×

Marshall County residents get out and have fun

A vibrant mood was everywhere in Marshall County during the weeked. Numerous events, attracting scores of people, were held.

One such event was the beloved Rose Festival in State Center. Hundreds of people made the trek outside in warm weather for the annual event sorely missed by the people of its host town in 2020.

The Rose Festival made its return Thursday, with a varying number of events happening each day. This was the 63rd annual edition of the festival.

Buffi Honeck, the director of the festival, said it was a relief to be able to hold the festival in its traditional spot after missing out in 2020 due to the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When the national anthem was playing when the parade started, I got a little teary-eyed,” Honeck said. “Thinking about all the hard work that everybody on the board puts into this, and just the time and effort and the chaos. Just to have everyone enjoy it, it’s been going really well.”

One of the festival’s flagship events is the Rose Queen, a pageant tradition that is one of the most popular in Central Iowa. The 2020 winner of the event, Sadie Clark, rode a couple of cars behind the 2021 winner Kalyn Polley in the Saturday morning Rose Festival Parade.

Honeck said the parade had fewer entrants than usual, but that it was something she expected to happen given the circumstances. She said there were worries it would be too short, but the parade still lasted nearly 40 minutes.

After the parade, a number of vintage cars made their way onto Main Street and the surrounding side streets for the Rose Festival Car Show. The car show was a popular attraction, allowing people to mill about and talk with the car owners about their shared passions.

The Bloody Mary Bar and Beer Tents were opened up outside of Road Hog’s Bar, where plenty of party-goers could be found throughout the afternoon, having beverages and chatting with friends and family.

Across the street from the bar were various food vendors that included Maria’s Tacos, Appleberry Farms, Happi Lao and more. Funnel cakes were sold a couple of streets down by Kiwanis to support Trojan Tots, while a pork burger lunch was served at the Fire Department. Main Street was buzzing, and Honeck said plenty of festival visitors had compliments for how things came together.

“Everyone was ready, they were ready to get back,” Honeck said. “The different activities, the food, lots of different compliments we’ve heard so far and I think it’s been a success. Just glad that everyone’s stuck with us after not having last year, and people understood, but it’s just nice to get back in that routine and get it going again.”

While West Marshall baseball and softball played in the afternoon, another big event in downtown State Center was the KCBS BBQ Competition. This was the 20th edition of the event — making it the longest-lasting KCBS competition in the state.

Two State Center natives entered in the event — No Clue BBQ was entered by friends Kevin Dehner and Aaron Shipley, both of them 2005 West Marshall graduates. They said they entered it just for fun, to try and prove themselves against professional competitors. They earned sixth place in the ribs category — one of four categories by which entrants were judged.

Bone-A-Fide BBQ was entered by Tim Kelley, another West Marshall graduate, and Marshalltown graduate Pat Cahalan. The duo are a traveling BBQ team.

The competition’s Grand Champion was Darty-Q, an Ottumwa-based duo run by Dusty Ware and Sam Heinrichs. Hot Daddy’s BBQ of Minnesota was named the Reserve Champion. Both BBQs will be eligible for the KCBS World Invitational held in November.

After a difficult year in which many area traditions were put on hold, the abundance of people attending the Rose Festival brought the State Center tradition back into its annual spotlight.

While the Rose Festival was going on, the annual Corn Carnival in Gladbrook made a comeback. It lasted from Thursday and Sunday, as well. Attendees kept busy with the firemen waterball contest, live music, fireworks, tractor rides, a parade, the crowning of Katy Thompson as the Corn Cob Queen and more.

Within the boundaries of Marshalltown, there was plenty of activity on Saturday.

The much-missed Kids Fishing Derby, hosted by the Izaak Walton League, was held at Riverside Cemetery. The purpose of the event is to reduce the number of fish in the Riverside pond.

Izaak Walton Vice President Ed Moore said about 150 bullheads were caught one hour before the event ended.

Riverside Cemetery General Manager Dorie Tammen said they bought 200 hot dogs, but less than 50 kids attended. She said that was due to the event being the same weekend as two nearby festivals.

Moore said normally the event draws 70 to 80 younger fishermen, but this year was not as lucky.

The activities of the festivals did not stop Andrew Ratte, 8, of Marshalltown, who is a long-time fishing fan. In fact, according to the Izaak Walton members, Ratte was attracting the fish at a far greater rate than most of the other anglers. His mother, Linda Ratte, said she thinks it is because he baits them with bread before throwing in the worm and hook.

“They [her children] ask to do this every year,” Ratte said. “They were very excited. We spend a lot of time fishing.”

While the fishing derby was going on on Saturday, the Marshalltown Rotary Club held the second annual food drive in the south parking lot of the Fisher Community Center. People were able to deliver non-perishable food items or buy pre-assembled sacks from grocery stores.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.38/week.

Subscribe Today