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August 24, 2017
The Brillion News
LE CLAIRE, IA – While road tripping through the country, one never knows where they might come across an old edition of The Brillion News. At least that was the case for Joleen Calaway.
On a recent trip Calaway stopped by the well-known American Pickers store in Le Claire, Iowa and noticed something familiar. An edition of The Brillion News from 1918 sat on top of a pile of old newspapers from around the country. At first she thought it couldn’t be the same newspaper she’s known, but the publisher listed was Otto Zander.
American Pickers is a popular reality television show on the History Channel that has aired since 2010. Mike Wolfe, the star and creator of the show, is from Le Claire. His website says he has an appreciation of America’s history, values and stories. “Those are the treasures he seeks … in rusted, worn, no-longer perfect things. In two-lane roads that lead over a rise and then who knows where. In small towns, crumbling buildings, wrinkled faces,” the website reads.
Wolfe opened a second store in Nashville, which draws in 200,000 visitors each week, according to a feature on Wolfe in 2013 from Nashville Lifestyles.
American Pickers continues to have a live viewership of more than one million people per episode and is one of the highest rated television shows on cable, according to Showbuzz Daily.
This article was featured in the August 24, 2017 edition of The Brillion News.