soot from forming on the spoon.
2. Using a tweezers, place a dried flower or leaf against the gift candle. Using the warmed spoon, gently press the flower or leaf against the candle until all parts adhere to the wax. Rewarm the spoon as needed. Use the scissors to trim excess parts. Repeat until your design looks finished. Leave some space around each flower or leaf to allow the beauty to shine.
3. Carefully melt paraffin on a stove, making sure it does not boil. DO NOT MICROWAVE PARAFFIN — the temperature is too hard to control. Use extra caution when handling melted paraffin, which can cause burns. Dip or roll the decorated candle in the paraffin, adding a thin layer to the dried flowers. Place the decorated candle onto waxed paper or another easy-to-clean surface such as a ceramic or glass plate to cool and dry.
Deb Wiley, a Des Moines writer, editor, and photographer, was surprised to find during this project that she’s not entirely without crafty talent. Dean Tanner is a commercial photographer who lives in Des Moines with his wife and two daughters. He specializes in food photography.
November/December 2014 | THE IOWAN
19
Kringle! A Danish holiday treat you can enjoy any time
by DAN WEEKS | photography by RICK LOZIER Close your mouth around the airy puff pastry. Feel the impossibly thin outer layers gently give way as almond flakes and granules of crystal sugar light up your taste buds. The pastry literally melts on contact, a delicious, slow dissolve. Then it blossoms: A luxurious, creamy paste inside tastes like ambrosia. To encounter one of Jacquelyn Christensen’s Kringles right out of the oven is ecstasy — nay, epiphany! This is the pastry against which all others should be judged: the one true pastry. There’s a reason for that, says Vernon Kline. He’s Jacquelyn’s father — and co-owner, with his daughter and her husband, Jeremy, of Elk Horn’s Danish Inn. The restaurant on the south edge of Iowa’s most famous Danish village is fast becoming nationally known for producing the best Kringle almost anyone has ever tasted. “Danish pastries were the original pastries. So called ‘French Pastries’ — they were first made in Denmark,” Kline says. “And the Kringle is the original Danish pastry — the first of the first. Their shape is hung outside Danish bakeries as a universally recognized symbol of the business,” he says. Never tasted one? Poor you! But don’t feel too bad — neither had the Christensens. In spite of their Danish name and family history, they were both born in California and only rediscovered their Danish heritage in Elk Horn as young adults. Jacquelyn’s grandmother lives in town in a big yellow house with a cozy upstairs apartment. “There was a running joke in my family, growing up in Pasadena, that I could always run away and go live in my grandma’s attic,” says Jacqueline. When she hit her early twenties, disillusioned with the pace and impersonality of West Coast life, she delivered the punchline: She was moving to Elk Horn. For real.
20
THE IOWAN | iowan.com
Traditional, pretzel-shape kringles fresh from the oven cool on a rack in the Danish Inn’s kitchen.
food
November/December 2014 | THE IOWAN
21
Seven sisters coffee cake is another traditional Danish pastry. It features seven spiraled rolls, each with a different fruit filling.
“I thought I’d come for a year, spend time with my
These miniature versions of more traditional pastries also get almond or fruit filling. The result are cookie-size turnovers, fruit flips, bearclaws, and stars.
They all are made in the Danish Inn’s kitchen from all-
grandmother, reconnect with my roots, enjoy the slow pace
natural ingredients, stay fresh for a week, and can be frozen
of small-town life,” Jacqueline says as she expertly slides
up to six months. You can eat them cold, but they’re best
another tray of Kringle into her multishelf convection oven.
wonderfully warm — pop them into a microwave for 10 or
“I had a very romantic view of the place.”
15 seconds and they’re almost indistinguishable from fresh-
The romance almost fizzled. She loved spending time
baked. It’s hard to choose a favorite, but the traditional,
with her grandmother, but there weren’t many people her
pretzel-shape original with the magical almond paste, butter,
age compared to Pasadena. Employment choices were
and brown sugar filling was ours. (Jacquelyn also makes
limited. Then her dad came to visit and spotted an ad in the
Kringle strips, which add various fruit fillings to the almond
local paper. “Hey,” he said to her. “The bakery is for sale.”
layer and are easier to portion when serving.)
The rest is recent history. Jacquelyn apprenticed to
Her recipe is a closely guarded family secret. That’s also
David Mutum, the bakery’s Denmark-trained former owner.
traditional. Copenhagen bakeries don’t publish theirs either.
She found she had a natural affinity for pastry and started
“I went there recently and brought back the best Kringle I
tweaking the recipes in ways that the Elk Horn Danes
could find,” says Kline. “We did a taste test. We thought ours
approved. She met and married Jeremy, who moved to Elk
was better. Of course, it was fresher, but still.”
Horn from Harlan, and together with her father, they opened
Jeremy has tried another approach, quizzing native-
the Danish Inn and moved the baking operations there.
born and visiting Danes about how Jacquelyn’s pastries taste
They introduced Kringle as a dessert. Word spread. Last year
compared to those they’ve eaten in Denmark. “Some people
Jacqueline personally baked some 4,000 of the pastries,
say ours isn’t quite the same. Others say they taste just like
about half of them for mail order during the holidays.
their mother’s. What we’ve learned is this: Everyone’s mother
The day we were there, Jacqueline was cutting and buttering dough, spooning on fillings, and whipping trays of
has a different recipe.” Still, thousands of mouths tell the tale — literally.
Kringle in and out of the oven and onto a cooling rack in a
Almost without advertising, sales have gone through the
dizzying, aromatic ballet. Kline was packing an order to take
roof. Jeremy is calculating breakeven on a bigger oven.
to the post office, and Jeremy was hospitably slicing into
Jacquelyn is trying to find more hours in her day. And Kline,
examples of Jacquelyn’s other creations for us to try: almond
who ended up moving to Elk Horn from Los Angeles with
puffs, Danish letters, napoleons, seven sisters coffee cake,
his wife, Kathryn, after retiring from a banking career, is
and various fruit-filled pastries.
ferrying Kringles to supermarkets and bakeries in Elkhorn,
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THE IOWAN | iowan.com
food Danish Kringle ¾ c. butter, softened 3¼ c. flour 1
cake compressed yeast
¼ c. water, lukewarm ½ c. milk, scalded and cooled to lukewarm
Vernon Kline, Jacquelyn Kline Christensen, and Jeremy Christensen rediscovered their Danish heritage when they took over operation of the Danish Inn in Elk Horn.
1
egg, beaten
3 T.
sugar
1 t.
salt
2
sticks butter, softened
2 c.
powdered sugar
1
egg yolk
1 T.
cream
3–4
egg whites
granulated sugar, for sprinkling
chopped nuts, for sprinkling
1. Cream butter and ¼ cup flour together until light. 2. Spread with spatula on wax paper to make a 10x4 inch rectangle. Chill.
3. Crumble compressed yeast into lukewarm water. Nebraska. That’s another Danish community that can’t seem to get enough of Jacquelyn’s mouthwatering kringle. “Most of the time, we give someone a taste and it’s all over. They can’t live without it,” says Jeremy. Expansion seems inevitable. But not change, says Jeremy, who gauges the authenticity of their food by the approval of the dyed-in-the-wool Danes who regularly eat at the Danish Inn. “We always ask them how their meal was,” Jeremy says. “ ‘As usual,’ they tell us.” For those that need a translation, that’s “Fabulous!” in Danish.
4. Mix milk, beaten egg, sugar, and salt together in a bowl. 5. Add yeast and water mixture. 6. Beat in remaining 3 cups of flour, adding a little at a time. Do not let get too stiff.
7. Knead and roll out onto a floured board, 12 inches square, and place 1 stick butter onto center of dough.
8. Fold dough over butter from both sides. Then fold again into thirds.
9. Roll out to 8×16 inches, then repeat folding and rolling two more times.
10. Wrap in waxed paper and chill 30 minutes. 11. Blend 1 stick butter, powdered sugar, egg yolk, and cream in a mixer for filling.
MAKE YOUR OWN In lieu of Jacquelyn’s recipe, we offer this one, based
12. Roll to 12×14 inches and cut in half lengthwise. 13. Spread filling mixture down the center of each strip.
on one in The Elk Horn Community Cook Book,
Then fold it over the filling from each side. Seal the
produced by the Elk Horn Lutheran Church Women in
edges with milk.
the 1950s and reprinted by the Danish Windmill. Get your own copy of the book for $17 postpaid from the Danish Windmill, P.O. Box 245, Elk Horn, IA 51531.
ORDER THE ORIGINAL
14. Place into greased pans. Brush with egg whites and sprinkle with granulated sugar and chopped nuts.
15. Let rest 20 minutes, then bake in a 375° oven for 20 minutes.
Danish Inn Kringle, $11.95 plus shipping Danish Inn, 4116 Main Street, Elk Horn, IA 51531,
Dan Weeks is editor of The Iowan.
712-764-4251, danishinnrestaurant.com
Rick Lozier is a photographer and co-owner of JWalk Studio in Des Moines.
November/December 2014 | THE IOWAN
23
Artful Ornaments They’re almost as easy as baking Christmas cookies — and last a lot longer! by CANDACE ORD MANROE | photography by KATHRYN GAMBLE
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THE IOWAN | iowan.com
home Royal Icing Ornaments
Gingerbread Ornaments
This season enlarge your collection of ornaments with these you can make yourself. This one’s a piece of cake — well, icing, anyway. It’s made of extra-firm frosting, like that you’d pipe onto a cake.
Baking gingerbread ornaments will fill your home with a holiday aroma and give you treeworthy decorations. That’s thanks to the preservative qualities of ginger that have made it an ingredient in Christmas baking for at least 500 years. There are a variety of common recipes — the one we’ve chosen includes molasses and cocoa for a rich, brown color.
Materials: Parchment paper
Materials: (for 30 ornaments)
2 large egg whites 2 cups + 2 tablespoons powdered sugar Food coloring (optional) Piping bag Ribbon Instructions:
1. Tape parchment paper to a flat surface. Set aside. 2. Place egg whites and 2 cups sugar in mixing bowl and
1 c. sugar 2 t.
baking soda
2 t.
ground cloves
2 t.
ground ginger
2 t.
ground cinnamon
7 c.
flour
1 c.
water
use whisk attachment of an electric mixer on slow to
½ c.
molasses
moisten. Turn to high speed and beat until glossy and
2 T. cocoa powder
stiff peaks form (peaks will curve slightly). If it’s not
Cookie cutters
stiff enough, add another tablespoon or two of sugar.
Ribbon
If desired, divide the icing into small bowls and use food coring to tint each one. Try 1 drop first; add more for darker color.
3. Fill piping bag. Cover any unused icing with a damp cloth. Pipe holiday shapes onto parchment paper, from simple stars and trees to intricate snowflakes and Santas. You
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 2. Mix shortening and sugar together in a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Cut the dough into three equal portions. Refrigerate for 6 to 8 hours.
can also use stencils, cookie cutters, or drawings on the
3. Grease cookie sheets.
parchment paper to make the designs. Leave an open
4. On floured waxed paper roll out one piece of dough to
space at the top of each ornament to attach a ribbon for
¼-inch thickness; cut gingerbread ornaments with cookie
tying onto the tree.
cutters. Poke a hole in the top of each ornament (use a
4. When you’re done with your ornaments, set them aside to dry from 1 to 5 hours, depending on thickness. When dry, the ornaments will easily come off of the parchment. If you try to remove them too soon, they will break. For
straw or a clean pencil eraser). Repeat with remaining dough portions. Bake for 20 minutes, turning cookies over halfway through baking time.
5. Cool on cookie sheets for 1 minute. Transfer ornaments
extra-durable ornaments, turn the dry ornaments over
to wire racks. For best results, let ornaments harden and
and duplicate the design on the back, making a double-
dry for at least 2 days.
6. Tie ribbon through each hole.
thick, double-strong ornament.
PHOTO BY DEAN TANNER
6 T. shortening
Drawing your ornament first makes piping on the icing easier and your ornaments more uniform.
Candace Ord Manroe is a writer who specializes in homerelated subjects. She lives in Des Moines. Kathryn Gamble (kathryngamble.com) is a freelance photographer based in Des Moines.
November/December 2014 | THE IOWAN
25
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ng
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Originally opened in 1910, The Historic Park Inn Hotel is the last remaining of five Frank Lloyd Wright designed and built hotels in the world. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it now operates as a boutique hotel.
If you enjoy gardening, great tasting food, or history, help us celebrate our
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Come celebrate the season in Mount Pleasant, Iowa with these fun events: • NORTH POLE EXPRESS • FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS • HOLIDAY ON MAIN • BREAKFAST WITH SANTA
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A Holiday Weekend in
Des Moines Take a break this year by spending a fun-filled holiday weekend in Iowa’s largest, most cosmopolitan city. story and photography by CAROLE GIESEKE
Baking. Decorating. Wrapping. Buying. Mailing. Entertaining. Stop! If, like mine, your holidays arrive like a steamroller — and I don’t mean Mannheim Steamroller — you’re due for a getaway. The festivities begin early in Iowa’s capital. Even before Thanksgiving, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Here are two itineraries that will introduce you to some of my favorites.
The Downtown Winter Farmers’ Market in Capital Square is a one-stop shop of local foods for holiday meals. November/December 2014 | THE IOWAN
29
COURTESY DARREN BROWN
The shops of Historic Valley Junction stay open late for “Jingle in the Junction,” and the streets are lined with more than 150,000 twinkling lights.
GROWN-UP GETAWAY: NOVEMBER 20–23 Relax now and enjoy the season while you still can. Get a big jump on your holiday shopping and merrymaking with this pre-Thanksgiving outing.
Thursday night Start your four-day weekend with Jingle in the Junction. The businesses in West Des Moines’ Historic Valley Junction stay open late, and the streets are lined with more than 150,000 twinkling lights. Take a free horsedrawn carriage ride, say hello to Santa, and stop to listen to the carolers. Better yet, get there early and do some fun holiday shopping at the kind of stores you won’t find in any mall. Valley Junction is a great place to buy unique gifts, jewelry, antiques, vintage clothing, and art. Stop by the Atomic Garage for go-go boots and vintage LPs, pick up some holiday decorations or a fab pillow at Wicker & the Works, and shop handcrafted jewelry at 2AU Limited. Grab something sweet at Nan’s Nummies — you gotta keep up your strength! Afterwards, head downtown and check in to the historic Hotel Fort Des Moines. It’s a great example 30
THE IOWAN | iowan.com
of early 20th-century high-rise hotel architecture, now restored and on the National Register of Historic Places. And you can’t beat the price — or the location. It’s in the Western Gateway neighborhood, within easy walking distance of the terrific Pappajohn Sculpture Park and plenty of great places to eat and drink, which is perfect because now it’s time for dinner. Take your pick: Americana (tapas, salads, pastas, sandwiches), Centro (urban Italian), Raccoon River Brewing Company (neighborhood brewpub), Exile (urban brewpub), MALO (Latin cuisine in the refurbished Fire Station No. 1), or Proof (a high-end dining experience). Or try Django, a “casual French” restaurant next to the Hotel Fort Des Moines. (With Django there’s a bonus — you can bring your own bottle of wine; there’s no corkage fee.) Here’s another benefit of staying in this location: If the weather is cold or rainy or snowy or windy — and it’s likely to be at least one of these because it’s Iowa, right? — the Hotel Fort Des Moines connects you to the rest of downtown through the covered skywalk system (check out the skywalk map at catchdesmoines.com). Stay out late and enjoy — you’re on vacation!
COURTESY EAST VILLAGE
The Downtown Winter Farmers’ Market is not just for food — you’ll also find many hand-crafted holiday gifts and goodies.
Friday Once you’re up and caffeinated, amble through the skywalk to the Downtown Winter Farmers’ Market in Capital Square (it opens at 11 a.m.). This indoor version of the summer Court Avenue markets sets up one weekend before Thanksgiving and one weekend before Christmas. Stock up on food to impress your family at Thanksgiving: pecan pies, French baguettes, mixes for cheese balls and dips (just add the sour cream or cream cheese and viola!), and a variety of fresh, end-of-the-season produce. You’ll also find local cheeses, eggs, popcorn, pastries, nuts, jams, salsa, and handcrafted items. I love the hats and mittens! If nothing else, just stroll around and enjoy the giant Christmas tree. Grab a hot cider and a giant cinnamon roll to stoke your morning rounds. Stash your market purchases and drive or take the free DART trolley (D-Line 42, which runs Monday–Friday, 6:30 a.m.–6 p.m., on a LocustGrand loop) to the Historic East Village. This area, just east of downtown across the Des Moines River, is a hip, up-and-coming commercial and residential
Enjoy the nighttime glow of the Iowa State Capitol during the Historic East Village Holiday Promenade.
neighborhood. This district is full of truly unique gifts and clothing. Shop for one-of-a-kind vintage goods in Found Things and Porch Light Antiques, buy spices for the foodie on your list at AllSpice Culinariam, browse the trendy T-shirts at Raygun, and shop for unique and stylish clothing and accessories at one of the Village’s boutiques. Tonight from 5–9 p.m. you can enjoy an early Christmas celebration at the Historic East Village Holiday Promenade. Look for free horse-drawn trolley rides (starting at East 5th and Walnut), wandering carolers, festive storefronts, twinkling lights, and tap dancers. You can also visit Santa at the nearby Brenton Skating Plaza overlooking the river — he’ll light the tree at 6:20 p.m. Why not strap on a pair of ice skates and give it a whirl? And while you’re in the East Village, stay for dinner and drinks. Get warm and cozy at Lucca (superb Italian), Alba (contemporary American cuisine), HoQ (a farm-to-table restaurant), Miyabi 9 (sushi), or one of many other locally owned restaurants and bars.
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PHOTO BY DAN WEEKS
This “Beaverdale Brick” mock-Tudor cottage ablaze with lights is typical of the homes you’ll see when touring Beaverdale’s Ashby Avenue. The broom-equipped snowperson swept a dusting off the porch while singing holiday songs and waving to passing cars.
Saturday Go to La Mie for breakfast. This is not optional. I think this European-style bakery (located off I-235 at the 42nd Street exit) is the best in the city — or possibly the best on the planet. Saturday mornings are especially wonderful. You’ll have to stand in line, but that just gives you more time to salivate over the pastries: scones, cheese Danish, buttery almond croissants, pecan rolls, and a whole lot more. Ooh-la-la! It’s like being in Paris. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a table. Or maybe you’ll share a communal high-top. No matter. If pastries and French roast coffee isn’t enough, the breakfast menu features omelettes, French toast, quiche, and veggie scrambles. You’ll also want to buy a loaf of bread to go — challah, cranberry walnut, baguette, wheat, rye, olive ciabatta, country Italian — your choice. At this point, you might want to take your holiday shopping list and head to a mall NOW before next week’s Black Friday craziness sets in. Des Moines has plenty of options: upscale Jordan Creek Town Center (for Pottery Barn Kids, Williams-Sonoma, J.Crew, Forever 21, the Apple Store), Valley West (for
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Von Maur), Merle Hay (Younkers and Sears), and Southridge (Toys “R” Us). This is a lot of work, but it’s gotta be done. Head back downtown to your hotel. Take a nap. All that shopping surely stimulated your appetite and clearly you deserve a drink. Check out one of the neighborhood restaurants from Thursday’s list. Or try Noah’s Ark, a Des Moines institution since 1946. Finish off the night with a tour down Ashby Avenue, which intersects Beaver Avenue just north of Urbandale Avenue in the heart of Beaverdale. Area residents put on one of the best displays of holiday lights and decorations in the city.
Sunday Check out of your hotel, then celebrate with a latemorning brunch at Centro, a mere block-and-half walk from your hotel. Centro has a big-city feel with warm, Midwestern hospitality and a delectable weekend brunch. Try the breakfast pizza with Graziano Italian sausage or the crab cake Benedict. Enjoy the Bloody Mary bar starting at 11 a.m. Now, go home and get back to reality. Thursday is Thanksgiving, and you have a lot of work to do!
WHEN YOU GO (all addresses in Des Moines unless otherwise specified)
HISTORIC VALLEY JUNCTION
HISTORIC EAST VILLAGE
Railroad to Locust between 4th and 7th, West Des Moines; valleyjunction.com
eastvillagedesmoines.com
• Atomic Garage, 127 5th, WDM; 515-274-8787;
• Found Things, 520 E. Grand, 515-282-3241, foundthingsdsm.com
• Wicker & the Works, 300 4th, WDM, 515-279-3141, wickerandtheworks.com
• Porch Light Antiques, 526 E. Grand, 515-5900, porchlightiowa.com
• 2AU Limited, 200 5th, WDM, 515-255-7651, 2aulimited.com
• AllSpice Culinarium, 400 E. Locust, 515-868-0808, allspiceonline.com
• Nan’s Nummies, 501 Elm, WDM, 515-277-2201, nansnummies.com • Jingle in the Junction, Thursday, November 20, December 4, December 11; 5–9 p.m., free, valleyjunction.com
WESTERN GATEWAY NEIGHBORHOOD • Pappajohn Sculpture Park, 13th and Grand, free, desmoinesartcenter.org/visit/papperjohn-sculpture.park.asp • Americana, 1312 Locust, 515-283-1312, americanadsm.com • Centro, 1003 Locust, 515-244-1700, centrodesmoines.com • Raccoon River Brewing Company, 200 10th, 515-362-5222, raccoonbrew.com
• Raygun, 400 E. Locust, 515-288-1323 • Historic East Village Holiday Promenade, eastvillagedesmoines.com • Brenton Skating Plaza, 520 Robert D. Ray Drive, 515-284-1000, brentonplaza.com • Lucca, 420 E. Locust, 515-243-1115, luccarestaurant.com • Alba, 524 E. 6th, 515-244-0261, albadsm.com • HoQ, 303 E. 5th, 515-244-1213, hoqtable.com • Miyabi 9, 512 E. Grand, 515-288-8885, miyabi9.com
SHOPS AT ROOSEVELT • La Mie, 841 42nd, 515-255-1265, lamiebakery.com
• Exile, 1514 Walnut, 515-883-2337, exilebrewing.com
MALLS
• MALO, 900 Mulberry, 515-244-5000, malodesmoines.com
• Jordan Creek Town Center, 101 Jordan Creek Parkway, West Des Moines
• Proof, 1301 Locust, 515-244-0655, proofrestaurant.com • Django, 210 10th, 515-288-0268, djangodesmoines.com • Noah’s Ark, 2400 Ingersoll, 515-288-2246, noahsarkdesmoines.com
HOTEL FORT DES MOINES 1000 Walnut, 515-243-1161, hotelfortdesmoines.com
DOWNTOWN WINTER FARMERS’ MARKET November 21–22, December 12–13, Capital Square, 400 Locust, free, desmoinesfarmersmarket.com
• Valley West Mall, 1551 Valley West Drive, West Des Moines, valleywestmall.com • Merle Hay Mall, 3800 Merle Hay Road, merlehaymall.com • Southridge Mall, 1111 E. Army Post Road, shopsouthridgemall.com
BEAVERDALE • Ashby Avenue area holiday lights
Decisions, decisions! You truly can’t go wrong with any of the bread and pastries at La Mie.
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Experience a real old-fashioned holiday at Living History Farms during its annual family Christmas event.
Holiday Extravaganza, Family-Style: December 5 –7 Ho ho — holy cow! Christmas is less than three weeks away. You need a vacation! Consider this itinerary for a weekend getaway for the whole family. Bring the kids, Grandma — whoever is around. Everyone will love the distraction.
Friday night Check into your headquarters for the weekend — the Embassy Suites on the east side of the Des Moines River downtown. This location is perfect — close to the Iowa State Capitol (hard to miss because of its wondrous night-time glow), the Principal Riverwalk (find a map at principal.com/riverwalk/maps.htm), and Historic East Village shops and restaurants. The hotel is spacious enough (every room is a two-room suite) that your family can spread out. Plus, there’s an indoor pool for the kids. Win-win. Saturday Start with breakfast at Liberty’s — an Iowa Grill in the Embassy Suites. This is a great plan, not just because it’s convenient but also because a yummy, made-to-order 34
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Bundle up and take a whirl on the ice at Brenton Skating Plaza near the river downtown.
breakfast is complimentary with your hotel stay. You cannot beat this deal. Now, on with the holiday stuff: Santa visits the Blank Park Zoo, and so should you. Get your picture taken with the jolly old elf, write a letter to the North Pole, and enjoy a warm cup of hot cocoa. Then enjoy the zoo! Even if it’s a cold day, there are animal exhibits indoors or just a brisk walk away. Not that your kids need any encouragement to eat more candy, but it’s Christmas. You should take them to Beaverdale Confections, the holy grail of candy stores, where you’ll find yummy, freshly made marshmallows in flavors such as caramel and toasted coconut. If you can pull yourself away from the “marshies,” you’ll find fudge, truffles, caramels, and chocolates, plus the BEST hot cocoa mix you’ve ever had. There’s more stuff, too — you’ll just have to go there and see for yourself. (Think: stocking stuffers!) Head back to the East Village for lunch at Tacopocalypse. You can have a casual, light lunch of two tacos for $5 (or just $3 for one taco, which should be plenty for the kids) in inventive flavors such as Korean tofu, lemongrass pork, and wasabi brisket. You can also choose from nachos, quesadillas, and burritos. If this seems too weird for kids, Tacopocalypse also serves grilled cheese for $4.
Go back to the hotel and take a break. Swim or nap or whatever suits your fancy. Are you reinvigorated? Good, because now it’s time to go to the annual Family Christmas Event at Living History Farms starting at 4 p.m. This is a real old, OLD-fashioned Christmas — like 1800s old. You can ride in a horsedrawn wagon up the hill to the Flynn Mansion, a Victorian home decorated for the season. The kids can help trim the tree and listen to old-time music, pull taffy, make holiday crafts, and later visit the museum store, which is filled with all sorts of wonderment: old-fashioned candy, books, dishes, cookie and biscuit cutters, toys, dishcloths, straw brooms. (Again, think stocking stuffers.) For dinner tonight, you’re back in the East Village and close to the hotel in case anyone has a meltdown. Your destination is Zombie Burger + Drink Lab, an incredibly popular, zombie-themed restaurant where kids can drink milkshakes and you can order your own milkshake with booze. Great, right? Expect a wait, but you can enjoy the zombie decor (some of which may be a bit intense for the youngest and most impressionable) and zombie-pun-filled menu. Once you’re seated, choose from a Dawn of the Dead burger (bacon and a fried egg), Trailer Trash Zombie burger (American cheese, fried pickle, chicken-fried bacon, cheese curds, and ranch) the Walking Ched burger (with a deep-fried macaroni-and-cheese bun), and the They’re Coming to Get You Barbara with two grilled cheese sandwiches as the bun. The whole thing is a bit odd, but fun. Just go with it. Bundle up and cap off your evening a few blocks away at the Brenton Skating Plaza. Weekend rates are $6 for adults and $4.50 for kids. You can rent your skates for just $3.50 a pair. It’s a fun way to work off that “monster” burger.
Another Yuletide option Here’s another quick idea for a fun holiday outing in Des Moines the same weekend: Holly & Ivy, December 5–7. It is a tour of homes decorated for the holidays, plus a decked-out Salisbury House, Des Moines’ 42-room castle just off 42nd Street south of I-235. Don’t bring little kids because they will not be wowed. Nor will the event’s planners. Better to get your book club together or bring your sweetie. WHEN YOU GO EMBASSY SUITES 101 E. Locust, 515-244-1700, embassysuites.hilton.com/Des_Moines • Liberty’s – an Iowa Grill, Embassy Suites Hotel Santa at the Blank Park Zoo, 7401 SW 9th, 515-284-5286, blankparkzoo.com Beaverdale Confections, 2641 Beaver Avenue, 515-279-0553, beaverdaleconfections.com
HISTORIC EAST VILLAGE eastvillagedesmoines.com • Tacopocalypse, 407 E. 5th, 515-556-0572, tacopocalypse.com • Zombie Burger + Drink Lab, 300 E. Grand, 515-244-9292, zombieburgerdm.com • Brenton Skating Plaza, 520 Robert D. Ray Drive, 515-284-1000, brentonplaza.com • Living History Farms, 11121 Hickman Road, Urbandale, 515-278-5286, lhf.org
Carole Gieseke lives in Ames and is the author of the Iowa travel and adventure blog Iowa Girl on the Go.
Sunday Eat breakfast at Liberty’s again because it’s free. Branch out and try something new. And then say good-bye to downtown Des Moines and your awesome holiday weekend. Only 18 days ’til Christmas!
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Holiday Gift Guide
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Christmas in the Villages throughout the month of December
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Special Advertising Section
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November/December 2014 | THE IOWAN
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207 4th Street Kalona, IA 52247 Mon–Sat 9am–5pm
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Musuem Gift Shops National Balloon Museum
TO ELK HORN, IOWA'S
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DANISH WINDMILL 900 A.D Viking Hjem
Visit this 60-foot windmill built in Denmark in 1848, dismantled & shipped to Elk Horn, Iowa in 1976
OPEN DAILY Visit our Danish Import Shop
Danish Windmill • Elk Horn, Iowa I-80 to exit 54, go north 6 miles
www.danishwindmill.com
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Visit our gift shop this holiday!
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November/December 2014 | THE IOWAN
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IOWAN
ICON
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Dan Gable At 65, the legendary wrestler and coach has a new book, an expanding collection of artificial body parts — and the same intensity as ever. by MARC HANSEN | photography by PAUL GATES
Dan Gable looks up at the TV screen and sees a sad, smiling file photo of the late Robin Williams. The most dominating American wrestling coach/wrestler of all time takes a deep breath. “He had everything in the world,” Gable says, “but it was like he couldn’t get back home. I think I could have helped him do that. He was a wrestler, you know.” Gable explains that Williams was chubby and self-conscious growing up. He signed up for wrestling because he liked the coach. Gable himself had no self-esteem problems, but he believes wrestling, combined with his go-till-you-drop work ethic, had almost everything to do with who he is today: a 65-year-old legend with an ever-expanding collection of artificial body parts whose latest mission is saving the sport he helped build. The injuries started coming around tenth grade, but last fall Gable seemed to be physically falling apart. At one point, he seriously thought he was dying of an infection that was taking over every joint in his body. He had a nerve block in his shoulder from a torn rotator that prevented him from feeling the chronic pain in his neck. When the nerves came alive, it was as if someone had taken a blowtorch to his skin. He couldn’t sleep. He felt like he was hallucinating. An ambulance took him to the hospital for a three-day stay. “My wife says it wasn’t as bad as I make it out to be,” he says with the hint of a smile, “but I’m really trying to hold down on the surgeries now.”
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Gable was undefeated in the 1972 Olympics in Munich. Lately he’s helped lead the successful charge to get wrestling included in the 2020 and 2024 games.
I keep track Gable is sitting at a booth in a restaurant just east of Des Moines, sipping a beer, waiting for his hamburger and his bowl of soup, looking and sounding like the quietly intense, zero-body-fat, quirky bird he’s always been. When the waiter asks if he’d like another beer, Gable says yes and starts in about his self-imposed drinking limits. He doesn’t drink often, but when he does, it’s beer and never more than 32 ounces in one day. Never? “Not since 1987.” How do you know you aren’t exceeding the limit? “I keep track,” he says, looking down at his glass. “That’s 16 ounces. Exactly 16 ounces.” Are you sure?
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“I know my ounces from having cut weight so many times as a wrestler. That doesn’t mean it’s going to stay that way, but it’s stayed that way since ’87.” No, that pretty much means it will stay that way forever. The last time Gable went over the magic 32, he was grilling burgers at an athletic department function
“The key is prevention. That’s my whole life. I don’t want any losses. I don’t want any failures. I don’t want any deaths.” —Dan Gable
COURTESY GABLE FAMILY
Gable, third from right, with his fellow 1972 U.S. Olympic freestyle wrestling medalists. Left to right, they are silver medalist John Peterson; coach Bill Farrell; gold medalists Ben Peterson, Wayne Wells, and Gable; bronze medalist Chris Taylor; and silver medalist Rick Sanders.
on a hot, sweaty summer night. He joined friends for a drink afterward and ended up crashing on his couch. He hated the feeling and said, “No more.” It’s probably easier to quit drinking altogether than to keep a scorecard whenever you do, but Gable isn’t about easy. While his family hangs out down the street at the Iowa State Fair, Gable is doing something that goes against the grain of his very being. He’s kicking back and taking it easy for a few hours.
No losses The TV report on Williams, however, has Gable suddenly leaning forward. After the Oscar-winning comic actor had been found dead in his home at 63, the media were confirming reports of suicide. The two men never met. Three years older than Williams, Gable still felt a connection, largely because both knew John Irving, the famous author. Irving had also been a wrestler, and when he was teaching at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he would show up in the Iowa wrestling room to work out with the
Hawkeyes. Gable had just won a gold medal at the 1972 Olympics and was starting out as an assistant wrestling coach. When Irving and Gable went oneon-one, Irving never scored a point, which was no sin. Neither did any of the Olympians in Munich. Williams played the title character in the film adaptation of The World According to Garp, Irving’s best-known novel. In one scene, Irving played the role of a wrestling referee raising Williams’ arm in victory. “I need to call Irving,” Gable says. “He’s a smart man. I’ll bet he can tell me why this happened.” Gable believes he could have coached Williams out of danger the way he had other wrestlers. The odds are against it. Williams was struggling with serious problems that didn’t care how funny or famous or talented or intense he was. Maybe nobody could have saved him. Gable understands that and yet … “I think I would have been able to reach him before he got to that point. The key is prevention. That’s my whole life. I don’t want any losses. I don’t want any failures. I don’t want any deaths.”
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Gable holds childhood photographs of his sister Diane and himself. Gable helped solve the mystery of her murder, but her loss still affects him deeply.
Gable had his fill of loss, failure, and death at age 15 when his only sibling, older sister Diane, was sexually assaulted and murdered in their home on Labor Day weekend while he and his parents were on a fishing trip near the Mississippi River. When Dan Gable’s father, Mack, dropped the telephone and said, “She’s not alive,” Dan’s mother, Katie, took off running. When Dan caught up to her at the family cabin, he found his mother banging her head and bleeding on the floor. During the drive home, Gable remembered the “creepy” conversation he had had with the person who killed her. The memory led to the man’s arrest but didn’t stop his parents from drifting apart. During an argument one night, Gable heard his mother scream, “If I had raised Diane to be a whore, she’d be alive!” That same night, Gable moved into Diane’s room. His old room would soon become an office and, as Gable says in A Wrestling Life: The Inspiring Stories of Dan Gable, the forthcoming book he wrote with coauthor Scott Schulte, “The healing was underway.”
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What do you want to do? As head coach of the Hawkeyes for 21 years, Gable did everything he could, in the wrestling room and out, to keep his athletes on course. He wasn’t always successful, and the failures stay with him. High-level wrestling can be a brutal, pressure-filled cauldron of weight-cutting, injuries, exhaustion, and mind games. Even the best fold under the pressure occasionally. A few even vanish from sight at the most inopportune times. Barry Davis, who became a world champion and Olympic silver medalist, disappeared on the eve of the 1982 Big Ten championships. Cutting weight, going from the 121-pound class to 118 during the season, the highly ranked sophomore couldn’t take it anymore. The day before the team was scheduled to leave for Ann Arbor, he left Gable a note that said he was through. Coach Gable: I am sorry I’m not going to make this trip with you guys. I wish you all the very best at the championships. Don’t try to find me because you never will. Good luck. — Barry Davis
Gable still believes he can save lives and careers, not to mention the sport that has been his lifeblood for the last half a century.
COURTESY GABLE FAMILY
It was almost as if the kid was calling out for help, hoping his coach would find him. Gable contacted the 20 team members who weren’t making the trip to Michigan, asked them what they knew, made a list of all the places Davis could be, organized a search party, and started playing detective. He did it for selfish reasons, true, but also to keep his wrestler from regretting this hasty decision for the rest of his life. Putting the pieces together, Gable pictured Davis taping the note to a locker. Did the overnight custodians see him? Yes. He was the athlete they spotted leaving the locker room after climbing out of the sauna at 4 a.m. Then a teammate reported a possible sighting in a neighborhood unfamiliar to Gable. With weigh-in less than 10 hours away, Gable stopped at a supermarket to find a phonebook with a map of the city. He found more than a phonebook. There was Davis holding two bulging bags of groceries. Gable was so relieved he began to cry. Davis dropped the groceries and shouted, “I haven’t eaten anything!” Then it got even more interesting. Gable didn’t scream at Davis or tell him to hurry up and get packed. All he said was “What do you want to do?” It was a simple, nonthreatening question that opened the door for the right answer: “I want to make weight.” While Gable was relieved, there was still the matter of Davis’ losing six or seven pounds and getting to Michigan in time for weigh-in. Waiting in Chicago for their connecting flight to Detroit, Gable put
Gable coaching the Hawkeye wrestlers in 1991 with his former wrestlers Royce Alger (left) and Jim Zalesky (right).
Davis through a workout as three businessmen watched in curiosity, one laughing and saying, “Gee, I should try that.” Davis didn’t see the humor, and Gable had to keep him from taking on all three. When Davis arrived in Ann Arbor, he made weight and won a Big Ten title. With the NCAA championships at Iowa State next on the schedule, they stuck to the same game plan — minus the disappearing act. Davis traveled to Ames with the Gables. They all stayed in the same hotel room. The next day, Davis made weight. He went on to win his first NCAA championship in a close title bout with his ISU fierce rival and help the Hawkeyes collect their fifth consecutive championship trophy. Davis explains his odyssey in Gable’s book: “That entire experience changed my life. Coach Gable didn’t give up on me. He could have easily just left me behind and brought our backup. He didn’t, though. He went to work to find me because he was concerned about a 19-year-old kid. With all Coach had done and who he was, he still cared enough about me to find me that morning.”
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Retired or not, Gable still works out daily in a home gym hung with photos and articles of his legendary career.
Gable on Gable A Wrestling Life, published by the University of Iowa Press, is a fast-paced, chronological compilation of Gable stories both familiar and new. Gable says he enjoyed the writing process, though he never wrote a word. While that job belonged to Schulte, Gable wanted his voice to come through. “I changed some words I’d never use,” he says. “Like ‘raucous,’ whatever that is, and ‘rambunctious.’ I had to look it up. And ‘memories came flooding back.’ Flooding? That’s water. It’s a flood.” In the book, Gable tells more than two-dozen stories with plenty left over, which means a sequel can’t be far behind. After his coaching career, there was wrestling to save. And, as one of the sport’s most visible ambassadors, he would have a role to play. Thirty years ago, almost twice as many schools offered Division I 46
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NCAA wrestling. And it’s not just college wrestling that’s in crisis. In February 2012, the executive board of the International Olympic Committee recommended that wrestling be dropped from the group of 25 sports that make the core of the summer Olympics. The members of the International Wrestling Federation were stunned. How could the Olympics
“Gable is more than just a wrestling coach. The guy transcends wrestling.” —University of Iowa wrestling coach Tom Brands
drop a sport that goes all the way back to the beginning of the modern Games, and beyond? The USA Wrestling organization responded by forming the Committee for the Preservation of Olympic Wrestling, with Gable as one of the committee members. The group must have done something right. The following September, the full International Olympic Committee membership decided wrestling would be part of the 2020 and 2024 games. It was an important victory but not the final word. The goal is getting wrestling back in the core group of twenty-five. That’s why Gable is still speaking whenever he can.
Still a wrestler It’s been 42 years since Gable shut out every wrestler he faced on his way to a gold medal in the 1972 Olympics. It’s been 17 years since he retired from coaching after a record-setting performance at the NCAA meet in Cedar Falls. And five years since he left his job as assistant to the University of Iowa athletic director. Tom Brands is the coach now and, with three NCAA titles in eight seasons, is filling Gable’s shoes as well as anyone has a right to expect. But “Gable is more than a wrestling coach,” Brands says, ticking off a few resume items for proof: There’s a wrestling museum in Waterloo that bears Gable’s name. The governor has proclaimed Gable’s birthday Dan Gable Day in Iowa. There’s a Gable statue outside the University of Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena. “The guy transcends wrestling,” says Brands. Perhaps that’s why Gable believes that he can still save lives and careers, not to mention the sport that has been his lifeblood for the past half century. Gable still keeps in touch with Irving, who contributed a jacket blurb for Gable’s book and made some title suggestions. At heart, apparently, Irving is still a wrestler, just like Gable. But the two old friends may have a different perspective on life. “In the world according to Garp,” Irving wrote, “we are all terminal cases.” True. But in the world according to Gable, there is no such thing as a lost cause.
Gable with his grandchildren. Clockwise from top, they are Danny Gavin, Jake Mitchell, Archie Gavin, Betsy Gavin, Elsie Gavin, Gable Mitchell, and Eliza Mitchell. Not shown: Mickey, Louie, and Sammy Olszta.
Marc Hansen was a sportswriter and columnist for the Des Moines Register for more than 33 years. He writes about Iowa and Iowans from his home in Des Moines. Paul Gates is a Des Moines photographer and frequent contributor to The Iowan.
FOR MORE ON GABLE Read A Wrestling Life: The Inspiring Stories of Dan Gable, by Dan Gable with Scott Schulte. Hardcover, 176 pages, 28 photos, $23. The book will be released February 1, 2015, but is available for preorder after November 1, 2014 at uiowapress.org/books/2015-spring/wrestling-life.htm.
November/December 2014 | THE IOWAN
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costumes
festivals
Shakespeare
performances
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symphony
artists
comedy
movement
sound
harmony
ensemble
fashion
collage
print making
film sculpture
jazz
jewelry
ballet
photography
glass
audiences
fresco
tragedy
ceramics
exhibits
visual
choreography
museums
color
crafts
architecture
theatre
painting
art bound!
fine art
create
music
art bound!
November/December 2014 | THE IOWAN
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THINKSTOCK ®
The fine and performing arts surround us with opportunities in Iowa: Premier regional museums. World-class touring exhibitions. Internationally acclaimed visiting artists, musicians, dancers, and actors. And much superb regional talent. This special section salutes the arts organizations that offer so much to our state. It includes four vibrant organizations that have been at the forefront of the arts for a century or near. And many more events, organizations, and institutions that offer one-of-a-kind cultural experiences. So go ahead — indulge your senses a bit: Go to a concert. See a show. Take in a museum. Tour a gallery. Attend an arts market. Take a class or workshop. It’s all a part of the good life Iowa has to offer.
A Christmas Carol Des Moines December 1–8, 2014 515-274-8989 iowashakespeare.org See the beloved Tiny Tim story performed inside the Iowa Governor’s Mansion by Iowa Shakespeare Experience! During intermission, enjoy treats and wine in the Governor’s dining room — and, if you like, join the carol sing.
5th Annual Public Art Sculpture Event Webster City August 5–6, 2015 515-832-4547 wcpride.com Come see regional artists and their work compete for stipends and the yearlong display of their sculpture. Evening entertainment includes artist talks, live music, and wine and cheese.
Ballet Des Moines West Des Moines 515-440-1177 balletdesmoines.org Central Iowa’s only resident ballet company 2014–2015 season includes 3 + One: A Triple Bill, October 24–26; The Nutcracker, December 11–14; and The Wizard of Oz, April 4, 2015.
The Figge Art Museum Davenport 563-326-7804 figgeartmuseum.org The premier art facility between Chicago and Des Moines brings art and people together and enriches the community with the experience of art through education, collections, exhibitions, and preservation.
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Civic Music
Nine decades in Des Moines Founded in 1925, Civic Music offers unforgettable performances and builds awareness, understanding, and respect for classical, world, and jazz artistry. Their 90th season includes: Béla Fleck & Brooklyn Rider Legendary banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck teams up with the unsurpassably inventive string quartet Brooklyn Rider for an evening of music. November 13, 2014 Spanish Harlem Orchestra – Salsa Navidad Spanish Harlem Orchestra is one of the world’s most formidable and authentic Latin jazz combos. December 13, 2014 André Watts One of today’s most celebrated and beloved superstar concert pianists, Watts has played before royalty and received a 2011 National Medal of Arts. January 31, 2015 Nnenna Freelon & Earl Klugh: An Intimate Evening Singer Freelon and classical guitar virtuoso Klugh perform the most beautiful and timeless lyrics and melodies from past and present. February 14, 2015 Last Southern Gentlemen Tour Father and son pianist Ellis and trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis team up to play jazz standards and original works. Friday, March 27, 2015 Elling Swings Sinatra Standout jazz vocalist Kurt Elling and the Turner Center Jazz Orchestra perform homage to the legendary Frank Sinatra. Friday, April 24, 2015 For more information: 515-286-4080, civicmusic.org
art bound! COURTESY FIGGE ART MUSUEM
The Iowa Shakespeare Experience! Central Iowa 515-274-8989 iowashakespeare.org We present award-winning classic theatre. Great Estates performances feature drama and
The Figge
gourmet hospitality inside central
arts
Iowa’s historic mansions. Theatre-
centra
under-the-Stars offers free summer shows alongside free ballet, opera, and more.
Iowa State University Theatre
90 years of art in Davenport
Ames 515-294-2624 theatre.iastate.edu
Formed as the Davenport Municipal Art Gallery in 1925, the Figge Art Museum is hosting these traveling exhibitions in its 90th season:
des MoiNes MeTR
Save the date for oursubscriptions st With
100thAnniversary performances of The
African American Art Since 1950: Perspectives from the David C. Driskell Center This exhibit chronicles the evolution and growing prominence of African American art over the past 60 years, featuring works that cover a wide range of art styles and media. Through January 4, 2015
Macbeth, and Susann Celebration Gala —
always right for gran Saturday, November 15, 7:30 p.m. in
515-961-6221 www.desmoinesme
Fisher Theater, Ames. Admission is free, but seating is limited!
John Wayne Birthplace Winterset
Against the Grain: Wood Art from the Figge Collection A selection of works from the Figge collection will showcase artists who have been inspired by the unique qualities of wood. Artists will include Steve Sinner, Lane Phillips, Galan Carpenter, Harvey Fein, and Michael Mode. Through January 25, 2015
515-462-1044 or 877-462-1044 johnwaynebirthplace.museum Visit a restored four-bedroom home and its impressive
memorabilia collection. Daily guided JohN WayNe biRT
Home to world-famo tours 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Admission:
Wayne, born Marion adults $7.00, seniors (60 and over)
Self-Taught Genius: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum On its first stop outside New York City on a national tour, this exhibit features compelling, beautifully crafted work made between the early 18th and late 20th centuries by artists with no formal training. November 15, 2014–March 15, 2015 A Legacy for Iowa This exhibit features some of the most important paintings in the University of Iowa Museum collection that spans 70 years of modern art, from Lyonel Feininger’s 1909 A Street in Paris to Philip Guston’s 1979 Ramp. Through April 2015
›› artsab
in 1907. The restored displays an impressiv Wayne memorabilia. Mississippi River Valley given daily, 10:00 a.m Arts Drive sions $6.00 Adults an (60 plus) $2.00 for Ki Eastern Iowa 216 South 2nd Street November 1–2, 2014 515-462-1044 or 1-877 mrvad.com www.johnwaynebirt $6.00, children 12 and under $3.00.
Start your holiday shopping with the
des MoiNes play Mississippi River Valley Art Drive.
Our 91st and best sea tickets today for 2010 from Elizabeth, IL. to Burlington, IA. 831 42nd St., Des Mo 515-277-6261 dmplayhouse.com Artists welcome you to their studios
For more information: 563-326-7804, figgeartmuseum.org
November/December 2014 |
ceNTRal ioWa blU Enjoy great live blues Blues Series runs Sun February at the Des M Center. The 2010 Win January 30 in Des Mo 51 THE IOWAN www.cibs.org
Plum Creek Art Center/ Connie Mohr Gallery Fredericksburg plumcreekart.org Art for sale, plus classes and events. Special exhibits: Quilts: November 9–12, 2014. Reisner paintings: January THINKSTOCK ®
18–February 28, 2015. Jewelry: March 15–April 25, 2015. Five Painter Ladies: May 10–June 20, 2015. Photography: July 5–August 15, 2015.
Silos & Smokestacks Northeast Iowa silosandsmokestacks.org From dairy farms and museums to vineyards and tractor assembly plants, the story of American agriculture comes to life at more than 100 sites and attractions in this 37-county region of northeast Iowa.
Stained Glass Studio Camanche www.dianemichelevolrath.com International 3-D stained glass artist Diane Michele Volrath invites you to her studio open house November 1–2, 2014 11 a.m.–4 p.m. 2601 S. Washington Blvd.
Story Theater Company Ames storytheatercompany.org Providing children of Ames and the surrounding area with theatrical opportunities, performances, and workshops that encourage selfconfidence, responsibility, and teamwork. See website for audition schedules and ticketing information.
T he Sioux City Symphony
A century of music in western Iowa The Sioux City Symphony originated in 1915 with the start of the Morningside College Orchestra. Now the symphony brings world-class performances to Sioux City at the historic, restored Orpheum Theatre. This season, enjoy: The “New World” Experience Mozart Symphony No. 35, Haffner; Liebermann Clarinet Concerto; Dvorak Symphony No. 9, From the New World. November 15, 2014 Christmas Spectacular Holiday favorites to put you in a celebratory mood. December 13, 2014 A Broadway Romance with Ashley Brown The sweet, sultry sounds of Broadway sensation Ashley Brown, known for originating the title role in Mary Poppins on Broadway. February 14, 2015 Iowa Piano Competition 3 Days. 12 Competitors. $14,000 in prize money. Who will win? March 19–21, 2015 Purpose and Triumph with the Weiss-Kaplan-Newman Trio Composer of the Year World Premiere; Beethoven Triple Concerto; Nielsen Symphony No. 4, The Inextinguishable. April 18, 2015 Free Pops Concert on the campus of Morningside College An evening of popular classics as the sun sets and makes way for fireworks! June 28, 2015 For more information: 712-277-2111, siouxcitysymphony.org
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art bound! Thieves’ Market Iowa City December 6–7 319-335-3393 fineartscouncil.uiowa.edu
T SU Theatre
The University of Iowa Fine Arts Council’s 2014 Holiday Thieves’ Market and Annual Wine Tasting is an indoor
100 years of theatre at Iowa State Enjoy these great performances in the theatre program’s centennial season: Crimes of the Heart Three sisters reunite and face the consequences of the “crimes of the heart” each has committed. October 31, November 1, 2, 7, 8, 9 (Fisher Theater) A Christmas Carol The beloved story of an embittered miser who finds redemption. December 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14 (Fisher Theater)
exhibition and sale featuring artwork of more than 100 Midwest artists. Free admission.
Vesterheim NorwegianAmerican Museum & Heritage Center Decorah 563-382-9681 vesterheim.org With 24,000 objects and 12 historic buildings, this national treasure showcases the most comprehensive
Love and Honor: Iowa in the Civil War The story of four Iowa men who fought in the Civil War and of three women who loved them. February 27, 28, March 1, 6, 7, 8 (Fisher Theater)
collection of Norwegian-American
Les Misérables In one of the world’s greatest redemption stories, Jean Valjean steals a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s starving children and serves 19 years in jail. Upon release, he breaks parole and attempts to start his life anew. April 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19 (Fisher Theater)
Waterloo
On the Verge Three woman travel through time and meet very diverse beings on their journey. April 30, May 1, 2, 3 (Maintenance Shop, Memorial Union)
by a diverse audience. The Center
For more information: 515-294-2624, isutheatre@iastate.edu
artifacts in the world and is a renowned center for folk-art classes.
Waterloo Center for the Arts 319-291-4490 waterloocenterforthearts.org The Waterloo Center for the Arts’ purpose is to develop awareness, appreciation, and support of the arts works with the community to provide cultural experiences for all ages.
Waterloo Community Playhouse Waterloo www.wcpbhct.org Waterloo Community Playhouse/Black Hawk Children’s Theatre provides highquality theater productions. Founded in 1916, it is the oldest community theatre in Iowa. The company also offers classes and costume rentals.
November/December 2014 | THE IOWAN
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Figge Art MuseuM eXHiBitiON
Self-Taught Genius Treasures from The american folk arT museum November 15, 2014 – March 15, 2015 In its first stop outside of New York on a national tour, this important exhibition, organized by the American Folk Art Museum, celebrates one of the most unique and cherished American visual traditions: folk art. Since colonial times, selftaught artists have used a wide range of materials to create artworks. With quilts, furniture, paintings, sculptures, books and assemblages that date from the 18th to the 21st centuries, the exhibition explores the creative impulse of these artists, whose work continues to influence art and popular culture in our time. Self-Taught Genius: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum is organized by the American Folk Art Museum, New York. This exhibition and the national tour of Self-Taught Genius: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum are made possible by generous funding from the Henry Luce Foundation, as part of its 75th anniversary initiative. Ammi Phillips, Girl in Red Dress with Cat and Dog, Vicinity of Amenia, New York, 18301835, oil on canvas. Collection American Folk Art Museum, New York, gift of Ralph Esmerian, 2001.37.1. Photo by John Parnell, New York.
Sponsored locally by
Davenport, IA • 563.326.7804 www.figgeartmuseum.org
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THE IOWAN | iowan.com
Special Advertising Section
art bound!
Norwegian Christmas
December 6, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Special family admission discount! See it for yourself! 10am–4:30pm daily 216 Winterset SeeS.it2nd forStreet, yourself! TOLL-FREE (877) 462-1044 www.johnwaynebirthplace.org 10am–4:30 pm daily
Adults $7 Seniors (60 and over) $6 Children 12 and under $3 216 S. 2nd St Winterset 877-462-1044
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COMING IN MAY 2015: The NEW John Wayne Birthplace Museum
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Bring the whole family to scenic Decorah for holiday traditions— Norwegian-American style!
Vesterheim
The National Norwegian-American Museum & Heritage Center Decorah, Iowa • 563-382-9681 • vesterheim.org
9/9/14 10:00 AM
November/December 2014 | THE IOWAN
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Deck the Trees
Winterset’s Tony and Jeanne Jacobson go all out to create holiday memories. by DAN WEEKS | photography by KATHRYN GAMBLE
“I think that I shall never see A poem as lovely as a tree,” wrote American versifier Joyce Kilmer in his characteristically prim and stilted verse. Lovely? Perhaps, in an earthy, green and brown sort of way. But December is nigh, and in this season a quiet study in needles and bark just won’t do. No, the highest purpose of a tree in December, according to Tony and Jeanne Jacobson, is as a framework on which to hang lights and decorations. It is to be the almost invisible skeleton of a 3-D collage so dense you almost have to bury your nose in it to appreciate all it holds. First let’s assemble the multitude: thousands of ornaments collected over 25 years. Vintage Christmas cards, each in its own painstakingly made leadedglass frame that both protects the polychrome images and gleams in the dancing light of hundreds of tiny bulbs. Elaborate snowflakes made out of Royal Icing. Celluloid reindeer and sleighs and accordion-pleated paper ornaments from the 1920s. Ceramic ornaments from the ’40s and ’50s. Vintage glass! Silver bells! And one tree isn’t nearly enough. Let’s have three — no, seven! So what if it takes a full workday to decorate each one? And let’s theme them: the Vintage Glass Ornament tree. The Critter Tree, with only animal ornaments. The Swedish Tree, with Swedish straw ornaments and garlands of Swedish flags. The Brass Ornament Tree, glowing with little polishedmetal sculptural ornaments. The Angel Tree, decked with tiers of the heavenly host. The Contemporary Tree, all sparkle and shine. And don’t forget the five Nativity sets and the cut greenery for the newel post. Hang with care. Wrap each individual branch tip with a light for the constellation effect — no draped
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spiral of a single light string here. Speaking of draping, let’s get some of the 25 original quilts we designed and made this year and scatter them about cozily. Well, that’s what you get for Christmas when you combine a graphic artist and quilter (Tony) and a craftsloving interior designer (Jeanne) with a love of the holidays and a penchant for collecting. Then comes the point of it all: inviting everyone over for an open house and lots of soup, hors d’oeuvres, and Christmas cookies. “People are quite surprised and a bit overwhelmed the first time,” says Tony. “They go, ‘This is so much!’” “If they’re not in a holiday mood before they come, they are by the time they leave,” says Jeanne. “No one does a ‘Bah! Humbug!’ when they visit our house.” It all started, they say, when these two small-town Iowans were displaced to the East Coast by their careers and couldn’t come home for the holidays. “In those years,” says Jeanne, “decorating and celebrating the traditions we grew up with made it feel like we were among family, even if we weren’t.” Now they’ve returned to Iowa and a rambling, 1904 house just off the square in Winterset. That makes it all the easier to keep the traditions going. Local collecting resources are great, the Jacobsons say, and the windbreak at Jeanne’s family home place provides ample greenery for wreaths and garlands. They may be extreme, but they’re by no means alone. “People are celebrating nostalgic, small-town holidays more,” Jeanne says. “They want to return to their roots.” Not to mention their twigs, needles, and branches. For information on how to make ornaments similar to some of the Jacobsons’, see “Artful Ornaments,” page 24.
The Swedish Tree celebrates Jeanne’s family heritage with traditional straw ornaments, yarn Santa Lucia figures, Royal icing snowflakes, and a garland of Swedish flags.
November/December 2014 | THE IOWAN
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Tony and Jeanne wrapped this brass sconce with garland and hung it with ornaments made from cut-glass chandelier pendants.
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The newel post sprouts fir branches, poinsettia blossoms, and glass ornaments.
November/December 2014 | THE IOWAN
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The Vintage Ornament Tree features glass ornaments, including antique Christmas cards the Jacobsons have hand-framed in caned glass. One of Tony’s original quilts in holiday colors drapes a sewing machine in a rare Craftsman-style case.
November/December 2014 | THE IOWAN
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Each of the Jacobsons’ trees is a miniature world of nostalgic holiday memories, and each can take up to eight hours to decorate.
Dan Weeks is editor of The Iowan. Kathryn Gamble (kathryngamble.com) is a freelance photographer based in Des Moines.
November/December 2014 | THE IOWAN
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A Better Mousetrap
People have been beating a path to Albia’s Kness Manufacturing Company’s door since 1927.
THINKSTOCK ®
by BARB HALL
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THE IOWAN | iowan.com
made in iowa Iowa homeowners, mouse season is upon us. As the weather cools, those little fellas will try to squeeze into any tiny crack in your warm home to settle in for the winter. EEEK! Kness Manufacturing Company in Albia has a solution it calls “the world’s best multiple-catch mousetrap.” Company founder Austin Kness was born in Illinois and moved with his family to Iowa in the mid-1890s. He left home at 15, working on farms and as a professional wrestler. During his travels, Kness was inspired to build tools to help him with his odd job work. He built a pruning saw for orchard work, a lightbulb extractor for high ceilings, a rural mailbox, a left-hand signal device for automobiles, and, eventually, the Ketch-All Multiple Catch Mousetrap. After wandering through the American West and back, he got a job on a farm near Audubon. He married and started a family, but his wife died suddenly, leaving him with six children. To support them, he took a second job as a custodian at Audubon High School. The school was plagued with mice, and when they died in conventional mousetraps, they created a stink and mess for him to clean up — or took the bait and ran. Kness observed that mice have an innate curiosity
FALL PEST TIPS “Mice are the most widespread species of rodent in the U.S. and can be a serious nuisance,” says Kness spokesperson Amanda Harlan. “They can spread disease, contaminate food supplies, and even cause structural damage.” The greatest economic loss from mice is probably the food that needs to be thrown out due to their nibbling. Mice are sneaky little devils, hard to wall out and sometimes hard to detect. The most obvious sign is their droppings, about ¹⁄8 inch long, pointed at both ends. Mice generally forage for food within 25 feet from their nests and stay close to walls — two things to keep in mind when placing traps. To keep them out, Harlan advises eliminating any open food sources, closing up any holes and entry points — and, of course, getting yourself some good traps. The idea is to catch mice before they start reproducing; one pair of mice can produce 6 to 10 litters in a year. Large infestations may require an exterminator.
that causes them to want to enter any opening they can fit through. So he came up with the idea of a box trap with a spring-loaded revolving door that lets mice enter but prevents them from leaving. He built his first trap from a square oilcan, a tobacco can, a spring from a curtain rod, and some wood from a crate. The first night he tried it, he caught five mice. He tinkered with and eventually patented the design, and in 1927, he founded Kness Mfg. Co., a business still owned and operated by his descendants. The Kness company employs 35 to 40 people in Albia. Its products are sold nationwide, plus in Europe, Australia, Japan, Kuwait, and Indonesia. “We conduct ongoing research to develop increasingly effective, cost-efficient pest control products,” says company spokesperson Amanda Harlan. The original Ketch-All Multiple Catch Mousetrap is now one of more than a dozen Kness products, including other
The ability to catch multiple mice with one setting and no bait made the Kness Ketch-All the proverbial “better mousetrap” the world had been waiting for.
mouse and rodent traps and lures. Barb Hall is an Iowa native and frequent contributor to The Iowan.
November/December 2014 | THE IOWAN
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Monticello (11/28) Davenport (11/30) Cedar Rapids (11/29) Ottumwa (12/6)
Des Moines (12/7) Burlington (12/10)
Dubuque (12/13) Cedar Falls (12/14)
A Benefit for Camp Courageous of Iowa ON SALE NOW: Tickets from $29! Call 800-375-7095 or visit PianoFavorites.com.
Iowa’s Largest Quality Arts & Crafts Shows Dubuque, IA – Grand River Center November 1 Sat. 9–4 100 Exhibitors, Adm. $4 Coralville, IA – Marriott Conference Center November 15–16 Sat. 9–5, Sun. 10–4, Adm. $5 Des Moines, IA – Iowa State Fairgrounds November 21–23 Fri. 5–9, Sat. 9–5, Sun. 10–4 300 Exhibitors, Adm. $6 Council Bluffs, IA – Mid-America Center December 6–7 Sat. 9–5, Sun. 9–4 200 Exhibitors, Adm. $5 Bring this ad to any of the above shows for $1.00 off one admission. Thousands of unique handmade products at every show. All fantastic shopping events. Callahan Promotions, Inc. 563-652-4529
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9/11/14 4:24 PM
Get into the Holiday Spirit Hundreds of Nativities, Villages, Lights & Trees on the 4th floor in the renovated Study Hall of the Plymouth County Historical Museum. No Admission, Handicap Accessible Open Friday November 28th, 2014–Epiphany, January 6th, 2015 Tuesday–Sunday 1pm–5pm, call for additional evening hours.
Plymouth County Historical Museum
335 First Avenue SW, LeMars, Iowa pchmuseum@gmail.com PlymouthCounty_NDIowan_2014.indd 1
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60 Years Ago in The Iowan
Behind a scenic cover, progress was the theme of 1954’s final issue: a more perfect household cleaner, stronger cement, the wonders of industry and mass-production, and state-of-the-art agriculture.
The cover photo of Lake Manawa near Council Bluffs was taken by Hugh Sidey, “formerly of Greenfield and now an Omaha newspaperman,” according to the cover credit. In 1955, Sidey went on to work for Life and then Time. He became one of the most influential journalists of his era, covering several presidents and hosting PBS’s The American Presidents series. He died in 2005.
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According to this ad, there was almost nothing Perfex couldn’t clean, from milking equipment to upholstery. The detergent was manufactured in Shenandoah by the Tidy House Company.
flashback: 1954 “What Does Industry Look for in an Iowa Town?” asked the issue’s lead article, which pictured an executive taking note of a town’s amenities and of children being dismissed from school. “They are a gauge of the type of people” living there, declared the caption.
This ad from the Des Moines-based Portland Cement Association showed sealed containers of “concrete to help build a stronger America” to be opened and studied for deterioration in “50, 75, or 100 years.”
“Mass production offers one of the greatest potentials man has ever known,” said John Schultz, professor at the State University of Iowa (now University of Iowa), in a story on modern furniture design. He is shown with two of his students and a “measuring chair” used to design chairs to fit the human anatomy.
Inside the front cover, a state-of-the-art corn picker works its way across the land.
November/December 2014 | THE IOWAN
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escapades
Park It, People! Zen and the Art of Driver Training by THE FORMER STUDENTS OF WALLACE WINKIE illustration by DAVE TOHT Wallace Winkie taught social studies and driver’s ed for 31 years, almost all of it in Belle Plaine. Thanks to our inexperience, he became well acquainted with the ditches of Benton County. But he was never involved in a serious accident and never lost his calm and reassuring demeanor — even during near calamities. His capacity for deadpan understatement was legendary. Here are a few of the trials we put him through — along with his responses. One of us a hit patch of ice on a hill, lost control of the car, and found herself headed back the way she had come. Let’s try that again. Another stalled the stick shift driver’s ed car 27 consecutive times. I guess you’ll be driving an automatic. A student became disoriented when driving past Belle Plaine’s well-known necking spot and didn’t know which way to turn. You probably don’t recognize this area in the daytime. Wink was capable of teaching almost every student
He never raised his voice, never criticized our failures, just calmly made observations or suggestions and let the experiences make the impressions. As a result, we learned quickly and respected him greatly. If we got out of our seats in class or started to talk out of turn, he’d bring us back to order with three words: Park it, people. Thanks to him, almost all of us can do so expertly.
Wallace Benjamin Winkie (1917–2013) was born in Kossuth County and spent 500 days in combat with the 34th Infantry Division during World War II before becoming a social studies and driver’s ed teacher. His students have compiled their remembrances of him in Park It! The Amazing True
to parallel park, but at least one proved impervious. Wink
Adventures of Wallace Winkie, Driving Instructor, available
passed her nonetheless.
as a Kindle book from amazon.com or in softcover from
You’ll shop at the mall, anyway.
parkitvirtualmuseum.com. Proceeds benefit the Wallace
One of his charges hit some loose gravel on a county
Winkie Foundation, an education-oriented nonprofit.
road, skidded, and ended up parking the car on its side in a
Dave Toht is an illustrator, writer, book publisher, and blogger
ditch, leaving all four occupants hanging by their seat belts.
(davetoht.tumblr.com).
Well, I guess we’d better get out. Another drove too fast through some roadwork, bottomed out the car, and ripped the entire exhaust system off. It’s always a good idea to slow down for construction.
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THE IOWAN | iowan.com
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November/December 2013 | THE IOWAN
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