This is the final collection of images of the trip I took to Audubon and Guthrie Counties with my Mom to harvest their town signs. All of these pictures are taken in either Audubon or Gray.
Gray
I know that this is the second straight day with a mention or a picture of testicles. I don’t think there will be 3 days in a row tomorrow.
I recently drove around the massive Tama County to harvest their town signs. It was a solo trip and I was surprised to discover that there are apparently many cities in Tama with Czech roots. I mostly think of the Meskwaki when I think of Tama County. That and the King Tower Cafe.
Here are some facts about Tama County:
+ Population is 17,767.
+ The largest town is Tama.
+ The county seat is Toledo.
+ Formed on February 17, 1843.
+ Named after Taimah, a leader of the Meskwaki tribe.
+ Home of the Meskwaki Settlement.
+ Major highways are: US 30, US 63, IA 8, IA 21, IA 96, and IA 146.
+ Adjacent counties are Grundy, Black Hawk, Benton, Poweshiek, Marshall, Iowa, and Jasper.
+ Home of The Bohemie Alps
+ Home of the Vining Iowa Testicle Festival – All You Can Eat for $12 (2014 Price)
+ Mollie B. will be in concert here in July 10th.
+ Home of Matchstick Marvels.
+ Population peaked in 1900 at 24,585.
Tama County has a pretty, but small courthouse:
The Tama County Courthouse is located in Gladbrook:
With Tama County conquered, here is the updated Photography 139 Conquest Map:
22 counties completed. 22.2% of the Cyclone State conquered.
Here are the Tama County town signs:
Toledo, Iowa
Welcome to Toledo-Tama
Population: 2,341
Traer, Iowa
Wind Up in Traer
Population: 1,703
Dysart, Iowa
Dysart
Population: 1,379
Gladbrook, Iowa
Gladbrook – Alive & Growing
Population: 945
Garwin, Iowa
Welcome to Garwin – Home of the Wolverines
Population: 527
Chelsea, Iowa
Vitame Vas do Chelsea – Lincoln Highway
Population: 267
Montour, Iowa
Montour Welcomes You!
Population: 249
Clutier, Iowa
Welcom to Clutier – Founded 1900 – Pop 213
Population: 213
Elberon, Iowa
Elberon
Population: 196
Lincoln, Iowa
Lincoln – Next 5 Exits
Population: 162
Vining, Iowa
Vining – Heart of the Bohemie Alps
Population: 50
I don’t know there is a terrible sign in Tama County. Maybe the sign in Lincoln is pretty weak. But the weathering gives it character. The Dysart sign is pretty uninspired. I was confused by the Traer sign, until I saw the winding staircase for myself. It is magnificent! I have no clue why there is a motorcycle suspended over the Elberon sign, but it keeps it from being the worst sign. I love Vining’s sign, but how do you not mention the towns annual Testicle Festival? I’ll give the award for worst to Lincoln.
Best in Show for Tama County. Really a no-brainer. It is Tama, Iowa.
There are quite a few alternate signs in Tama County:
Gladbrook Alternate
Gladbrook Alternate
Garwin Alternate
Dysart Alternate
Dysart Alternate
Backside of Chelsea Sign
Here is the current list of Best in Shows:
Best in Show – Audubon County
Best in Show – Boone County
Best in Show – Carroll County
Best in Show – Clarke County
Best in Show – Crawford County
Best in Show – Dallas County
Best in Show – Franklin County
Best in Show – Greene County
Best in Show – Guthrie County
Best in Show – Hamilton County
Best in Show – Hardin County
Best in Show – Jasper County
Best in Show – Madison County
Best in Show – Marion County
Best in Show – Marshall County
Best in Show – Polk County
Best in Show – Story County
Best in Show – Tama County
Best in Show – Union County
Best in Show – Webster County
Best in Show – Wright County
Next time we check in with THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT it will involve Benton County.
Here is the second collection of auxiliary images I took while harvesting the town signs of Audubon and Guthrie County with my Mom. The thing is that none of these pictures were taken in Guthrie County and the biggest chunk of them was taken in Shelby County. That is #roadtriplife.
Exira
I would love to see the size of the fire truck that came out that door.
Elk Horn
Kimballton
There is one more collection of photos from this road trip out there.
This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is WORDS:
But what is a WORDS image? I know many of you didn’t come here fore reading! Top to bottom, left to right… a group of words together is called a sentence. Take Tylenol for any headaches… Midol for any cramps.
But one of the greatest comedies of all-time aside, WORDS are merely collections of letters. You can find WORDS all over the place. Books. Signs. Advertising. Newspapers. Magazines. All over the place. You are literally (used correctly) looking at WORDS right now!
Happy photo harvesting!
When we left off, I had just won 1st Place in Black and White and 3rd Place in Color at the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest, but had been completely rejected by the Iowa State Fair for the 4th year in a row.
Whatever I was selling, the judges were not buying. I was despondent, but not discouraged because I knew I had entered some great photos, but they were not what the judges were looking for that year.
2011 comes around. I decided to retire from the Boone County Fair Photo Contest and to start a new way of picking pictures for the Pufferbilly Days. I also had what was probably the peak of my photo contest career at the Iowa State Fair. I got all 4 pictures exhibited. This is extremely hard to do. Thousands of people enter the contest every year. Only 5 of us got all 4 pictures exhibited. You can do the math. It is a big deal.
These are the pictures that were exhibited:
2nd Place Class 25
Honorable Mention Class 13
For the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest it was the second year of letting other people select my entrants. Dawn, Derrick, Jen, Scott, Russell, and Rebecca chose my entries. Dawn’s choice got 2nd Place in Black and White:
I was pretty excited for 2012. I thought I had cracked the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon Code, but there is no code. Some years the judge like you. Some years they don’t. In 2012, they like one of my pictures:
That year, I decided to retire from the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.
Then shortly after that, I decided to retire from Photo Contests altogether.
But in 2017, the itch came back. I decided to put on a Washington Wizards Jersey and come out of retirement. Hard. I decided to enter all 3 contests again. I got all Blue Ribbons at the Boone County Fair:
I got one picture selected for display at the Iowa State Fair:
I had the following people select my entries for the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest: Jim Robbins (yeah that is a long story), Micky, Michelle, Amber, Laura, and Dawn. However, none of the pictures earned a ribbon.
In 2018, my Boone County Fair entries were determined by popular vote:
Purple
Blue
Blue
Blue
I had two pictures selected for display at the Iowa State Fair:
My Pufferbilly Days entries were also selected by popular vote that year:
1st Place Photojournalism
3rd Place Hidden Treasures of Boone County
2019 would also be a successful year. I moved to having individuals select my Boone County Fair entrants. Shannon, Michelle, and Logan selected my entries.
Blue
Red
Blue
Purple
I had one picture selected for exhibition at the Iowa State Fair and it earned a ribbon:
My Pufferbilly Day entries were once again selected by popular vote:
1st Place Photoshop
In 2020 the pandemic hit and all photo contests were cancelled. Which was sad and I think it was avoidable because in a digital age, I think they could have found a way. For example the Iowa State Fair still held its Fine Arts competition.
Which brings us to 2021. I’m currently working on my next embarrassing failure at the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. However, I am not going to enter the Boone County Fair this year. There is a reason for this decision. A very good reason. However, I’m not going to share the reason until it becomes official or it falls through. Things seem to fall through quite often these days. No decision has been made on Pufferbilly Days yet, but Pufferbilly Days has been moved to early August this year. I’m not crazy about the decision, but I’ll give it a chance.
If you want to peruse all 153 Photo Contest entrants in this long weird journey, click on the link below:
You can see them all from the out of focus to the award winners. The good, the bad, and the moldy jam equivalent.
I recently drove around Marion County to harvest their town signs. Marion County includes two of the more famous Iowa towns, Pella and Knoxville.
Here are some facts about Marion County:
+ Population is 33,309.
+ Pella is the largest city.
+ Knoxville is the county seat.
+ Named for Francis Marion, a brigadier general in the Revolutionary War.
+ Home to the Pella Tulip Festival, which is one of the most popular town festivals in Iowa.
+ Home to the Knoxville Speedway an internationally known auto racing track.
+ Home of Central College.
+ Major highways are: IA-5, IA-14, IA-92, IA-163, and IA-316.
+ Adjacent counties are: Jasper, Mahaska, Monroe, Lucas, and Warren.
+ Population is currently at its peak.
Marion County has a beautiful courthouse:
The Marion County Courthouse is located near the form Veterans Hospital in Knoxville:
With Marion County conquered, here is the updated Photography 139 Conquest Map:
21 counties completed. 21.2% of the Cyclone State conquered!
Here are the Marion County town signs:
Knoxville, Iowa
Welcome to Knoxville
Population: 7,313
Pleasantville, Iowa
Welcome to Pleasantville – Established 1849
Population: 1,694
Melcher-Dallas, Iowa
Welcome to Melcher Dallas – A Coal Mining Community
Population: 1,288
Bussey, Iowa
Welcome to Bussey
Population: 422
Harvey, Iowa
Harvey – Home of the Peace Tree – Population 277
Population: 235
Hamilton, Iowa
Hamilton City Hall and Community Center
Population – 130
Swan, Iowa
We Honor Our Veterans – Swan, Iowa
Population: 72
Marysville, Iowa
<- Marysville 1
Population: 66
I have to say that I was pretty disappointed with Marion County. Pella and Knoxville are pretty big deals. How does Pella not have a tulip or something Dutch on the sign? Maybe the good folks of Indianola are right? FTD. And the race track in Knoxville is a big deal. I’m not a fan of auto racing. I get the appeal of watching things go fast, I just wish racing didn’t lasted so long. Go around the track a couple times. Take off your helmet. Wave to the crowd. We’re all home in time for the start of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. That being said, I’m going to give Knoxville the worst town sign of Marion County. Even though Hamilton doesn’t even really have one and Marysville only has a DOT sign. But at least it has an interesting crack. The most interesting thing about the Knoxville sign is the Laser Car Wash sign behind it.
But who has the best town sign in Marion County? Even though it is a DOT sign, I like the Harvey sign. I would like it even more if I could have found the “Peace Tree”. Melcher-Dallas has a nice sign, but I’m giving this best sign to Pleasantville.
There were a couple of towns with alternate town signs, both better than their main town signs:
Melcher-Dallas -Alternate Town Sign
Pleasantville – Alternate Town Sign
Here is the current list of Best in Shows:
Best in Show – Audubon County
Best in Show – Boone County
Best in Show – Carroll County
Best in Show – Clarke County
Best in Show – Crawford County
Best in Show – Dallas County
Best in Show – Franklin County
Best in Show – Greene County
Best in Show – Guthrie County
Best in Show – Hamilton County
Best in Show – Hardin County
Best in Show – Jasper County
Best in Show – Madison County
Best in Show – Marion County
Best in Show – Marshall County
Best in Show – Polk County
Best in Show – Story County
Best in Show – Union County
Best in Show – Webster County
Best in Show – Wright County
Next time we check in with the Town Sign Project, it will involve Tama County.
This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is UP IN THE AIR:
UP IN THE AIR! Another great theme for Year 8 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.
But what is a UP IN THE AIR photo? It is simply a photo of something that is UP IN THE AIR. A bird. A plane. Superman? Well, if Superman isn’t standing on the ground. A good idea is to just throw something into the air and photograph it. Or a good candid portrait is to throw something in the air and have them try to catch it. This is a great candid portrait technique.
Happy photo harvesting!
Harvesting the town signs of Audubon and Guthrie County was one the last road trips I took with my Mom. I took lots of pictures that day, so I’m going to break it up into at least two posts. All of today’s pictures were taken in Guthrie County:
Guthrie Center
Menlo
Casey
Adair
Most of the remaining pictures were shot in Audubon County, but not all of them.
Clarke County includes Murray, Iowa. The Murray town sign was the last town sign I harvested on the last road trip I took with my Mom.
I recently returned to Clarke County to get the one town sign I was missing.
Here are some facts about Clarke County:
+ The population is 9,286
+ Osceola is both the largest town and county seat.
+ Was formed in 1846 and is named for James Clarke, a Governor of the Iowa Territory.
+ Major highways are: I-35, US-34, US-69, and I-152.
+ Adjacent counties include Decatur, Lucas, Madison, Union, and Warren
+ The population peaked in 1900 at 12,440.
The Clarke County Courthouse is pretty lame:
The Clarke County Freedom Rock is located near a cemetery in Murray, Iowa:
With Clarke County conquered, here is the updated Photography 139 Conquest Map:
20 counties completed. 20.2% of the Cyclone State conquered!
There are only 3 towns in Clarke County. Here are their town signs:
Murray, Iowa
Murray – Since 1868
Population: 756
Woodburn, Iowa
Woodburn – Founded 1868
Population: 125
If you were to go to the Wikipedia page and look up Clarke County, it would also list the town of Weldon as being partially in Clarke County, but mostly in Decatur County. However, since I have switched to the Iowa Department of Transportation is the arbiter of what towns are in a county, Weldon is not in this collection. The Iowa DOT does not consider Weldon to be in Clarke County.
Only 3 signs to choose from in Clarke County. It is pretty obvious which is the worst. Woodburn’s sign isn’t really even a town sign. It is a sign that hangs on what looks like a stage in what looks like a town park.
Osceola and Murray have about equal signs, but I’m going to give Best in Show to Murray for sentimental reasons.
Osceola and Woodburn have alternate signs, well Woodburn has a DOT sign.
Woodburn Alternate Sign – For being a DOT sign, it does have some character
Here is the current list of Best in Shows:
Best in Show – Audubon County
Best in Show – Boone County
Best in Show – Carroll County
Best in Show – Clarke County
Best in Show – Crawford County
Best in Show – Dallas County
Best in Show – Franklin County
Best in Show – Greene County
Best in Show – Guthrie County
Best in Show – Hamilton County
Best in Show – Hardin County
Best in Show – Jasper County
Best in Show – Madison County
Best in Show – Marshall County
Best in Show – Polk County
Best in Show – Story County
Best in Show – Union County
Best in Show – Webster County
Best in Show – Wright County
Next time we visit THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT it will involve Marion County. Home of Iowa’s second best tulip festival and a really big race track.
This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is GOVERNMENT:
What is a GOVERNMENT photo? A GOVERNMENT photo is any photo that involves something that involves the GOVERNMENT. Went to a public park? That is GOVERNMENT. Driving on a road? That is GOVERNMENT. Of course there are GOVERNMENT buildings like courthouse, police departments, fire departments, post offices… Everything military related is GOVERNMENT. Everything dealing with public schools is GOVERNMENT.
Think about the following quote when you are contemplating your GOVERNMENT image:
The worst thing in this world, next to anarchy, is government.
-Henry Ward Beecher
Happy photo harvesting!
Today I want to share alternates for Week 295 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. The theme was FACE. I took all these pictures I took on a trip to the Des Moines Art Center with Suzie and her friend Michelle. It was the first “public” thing I’ve done since my vaccine was fully marinated.
I do highly recommend the Des Moines Art Center. It is FREE! Right now, you have to call ahead and get tickets, as they are only letting so many people in at a time.
Adair County includes Orient, Iowa. The Orient town sign was one of the town signs I harvested on the last road trip I took with my Mom.
I had already taken pictures of most of the town signs in Adair County before going there recently to take pictures of the few that I had yet to harvest.
Here are some facts about Adair County:
+ The population of Adair County is 7,862.
+ Greenfield is both the county seat and largest town in Adair County.
+ Was formed in 1851 from sections of Pottawattamie County and was named after John Adair, a general in the War of 1812.
+ The site of the world’s first robbery of a moving train by Jesse James on July 21, 1873.
+ Major highways are: I-80, US-6, Iowa-25, Iowa-92, and Iowa-925.
+ Adjacent Counties are Guthrie, Madison, Union, Adams, and Cass.
+ Population peaked in 1900 at 16,192 and has been below quintuple digits since the 1970 census.
I would describe the Adair County Courthouse as fair:
The Adair County Freedom Rock is located on a highway near Greenfield, but closer to Menlo. Their is a sign for it on Interstate 80. It is the original Freedom Rock and is repainted every year for Memorial Day.
I’m going to stop sharing the county photo maps. I’m not sure anybody finds much interest in them.
With Adair County conquered, here is the updated Photography 139 Conquest Map:
19 counties completed. 19.2% of the Cyclone State conquered!
Here are the town signs of Adair County:
Adair, Iowa (Partially in Guthrie County)
Welcome to Adair – It’ll make you smile!
Population: 781
Stuart, Iowa (Partially in Guthrie County)
The City of Stuart Welcomes You
Population- 1,648
Fontanelle, Iowa
Fontanelle – A Place To Call Home
Population: 672
Orient, Iowa
Welcome to Orient
Population: 408
Bridgewater, Iowa
Brigdewater – Since 1885
Population: 182
Casey, Iowa (Mostly in Guthrie County)
Welcome to Casey Iowa – Since 1869
Population: 10 (426 total)
I’m going to not include Casey for the County Awards. It is mostly in Guthrie County. I would say that there is no doubt what town has the worst town sign in Adair County. That is Stuart. What makes it even worse is before they put up that giant tombstone monstrosity, rumor has it that they had a cool sign with a pithy slogan about “bad eggs”.
I also think that Best in Show for Adair County is pretty much a no brainer. It is Fontanelle.
A couple towns had alternate signs:
Greenfield Alternate Sign
Here is the current list of Best in Shows:
Best in Show – Audubon County
Best in Show – Boone County
Best in Show – Carroll County
Best in Show – Crawford County
Best in Show – Dallas County
Best in Show – Franklin County
Best in Show – Greene County
Best in Show – Guthrie County
Best in Show – Hamilton County
Best in Show – Hardin County
Best in Show – Jasper County
Best in Show – Madison County
Best in Show – Marshall County
Best in Show – Polk County
Best in Show – Story County
Best in Show – Union County
Best in Show – Webster County
Best in Show – Wright County
The next time we visit THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT it will involve Clarke County. A county with only 3 towns.
The folder 2010-08-23 is absolutely stuffed to the gills. There are so many images in there I almost considered breaking it up into a couple posts, but decided against it. There are pictures in there from a trip to the Iowa State Fair and pictures of Jen and Derrick when Jen was preggers with Evie. Alexis competed in a cheerleading/tumbling competition this year.
By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory:
PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK #43
STATE FAIR TRIP 2 – COLLECTION 1
Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve a full moon and possibly a baby shower.
