Cleaning up for RAGBRAI®

CRESCO - Grandma told the story of a preacher being asked, “Is it okay for women to wear make-up?” His answer was, “Even an old barn needs paint once in a while!” 

Well that is true of many beautiful things in life, such as flowers that need to be weeded and the bronze statues around Cresco that need to be cleaned.

Dale and Mary Ellen Turnmire were the instigators of starting the Statues of Howard County project in 2005. The idea was to have bronze statues of children throughout the area with a height of 3-6 feet. The first order came in April 2006 with a dozen statues being placed around Cresco.

But just like that barn, they need a little tender loving care, and over the years that has come from the Turnmires. With over 45 statues throughout Howard County and age creeping up on the couple, it has been harder for them to care for the statues.

Cresco Kiwanis Club was the organization to step up and offer to help.

Jim Kitchen and son, Harry, pressure washed all the Cresco statues in one day. Seven of the 36 needed a more thorough cleaning. That’s when the elbow grease was required to wash and polish. Stepping up to that task were the Turnmires and Jerry Wilson. The last steps were to put a finish of an apoxy mix on the statues and paint the base.

The hard work of Turnmires and friends will certainly be appreciated by locals and RAGBRAI® visitors alike. Those playful statues will probably show up in many of the photos taken during the event.

Who knows? Maybe it will be an inspiration to others to take the idea to their hometown.