MADISON COUNTY, Iowa — This weekend is the annual Madison County Covered Bridge Festival in Winterset.
Organizers hope that the festival will draw attention to the need to restore the historic bridges, which haven’t been repaired in 30 years.
This year at the festival there are QR codes at all of the gates. The QR code will take visitors to a donation page, encouraging people to help restore the historic Madison County bridges.
The bridges gained international fame after they were featured in "The Bridges of Madison County" starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep.
At the Cutler-Donahue Bridge the walls are covered in graffiti. The floorboards and structural beams are starting to crack as well.
Madison County Chamber of Commerce CEO Aamera Huffine said five out of six of the bridges are in similar shape.
“Holliwell Bridge is by far our worst one,” Huffine said.
The only bridge that doesn’t need repairs is the Cedar Bridge, which was rebuilt in 2019 after an act of arson destroyed the original.
“Our community came together and made that rebuild happen,” Huffine said. “We, as a small community, have gone through a lot of capital campaigns and we're a little tapped out.”
Madison County hopes that all of the tourists at this weekend’s festival will help raise the $4.7 million needed for repairs.
“Realistically, Holliwell will not be around in 10 years for people to enjoy because it is bowing and will not be structurally sound at that point,” Huffine said.
These bridges have been around since the 1800s and community members want to make sure they’re still here for generations to come.
“They allow us to look at something that those people looked at 140 to 150 years ago,” Linda Griffith Smith, Madison County Historic Preservation Commission chair, said. “The land changes, rivers change, but the buildings do not.”
Madison County is still actively looking at grants to help fund the repairs. However, the problem is most grants require match funding, meaning the county would still need to raise a large amount of funds.
The Madison County Covered Bridge Festival continues on Sunday at the Winterset Courthouse Square from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.