Two downtown kiosks get refurbished

Dean Nelson of Decorah looks at a display in the kiosk

Two of the informational kiosks in downtown Decorah have gotten facelifts.

Downtown Decorah Betterment and Winneshiek County Historic Preservation Commission funded the kiosk renovations with Kent Foster of Fostergraphs providing in-kind contributions to make them possible.

The kiosk on the corner of River and Water Streets, done in the style of a Victorian "Painted Lady," interprets the historic architecture in Decorah.  Humanities Iowa provided the funds for that kiosk.

The kiosk at the corner of Mechanic and Water Streets reflects the style of an Iowa farmhouse and provides information about agriculture in the Decorah area and its early industries related to agriculture.   Silos and Smokestacks providing funds for that kiosk.

Wanda Gardner wrote the original grant applications for both kiosks.  Randy Fosaaen of A Creative Nature Signs & Designs of Ossian designed and constructed the kiosks to reflect the display information each contained.  Wanda Gardner and Elizabeth Lorentzen provided research, photos, and interpretive text for the displays and Lorentzen maintained the displays.

Due to heat, sunlight, and weather extremes, the displays did not weather well; photos quickly faded, interpretive text cracked and curled away from its backing and it was difficult to keep the displays looking their best with continuous replacement and refurbishing being necessary.  UV glass was installed by Downtown Decorah Betterment and although this slowed down the negative effects of weather, it did not completely solve the problem.  Jeff Brown of The Perfect Edge suggested to Lorentzen that Kent Foster of Fostergraphs might have a solution for the need to produce more durable displays and Foster set to work solving the problem.

Foster took the text and the digital images contained in the kiosk highlighting Decorah's architecture, enhanced their quality, did an eye-catching layout, and printed it onto PVC backing which Jeff Brown cut to size. This well-designed and well-crafted display now attracts the attention of both Decorah residents and visitors, and continues to stand up well to weather and temperature extremes even a year after its installation.

The agricultural history kiosk displays at the corner of Mechanic and Water Streets suffered from the same weather-related issues but presented a different problem. This kiosk features 3-dimensional models as well as interpretive text. It needed the same help with the fading, curling, cracking problems the backgrounds and text experienced because of intense sunlight and heat. In addition, each background surface is odd-shaped because of a decorative shelf bisecting each side so backgrounds needed to be individually fitted to their unique shapes.

Ferneva Brimacomb of the Winneshiek County Historical Society and Midge Kjome of the Decorah Genealogy Library provided research information to add to the text already present in the kiosk and Roger Bergan of the Winneshiek County Historical Society found vintage panoramic photos taken by Martin Gjevre of his family's farm near Nordness during the late 1800s. Chip Peterson of Peterson Photography scanned the negatives and transferred the images to CD. Kent Foster took the digital images provided by the local historical society, cropped them to fit the space, enhanced their quality, and did another well-designed layout for each side. He printed these with solvent-based ink on adhesive-backed fabric designed to resist fading and extreme weather temperatures, cut the individual sides to size, and adhered them to the background boards in the kiosk.  Foster hadn't even completely finished installing the displays before people were attracted to them and stopped to take a look.