Get a head start on the upcoming holiday season shopping at St. Ansgar, Iowa's annual Fall Festival on Friday, Sept. 13, and Saturday, Sept. 14. Chuck Peterson, the owner of the St. Ansgar Enterprise said, "All the stores will be open. There will be street vendors and the town will be decorated with a fall flavor. We will have corn stalks and pumpkins to enhance the town for the festivities."

Coinciding with the St. Ansgar Fall Festival is a bike ride on Sept. 14 that is starting in the little town of Bolan located in Worth County. Peterson said Bolan has been declining and this past year the Bolan Store closed down. Bolan is known for having the first Stand-Still Parade during a two- day Centennial Celebration. The entire population of the town (16) appeared as guests on "Late Night with David Letterman."

The bike ride will loop through the communities of Carpenter, St. Ansgar and Grafton before returning to Bolan for pie and ice cream. On the bike route you can see the albino deer display, shop the antique shops, visit a historical depot, and try the specials at the cafes in the towns.

Registration for the bike ride is $12 before Sept. 1, and $15 thereafter. This fee includes: a short sleeve T-shirt, map, marked route, support vehicle, ticket for a slice of pie with ice cream and beverage. For a $5 registration fee you don't get a T-shirt. Registration for the bike ride is at 8 a.m. at the Bolan Methodist Church. Bikers hit the route at 9 a.m.

Send your registration to: Bolan Bike Ride c/o Lori Willert 2023 420th Street, Kensett, Iowa. Questions call 641-845-2677 or email llwillert@hotmail.com

The money raised for the bike ride will be used for a lighted flagpole, and to improve the entrance to the town with landscaping and signs. Now 18 people in Bolan.

Sheila Donnelly can be reached at 434-2233 or by e-mail at :mailto:newsroom@austindailyherald.com