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CHARLES CITY PRESS | WWW.CHARLESCITYPRESS.COM | FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 2025
Dave Ruble photo for the Press The Charles City Edible Arboretum uses best management practices to reduce nitrates and phosphates by having them percolate into the soil and to slow down drainage into the Cedar River, cleaning the water and lowering fl ood risks. WATER Continued from page C4
“We’re moving into the sec- ond phase of the arboretum,” Diers said. “We’ve started to get fruit, but not many people are using it.” For Phase 2, the city has applied for a grant for best management practices, includ- ing permeable pavers, gravel surfaces and grass pavers that all allow water to go through them into the ground, as well as wild fl owers, pollinator hab- itat, a bioretention cell and na- tive turf grass. The goal, Diers said, is to reduce nitrates and phosphates by having them percolate into the soil and to slow down drainage into the Cedar River, cleaning the water and lower- ing fl ood risks. The permeable pavers planned for the arboretum have been used before in Charles City, improving the water re- tention at the Mill Race park- ing lot and Howard Street by the river. “We want to showcase the area,” Diers said. “We want to show what people can do at their homes.”
In addition to working on the watershed program, Charles City has been develop- ing urban stormwater in fi ltra- tion and water quality im- provement practices, according to city Administrator Steve Diers. Much of the work has been to establish an urban conser- vation practices project on the Clark Street Arboretum area, installing demonstration storm- water and water quality pro- tection practices that could be used by homes, businesses and industry sites to reduce storm- water fl ow. The Edible Arboretum Urban Conservation Proj- ect installed a number of best management practices for stormwater management in the area. About 30,000 square feet of the Edible Arboretum will have soil quality restoration. Also, everything planted in the arboretum produces something edible, such as a nut or a berry or a fruit.
Photo by Andrew Larson
Floyd County Museum Director Mckenna Lloyd shows off one of the new tractors in the museum’s tractor wing.
Tractors, textiles and talks Floyd County Museum has productive 2024, event-planned 2025
By Andrew Larson alarson@charlescitypress.com History comes alive at the Floyd County Museum, and not only that, it’s fun for the whole family. “We have so many exhibits. I don’t think people realize just how much there is to see here,” said Museum Director Mckenna Lloyd. “So you can spend quite a bit of time at the museum and see some items that are very unique and very representative of our local history. We also have ac- tivities for children. We have a scavenger hunt that not every- body knows about. “For families looking for something to do, the museum isn’t always on the top of their list, but kids always enjoy their time at the museum,” she said. While continuing to show reverence to what came before, the museum presents the past through a futuristic lens, as evi- denced by one of the new addi- tions the facility saw in 2024 – a video display wall installed in August in the tractor wing. “We have added quite a bit to our tractor wing,” said Lloyd. The video wall adds an element on which people can watch vid- eos that were put together last summer by an intern. The video were created from 16 millimeter fi lms that had been produced by tractor manu- facturer Oliver Corp. The fi lms were digitized by a person in Des Moines, then us- ing those digital fi les the intern edited together some videos that interpret the fi lm footage and share new information, Lloyd said. Another new feature of the museum this year was the series of Tractor Talks over the sum- mer. Featuring topics such as the development of the Minneapo- lis Moline A4T, as presented by Dave Ritenburgh of the Minne- apolis Moline Collectors Group, and the impact of the Hart-Parr/ Oliver Plant on Charles City, which was presented by former
White Farm Equipment employ- ee Dean Tjaden, it was a big draw for tractor enthusiasts. “We like to do tractor-related things just because most of our visitors are coming because of the tractor heritage,” said Lloyd, who noted that the museum saw three guest speakers over the summer, “talking about aspects of tractor history and how it connects to Charles City.” The Tractor Talks program is an extension of the museum’s Chautauqua Talks program, which will be continuing again this year. “We always do our Chau- tauqua Talks series. That’s the third Saturday of every month at 10 a.m.” said Lloyd. Tractor Talks will be offered again this year, on the second Saturday of the months in June, July and August. The Chautauqua Talks guest speaker for May, scheduled for Saturday, May 17, is Michelle Sprout Murray, author of the book “Amazing Iowa,” which includes facts about Floyd County. Chautauqua Talks and Tractor Talks are open to the public and free to attend. For those unable to attend, the presentations are always available online on the museum’s Facebook and You- Tube pages. “Something we’re always working on is improving our archives and collections and making sure that all the items in the museum have proper docu- mentation and paperwork,” said Lloyd. “So this year the category of items that is our main focus is textile stuff, so clothing and quilts and things like that. Peo- ple can expect probably more incorporation of those items into our exhibits or as totally new exhibits, so that should be fun.” Last May saw the addition of a display called Mid-Century Life, showcasing items from the post-war, pre-tornado era (1945- 1965). In the display are a lot of household items representative
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Photo by Andrew Larson The Floyd County Museum’s popcorn wagon recently had its electrical system restored, allowing popcorn to be served at museum events.
of the technological changes of that era that the museum had ac- quired within the last few years, Lloyd said. “As far as the museum’s col- lection goes, we have some- what of a gap in our collection of items from after WWII,” said Lloyd in an email. “We are interested in acquiring more ev- eryday items from Floyd Coun- ty that are from the 1950s-1990s or so. “Many current residents lived through that time period and therefore don’t necessarily see kitchen items, household tech- nology, and other ephemera from that time period as arti- facts, but they certainly are and we would love to have more of them.” Also worth looking forward to, especially for those in the market for a savory treat while enjoying one the museum’s many special events, is the re- turn of the popcorn wagon. The museum had the popcorn wagon’s electrical system re- paired by Perry Novak Electric with the help of a grant from the Floyd County Community Foundation, Lloyd said. “It was something that had been retired in the year 2000. The Historical Society was not
using it, but now that we fi xed it up we’re going to be using that and popping popcorn in it at museum events, so that’s pretty fun for people.” One of the events visitors can expect to see the popcorn wag- on at is Heritage Fest, which the museum is already getting pre- pared for. “That’s our big annual sum- mer event,” said Lloyd. “Noth- ing too different with Heritage Fest this year. It should look pretty similar to last year’s Her- itage Fest, but we’re always ex- cited for that, and that’s always the big thing we’re gearing up for for pretty much half of the year. “That will be on July 26. We’ll bring back a petting zoo, music and have food trucks again.” The museum is open all year long, Wednesday through Satur- day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. It can also be found online at fl oyd- countymuseum.org. “We’re open year round so people can always visit us. You can also follow us on Facebook and on social media and we also have a website,” said Lloyd. “There’s lots of ways for people to follow what’s going on at the museum.”
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