• Home
  • News
    • Politics & Government
    • Business & Economy
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Radio Iowa Poll
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support Page
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters

Radio Iowa

Iowa's Radio News Network

You are here: Home / Fires/Accidents/Disasters / Hamburg’s “Popcorn Days” held on eve of popcorn plant closure

Hamburg’s “Popcorn Days” held on eve of popcorn plant closure

September 12, 2011 By Radio Iowa Contributor

The theme of this past weekend’s “Popcorn Day’s” parade in Hamburg was “Standing Together, Standing Strong” and many of the floats had a flood theme.

The local preschool’s float was an ark, with a banner that read “Two-by-Two We’ll Make It Through”. Linda Burdick of Hamburg is worried about local residents who’ve moved away after the flood waters threatened the town, and swamped local roads. 

“You know they do come back, but the jobs are in Omaha. The jobs are in Lincoln. The jobs are in St. Jo, Kansas City, We’ve got to get back something in our county for the jobs.”

Flood waters never reached Hamburg, as efforts to shore up a protective levy worked. But many roads, including Interstate-29, are still closed due to the flood, which means Hamburg residents who work in Nebraska City or Omaha moved.  Phil Kuhr, the pharmacist at Stoner Drug in Hamburg, says this past weekend’s festival was a very welcome end to a very long summer.

“I’ve never found myself wishing that a season would be over,” Kuhr says. “They said, ‘Those rivers should be back in their banks by the middle of September.’ Man, the middle of September can’t get here fast enough.”

However, this fall ConAgra plans to shut down most operations at its popcorn plant in Hamburg, putting almost 100 people out of work. Kuhr is optimistic Hamburg will survive these tough times and attract new industry.

“I mean, we still have railroad access,” he says. “We still have the interstate access, once they get everything open, so I mean you’ve got all this potential and, you know, it’s all uphill from here.”

Officials in the Hamburg and Farragut schools estimate about 15 students who had been living in Hamburg last year were not enrolled in the district this fall due to flood-related moves.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Human Interest, Weather Tagged With: Employment and Labor

Featured Stories

All bodies of missing now recovered from rubble of collapsed Davenport building

Governor signs child care expansion into law

Iowa seniors have until July 1 to apply for new property tax break

Smoke from distant fires creates colorful sunrise in Iowa

DOT’s Motor Vehicle Enforcement Division to merge into State Patrol

TwitterFacebook
Tweets by RadioIowa

What may be rare Michael Jordan trading card found in unclaimed deposit box

Hawkeye women to play Virginia Tech

Radio Iowa/Baseball Coaches Association High School Poll 6/5/23

Iowa eliminated at NCAA regional

Iowa names Beth Goetz interim AD

More Sports

Archives

Copyright © 2023 · Learfield News & Ag, LLC