Winners named of hometown memories contest

• Nancy Miller and Gary Porter

Nancy Miller, head of River Falls Reads, stands next to Gary Porter after he publicly read from his winning essay at the library Sunday afternoon, Feb. 12. Porter’s essay depicted his hometown of Greenfield, Iowa. Submitted photo

Talk about it

The group for River Falls Reads 2012 conducted an essay contest recently. The writing theme was about memories of small-town living.

The idea was to coincide with the same theme that defines the late Jon Hassler novel, “Grand Opening” which was chosen for this year’s River Falls Reads project.

Copies of the book are available for free and found in shoebox kiosks around town, especially at the public library.

Winners of the essay contest were decided last month and included Gary Porter, town of Troy, for his essay on "Saturday on the Town Square;" Linda Quam of River Falls "My Favorite Memory of Living in a Small Town;" about their own hometowns and Janell Norman of River Falls for her "Glen Park Memories" from the 1950s in River Falls.

All of the essays can be found in the Feb. 23 print edition of the River Falls Journal. Copies of the River Falls Journal are kept for a year at the office at 2815 Prairie Drive.

Tags: river falls, lifestyle, books