Bowman Family Reunion and Steamboat Days

Second floor bedroom in the Phelps House in Burlington, Iowa

Front parlor table and lamp. Phelps House, Burlington Iowa

Juggling in the rain at the Snake Alley Craft Fair

One of the pottery booths. Note the wonderful old home behind it.

Rich and Liz Robertson of Dubuque's Crickett Hill Pottery. Rich is Den's first cousin.

Mom, Adella Ruth Gates-Capps

Barb Lynchard, Shelby (Martha's grand-daughter) and Sandy Gates-Copeland

Amanda Copeland (daughter of Sandy and Bill Copeland) and Martha Lynchard-Settles. In the back ground is Mom and Carolyn Bowman (Dave Bowman's wife (cousin to Mom))

Randy Settles, husband to Martha Lynchard-Settles

David Bowman, Mom's cousin.

Dwight and Frett's son and his girl friend.

Bill Bowman and Dwight Cocran, Mom's cousins.

I was born and raise in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. "Mt. Idy", as some of us fondly call it, is the Henry County seat and the home of the Mt. Pleasant Panthers, Iowa Wesleyan Tigers, the Fellowship Cup and the Midwest Old Settlers and Threshers Reunion. Growing up in "Mt. Idy" wasn't much different from growing up around Manchester, I would expect. Where ever I have lived or will live, Mt. Pleasant will always be home to me and I bet you feel the same way about your hometown.

This weekend was our annual Bowman Family Reunion. My cousin Martha has managed this dwindling event for a number of years and this is the first year that I have been able to attend. There has always been either time or space that didn't allow me to be there so I really enjoyed it this time. My mother's mother was what you would likely call Amish in this day and age. Her maiden name was Bowman and they lived in west central Illinois. What is left of the family there is really up in years and come to think of it so am I. My Granddad, Mom's father, raised five children in a three room house in a small town outside of Mt. Pleasant called Trenton, Iowa. He had a threshing and clover hulling crew among other things. Life was simple and they all worked hard. My Mom, here visiting with her cousin's wife, is the only one remaining of her sibling. Of the off-spring there are eight cousins and who knows, I have lost track of grand whatever's. We had a potluck held where we are in out of the heat and sun of an Iowa summer.

After the day with long lost relatives Sunday brought us to Steamboat Days in Burlington, Iowa. Burlington has a long and rich history. It was the original territorial capital of the Iowa Territory back in the 1838. The name Hawkeye and it relationship to Iowa has it's roots in Burlington.
Steamboat Days are an annual event held around the third weekend of June each year, it should be noted that last year it was cancelled due to the flooding. SBD is like a street fair along the Burlington Mississippi River front. It starts about midweek and ended this year on Sunday the 20th with a huge fireworks display over the water. There are lots of things to do and see for all ages. There are bands (Hootie and the Blowfish kept everyone hopping, singing and dancing from the main stage Saturday and Sunday), Pepsi sponsored kid's events, talent show, street dancing and on Sunday, the final day, they line Snake Alley ("the crookedest street in the world"for it's serpentine twists (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_Alley) with craft vendors. The fellow as juggling in the rain.

This is one of my favor parts of the events as is the crafts event that happen in the city park during Old Threshers in Mt. Pleasant over Labor Day. The booths offered beautiful pottery from some of the local talent, lapidary, charcoal art, floral arrangements, antiques and much more. Please think about putting this event on you calendar for next summer.
We drove from "Mt. Idy" in a light rain Sunday morning and walked the craft booths. The rain became harder but to tell you the truth, at nearly 90F it wasn't that uncomfortable. Mom should not get soaked so we did use the umbrellas. We purchased some carved wooden kitchen tools and fell in love with the bowls carved from burls. About half way we found some folks that we knew. Richard and Liz Robertson (Rich is Den's first cousin) of Cricket Hill Pottery in Dubuque. I have got to get with Liz on one of her wall pockets. She had arranged some flowers in it that just set it off perfectly.
As the rain got harder we found that the Phelps House (http://www.discoverourtown.com/IA/Burlington/Attractions-686.html) was open for a tour and decided to go in and see it. The historical society had done a wonderful job of maintaining this historic home that dates back to 1851 and is furnished with the treasures of the family that had owned it for most of it's existence. We finished our tour (which by the way cost us $3.00 each) just as the rain became the hardest. Den ran to bring the car as Mom and I huddled under the "bumbershoot". (Buddy, the traveling Shih Tzu stayed behind at Mom's and stayed dry. It was too warm and wet to bring him out.)
Iowa is a great place to live with something exciting around every corner if you really look. Hope to see you out exploring.
God Bless,
Linda