Brown

“Our town, our people” is a weekly Q&A with a local resident who is active in the community.

Roger Brown lives in Conrad but is the owner of the Marshalltown-based Iowa River Brewing Company, which he has owned for six years.

Q: What are you passionate about?

“I’m passionate about people. I’m passionate about my family. There’s a lot of interesting people in the world and they don’t need to be celebrities to be interesting. I think it’s fun to meet a lot of new people. It’s fun to provide a product that people get to try and enjoy. I’m passionate about the veteran interviews that I do here at the brewery. We’ve done 94 (at the brewery) and I’ve done 214 in my lifetime.”

Q: What community activities do you participate in?

“The brewery is really my biggest activity here. We belong to the Chamber of Commerce, so we participate in some of their events. My daughter participants in the Special Olympics here in Marshalltown.”

Q: What do you enjoy about this community?

“I think what I enjoy about Marshalltown is that my parent’s kind of grew up here. As a kid growing up, Marshalltown was my big city to go to. Des Moines seemed like the metropolis, but Marshalltown was a big city to me. So, I’ve been coming here since 1971. I always have imagined what it used to be like when my parents grew up here. Everything you needed came from local vendors — ice cream, soda, clothing, live music — just another large size community that really did a great job being a town that really survived on its own. What I enjoy about Marshalltown is that it is trying to become a destination spot again, where people want to come and the people that live here want to stay here and do events versus go to another town.

Q: What changes do you feel need to be made in the community?

“Can’t wait to see how the downtown recovers from the tornado.”

Q: What advice would you pass on to young people?

“I think the first thing I would pass on to anyone would be take the time to get to know other people, your community businesses, people who live next door to you. Start to turn the tide to get out of your house and experience your community versus staying inside and not experiencing it.”

Q: What is your favorite Marshalltown activity?

“Live music at the brewery. Outside of that, riding the bike trails.

Q: What social activity or event would you like to see come Marshalltown and why?

RAGBRAI (and) some other type of sporting events. It would be kind of fun to see minor league teams play exhibition games in towns like Marshalltown.