MINI-WAKAN ART PROJECT

Join us at Gull Point State Shelter on Sunday, August 29, 2010, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m for a brunch buffet, champagne tasting, live music, talks from history experts and art auction. The silent and live auction artworks are inspired by our lakes area.

Table sponsorship of $200 for a 4-top or $400 for a 8-top is limited and encourage early reservation. A $25 individual ticket does not guarantee a table, but will offer an opportunity to join in on the food, fun and auction. Tickets are expected to sell out quickly! Please email Deidre Rosenboom to reserve a table sponsorship: deidre.rosenboom@me.com.

Tickets can also be purchased at the Wine Bar, 139 Broadway Street, Arnolds Park, IA. and at Hy-Vee, Highway 9, Spirit Lake, IA.
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For a little Background...

Recently, the Spirit Lake Protective Association created an ART Committee to organize an event bringing attention to the beauty, charm and historic significance of Mini-Wakan State Park.

The ART Committee acquired a number of original paintings of both the Mini-Wakan Shelter House, as well as the Gull Point Lodge, created by both local and nationally known artists. The donation of other original works of art, depicting sites throughout the Iowa Great Lakes, are currently being created. Also donations of several prints of existing pieces of art have been given for this project.

Additionally, a small number of LIMITED PRINTS, greeting cards, and post cards have been printed and will soon be available in area stores throughout the Iowa Great Lakes area. A lovely display of all of the donated art work is located in the north window of Evan’s Clothing Store in Olde Town Spirit Lake.

The Committee scheduled “Works of Arts for the State Parks …. An Endeavor for the Endowment”for Sunday, Aug. 29th at Gull Point Lodge. Original works of art will be sold at a live auction and the various other donations of art work will also be sold in a silent auction.

The ART Committee was formed with three potential benefits in mind:
1. Increasing public awareness of the Mini-Wakan Shelter House Project and the Endowment Fund for both it and the Gull Point Lodge.
2. Securing additional funds for the Mini-Wakan Restoration Project (including the Endowment).
3. Providing a forum to showcase the works of many artists, each of whom has a special love for the Iowa Great Lakes
area.

The ART Committee members are actively seeking additional art. If you are an artist and you wish to donate a piece of art work for this fundraising effort, please contact Jane Ford 712-226-4333.

All funds raised through these efforts will be placed in the Mini-Wakan Shelter House Project Fund.

THANK YOU TO OUR CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS!

Anelisa Murphy
Candy Mayer
Dan Ruf
Sharon Sadusky
Mari Stewart
David Thoreson
Megan Fuhrman
Kathy Toole
Gary Gunderson
Danielle Clouse
Deidre Rosenboom
Jessie Bogenrief
Karen Cooper
Lissa Potter
Bill Hamilton'
Kathy Evert

RAGBRAI Riders find fossils in Rockford

From Michael Morain - Des Moines Register

No khaki or pith helmet required: Hundreds of bikers-turned-archaeologists squatted in spandex to find 365-million-year-old souvenirs from the Fossil and Prairie Park Preserve in Rockford. The dime-sized clams (pelecypods) and snails (gastropods) from the Devonian Period were free for the taking – and plentiful.

Scott Wassmer, 35, of Valkaria, Fla., filled a small plastic bag during just a short break from his ride.
“Who ever thought we’d be beach-combing in the middle of Iowa?” he said, showing off the loot.

Nearby, 10-year-old Braden Heikens and his grandfather Randy Van Dyke, both of Spencer, scoured the dirt for brachiopod shells. The boy proudly displayed a few in his outstretched palm.

“I’m going to try to find more and put them in my room,” he said before heading off to celebrate the dig with a smoothie.

Floyd County Conservation naturalist Heidi Reams explained – many times over – that the site used to be a clay quarry for the Rockford Brick and Tile Company, which closed in the 1970s. The exposed layers of land now yield all kinds of critter remnants from Iowa’s prehistoric past.

She responded diplomatically when someone asked if she believed in global warming.

“On some days, yes, I do,” she said. “We’ve gone from being an ocean to cropland, so I’m afraid to see what’s next.”

But she spent most of the day simply helping people identify whatever they happened to hold up for inspection.

“Everyone has found something,” she said. “As long as you can bend over and get to the ground somehow, there are fossils there for you to find.”