We slept in a little this morning and had a leisurely breakfast, then Diane and I took a walk through Galva. We passed Galva City Hall (in an old school) and saw the Galva Goat (a gift from Galvë, Sweden, which has a celebrated goat with an interesting history).
Desi had told us the story of Carl Bates, a Galva farmer whose neighbors brought in his final harvest; we walked over to see the mural the town had had painted to commemorate the story. There was another mural on the same wall honoring the Hayes Pump and Planter Company, which had been a local manufacturer earlier in the 20th Century.
Galva is a fairly small town, but it’s a giant compared to Bishop Hill (population 150), which was founded as a religious community by Swedish immigrants in 1846. We had a very nice lunch at PL Johnson’s (originally a hardware store), then wandered the town for a few hours. We walked past the Bjorkland Hotel (now a museum) and the Steeple Building (also a museum).
We stopped at H Wyatt for excellent chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches and a little shopping, as well as visiting a few other merchants housed in historic buildings. It was a nice way to spend Sunday afternoon.
We came back to Desi’s house and rested for a little bit, then walked over to Wiley Park for tonight’s Levitt AMP Galva Music Series concert, featuring Seth Walker and Kings and Associates. I enjoyed the music and the atmosphere; there were a few hundred people in the park and everyone seemed to be having a good time.
