For more information, contact:
Don Short, Executive Director
Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area
Office: 319-234-4567; Cell: 563-920-0955

Candy Welch Streed, Program and Marketing Director
Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area
Office: 319-234-4567; Cell: 319-404-0115

Oct. 5, 2004

John Deere Funds Silos & Smokestacks Gateway Signs
For America’s Only National Agricultural Heritage Area

WATERLOO, Iowa - A cooperative effort between the John Deere Foundation, John Deere Waterloo Works, Iowa Department of Transportation and the National Park Service is coming to fruition this week as five gateway signs are installed to enhance the visitor experience of Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area in northeast Iowa. The first phase of signs and markers, which help visitors navigate the heritage area’s partner sites and communities, will be in place by Friday, Oct. 8.

“This is the infrastructure for the heritage area,” said Don Short, executive director of Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area. “These gateway signs will help give the heritage area its identity for residents and visitors.”

“Placed on heavily-traveled roads, these signs provide the link that brings together the stories told by over 70 sites,” said Candy Welch Streed, program and marketing director for Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area. “The signs tell our friends, neighbors, family, and visitors to Iowa that this area has a story to tell about agriculture. As Iowans, we know how important farming is to our state, our nation and the world.”

Signs will be located at five significant travel gateways:
• Top of Iowa site—on southbound I-35 just before exit 214
• Des Moines south—on northbound I-35 between Mills Civic Parkway and the mixmaster
• Des Moines west—on eastbound I-80 between 74th Street and the mixmaster
• Dubuque (sign installed by Oct. 4)—on westbound U.S. 20, west of U.S. 20/Locust Street location
• Davenport (sign installed by Oct. 4)—on westbound I-80, just after the bridge

Silos & Smokestacks is one of 24 federally-designated heritage areas in the nation. It’s an “Affiliated Area” of the National Park Service and is the only region in the country designated by the National Park Service as America’s Agricultural Heritage Partnership.

Generally, the Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area is located north of I-80, east of I-35 and west of the Mississippi River. It covers 37 counties in northeastern Iowa. Through a network of sites, programs and events, Silos & Smokestacks interprets farm life, agribusiness and rural communities—past and present. It plays a important part in Iowa’s $4.3 billion tourism industry.

For more information on Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area, visit www.silosandsmokestacks.org. A photo of the gateway sign is available at www.silosandsmokestacks.org/gatewaysigns.

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