Northeast Iowa festival celebrates winter

You can complain about the freezing weather or revel in it. Folks in Iowa’s northeastern-most county have chosen the second option with today’s start of Winterfest 2001. The celebration includes a snowmobile “Poker Run” where riders visit several Allamakee County towns and collect playing cards.Rachelle Howe is executive director of Allamakee County Economic Development. She says there’s also an “ice fisheree” underway, a winter film festival and plenty of cross-country skiing.Howe says she’s surprised at the reason, but Winterfest has had to cancel the planned ice-cutting and ice-sculpting contests as the ice is not very good due to snow.For more information, call 800 824-1424.