May 24 Bentonsport Blog

Hey Howdy Hi

So I’m new it at this, so take it easy on me…Please! I just wanted to share with the world my travels over this week!

I went down to the Villages of Van Buren, which I have to admit, I had only been to three of the little towns before in my life!

So I take the road to Bentonsport…nice views while driving 5 miles an hour behind a tractor going to plant another field. I arrive in the small town and start looking around. It doesn’t look like much, I warn you, but there’s actually a lot going on in that little town…

I get out and just look around at the views…a tiny town right on the river that looks like history had forgotten. I was dead wrong on that one! As soon as I started walking around on what I guess you could say, “Main Street” I realized the beauty of the little shops all nestled together by the river.

I stopped at the Artisan Co-op. There an elder short, round gentleman with long grey hair in a ponytail, and a handlebar mustache greeted me and asked me where I was from. I explained who I was, and why I am there and he said, “Well that is good and all but I can’t really use a computer.” We laughed and he started telling me of all the local folklore and people of this little town.

He actually was born and raised in Louisiana, I could tell right off by his accent, that this river is small compared to what he is used it!
He walks the banks of the river and finds “driftwood” and sees faces in it. He creates art from junk washed up on the bank of the river.. He paints the wood and creates a fish…They are really something…

He tells me all about the history of the small little town and of ice-dyed tees (instead of tie-dyed) that a local makes. He shows me pictures of fireflies that a man from the Fairfield Iowa. (You know the lightning bugs we used to run around and catch, then shake up and wonder why they died so fast!) This man has amazing pictures for sale at the Artisan Co-op. Stop by his website and check them out! http://www.radimphoto.com/about.html

A KTVO reporter, Kit from Chicago, walks up and introduces himself to me and starts chatting with the gentleman with the handlebar mustache. KTVO will be doing a segment on Bentonsport and all the charms of the thriving little town. Their Cameraman looks around at all the firefly photos and gasps…”Those are magnificent!” He explains, that he has taken the photos for the barns of Iowa and barns of Missouri books. I asked, “So what did you think of the U Barn in Davis County?” He said he spent a lot of time there because he had a place in Moulton!

I go to Bentonsport and find people from my husband’s hometown~! I thought it was just crazy! We continued to trace connections between the Co-op mustache man, KTVO Kit and the Cameraman. It appears that no matter where you go you can trace it back to someone you know. Being from Davis County, and related to half the county, I know everyone! Haha.

So I guess I am saying connections count! Connections can help you build a business, catch up with old friends or learn something new about someone. So there is truth into it’s who you know!
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