Lt. Gov. Judge made Kalona the second stop of the day on Tuesday on her visit of five Iowa communities. She started the day in Grinnell and visited Mt. Pleasant, Burlington and Ft. Madison. She spent the night in Bonaparte before another day of tours on Wednesday.
"In the Welcome Center Museum they have an amazing display of Amish quilts and antique glass," she wrote on her blog after leaving Kalona en route to Mt. Pleasant. "As a collector of glassware, I could have spent all day looking at their collection (of Keota and Iowa City glass)."
"In addition, they have preserved several buildings from this community's past," she wrote. "We stepped into their loom house, where they still make rugs, and the restored depot, which was the first building in the village."
"And the community as a whole has many shops that sell items made by the still active Mennonite. Quilts, meats, jams, jellies, and cheeses are all available and made the same way they were 100 years ago. (We got some cheese curds for the road, and boy are they good...)."
"Here, history comes alive, and it is great way to glimpse into Iowa's past," she continued. "And if you come (to Kalona), make sure to give yourself enough time - I know I needed more."
During her brief visit to Kalona, Judge explained why she is touring Iowa to promote Iowa as a scenic state filled with a variety of gorgeous places to visit at a very reasonable price. She noted Iowa is the fourth least expensive state in which to travel with many things to see and do. She noted that the Iowa Tourism book published by Nancy Landis, who accompanied her Tuesday, and her staff at Iowa Tourism office in the Department of Economic Development, features over 7,000 tourist sites in Iowa and over 2,000 festivals and fairs.
Hosting Judge were Steve Reif, executive director of the Kalona Historical Society; Marilyn Woodin, quilt museums curator; board member Steve Miller; chamber of Commerce president Larry Moeller; Mayor Jerry Kauffman; and City Administrator Doug Morgan.
She presented Reif and Woodin with T-shirts that feature a Travel Iowa license plate on the front and a listing of all 67 communities included in her tour of Iowa.
Following her comments, Judge was given a tour of the Amish and English Quilt museums and a limited tour of the rest of the village.
To find out more about her visit to Kalona and the other communities on her tour, visit her blog: traveliowa.blogspot.com.
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