Local News

By Audrey Posten, North Iowa Times Editor

The communities of McGregor and Marquette encourage residents and visitors alike to support small, local businesses as they shop for gifts this holiday season—beginning with Small Business Saturday, Nov. 26.

Twenty-five businesses—ranging from retail stores and salons to bars and restaurants—will participate in a “Shop Small: McGregor and Marquette” event on Saturday, offering activities, refreshments and special shopping deals. The event will start at 9 a.m. and run through 1 p.m., or later.

The Small Business Saturday concept was first launched in 2010 by American Express, as an alternative to the major holiday shopping days following Thanksgiving—Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

By Audrey Posten, North Iowa Times 

Marquette mayor Larry Breuer is looking for community members who would like to be part of a community beautification committee.

“I’d like to start a volunteer committee to put together some programs to better certain areas of town,” Breuer said at the city council’s regular meeting Nov. 15.

Breuer said he’d like the committee to target three areas, beginning with the entrance to Marquette on Highway 76. There, he explained, he’d like to see the west side of the road cleaned up, presenting a better impression to those entering town.

By Audrey Posten, North Iowa Times Editor

Have you ever wondered if someone halfway around the world—or even halfway around the country—is doing the exact same thing as you? For students in Scott Boylen’s seventh grade literature class, they don’t have to wonder. They know.

His class, along with several others at the McGregor Center, are participating in the Global Read Aloud, a project that works to connect the world through the reading of one book.

For over 40 years, the Birdnow family has operated northeast Iowa car dealerships in Monona, Oelwein, Cascade and Jesup. Having raised their family in Jesup, where their sons graduated from high school and later entered the family business, the Birdnow family announced it has recently sold its Cascade and Jesup stores.

The Cascade store was sold to a Dubuque dealer who wished to expand his network of new car dealerships; Jesup was sold to Rydell’s, of Waterloo. While the family tried hard to find a suitable buyer for its Jesup store, the best option turned out to be Rydell’s, who has closed it in order to have less competition for their existing stores.