T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING Exit 185 guitarist Mike Smith plays and provides backing vocals during the band’s set Saturday night at the Central Iowa Fairgrounds.

When Exit 185 launched into the first few chords of the Alanis Morrisette hit “You Oughta Know,” the crowd of a couple hundred people inside the Central Iowa Fairgrounds’ Activity Center was at its highest point. After hearing songs from the 70s (“Don’t Stop Believin'”) and the 80s (Van Halen’s “Jump”), Exit 185 was taking a trip to another decade.

This wasn’t the band’s first time at the Fairgrounds this spring — in fact, the group has participated in each of the three shows put together by Shannon Espenscheid’s group at the Fairgrounds along with Grand Marshall. Wenko & BAM made an appearance Saturday night as well.

One of the band’s guitarists, Mike Smith, said that after a year without any real gigs, it was very important for the band to get these opportunities.

“We missed so many shows last year because of COVID,” Smith said. “So, to know that people are ready to come out and just have fun, it feels amazing.”

The crowd seen Saturday was of similar size to the first show in late February, with masks not a frequent sight and the tables full of families and friends.

Each show has brought in a different crowd, Espenscheid said, and each show they’ve tried to add on to the amenities available. Saturday night, it was twofold — with popcorn from the Marshalltown Evening Lions and an appearance from The Flying Elbow’s food truck.

Espenscheid said she felt it was important to keep the shows going.

“It’s been different people,” Espenscheid said. “I think we’re just trying to include as many people as we can to come out to enjoy the evening, but also to make it profitable for them. The musicians have been great to work with, and we’ve learned a lot from the first one to this one.”

The Flying Elbow, which has a food truck open now while they still try to build up their store location at 13th Street, provided specialty hot dogs to the hungry crowd from the start of the evening.

The co-owner of the Elbow, Dani Goodman, said they were thrilled to be a part of the evening and get the word out about the food truck.

“To hear that people have just been trying this for the first time is really exciting to hear,” Goodman said. “We have been through such a rollercoaster with our business and this has been a really good opportunity.”

Inside the building, members of the Marshalltown Evening Lions were popping and wrapping bags of popcorn, something they do every Saturday at Hy-Vee.

The vice president of the organization, Leon Hiracheta, said the Lions being a part of community events like the concert is a good opportunity to remind people of the initiatives the Lions — who are in their 51st year of existence — have a big hand in, including buying hearing aids for veterans and checking the sight of kids by taking pictures of their eyes and sending the photos to eye doctors in Iowa City.

“Some of the people see what we do and they want to help out,” Hiracheta said. “We’ve gained five new members this year, which is more than we’ve gained in ages.”

There was a lot going on Saturday night at the Central Iowa Fairgrounds, and it was another night Espenscheid called a big success for the venue. She said there is already another show scheduled for May 22.

Contact Noah Rohlfing at 641-753-6611 or nrohlfing@timesrepublican.com.