There’ll be a little bit different feel when the annual covered bridges festival gets underway in southern Iowa’s Madison County tomorrow. One of the famed covered bridges was destroyed by an arson fire last September, another was damaged by fire earlier this year, and Monday the home featured in “The Bridges of Madison County” movie was damaged by arson. Bob Weeks, the chair of the Madison County Board of Supervisors, says the fires have rallied the community. He says there are a lot of angry people who feel the county’s heritage is under attack. He says there’s more awareness to how vulnerable we really are in America. He says after 9-11 this brings it more to light, even for something that’s happened locally in the Heartland. Weeks says the 34th annual festival is going on as planned, and residents are keeping a close eye out for any trouble. He says people are watching very closely now. Weeks and the other supervisors have put up a 20-thousand dollar reward for information leading to the arrest of the culprit in the fires. The festival runs Saturday and Sunday in Winterset.
