Return of Summerfest announced!!
“It’s been a few years since we’ve done this,” noted Colleen Bartlett as she kicked off the evening at the joint Chamber of Commerce and Community Development Corporation (CDC) annual dinner, which had not been jointly held in the past few years due to the COVID pandemic. But on Monday night many of the pillars of Eagle Grove society gathered together in their finest at the Rails Depot to celebrate the successes of community improvement efforts, local businesses, and local charitable and community service works.
The evening started out with a social hour at 5:30, when folks availed themselves of the cash bar, wandered about chatting, and staked out seats at the table. Half an hour later, things got serious with a serious dinner catered by the Nine & Dine restaurant. Anchoring the menu was plenty of pork loin (so much that the extra was auctioned off after the event) provided courtesy of Wholestone Prestage Foods. Which was served with sides of savory herb roasted potatoes and richly flavorful baked beans.
Fittingly, that feast was followed by a speech by Todd Kasperson of Wholestone Prestage , who filled in for scheduled speaker Jere Null, who was unable to attend. Kasperson spoke of how “Food from Eagle Grove goes weekly to the international market,” also noting that Wholestone Prestage products, as well as the products of Eagle Grove’s other major food companies such as Daybreak Foods, Gold Eagle Cooperative, and AGP are also sold all over the United States.
Kasperson spoke of the merger between Prestage Foods and Wholestone Foods which had created Wholestone Prestage, and how it put their company in a strong position. And he praised the efforts of all the staff in getting to this point, especially having gone through the COVID pandemic. “Opening in the middle of 2019 who could have imagined the events that would take place, “Kasperson said, before noting that the pandemic hit the Prestage facility hard. In the meat processing industry, people often work in close proximity, Kasperson explained, and when the pandemic hit Prestage had several cases, solemnly adding, “there were even deaths.” But the state of the art new Prestage facility in Eagle Grove, which is the company’s crown jewel, had “superior ventilation” systems which allowed the company to spread out their staff and keep going. And, to play a key role in keeping the world fed through the unprecedented challenge, making record shipments of pork to Chinese consumers when the pandemic hit China in the early part of the pandemic, and later keeping American stores stocked as the pandemic spread to our shores.
Next to speak was Eagle Grove Community School District Superintendent, and Community Development Corporation Chairman Jess Tolliver, who spoke of the intersection between school funding and community planning. “What we predict is that next year we’ll have no rooms in the Elementary School, no rooms in the Middle School, and two rooms in the high school,” said Tolliver. “It’s a good problem to have, but it requires planning.” And, Tolliver said, if the community wants to build a new high school to replace the now venerable building, it’s going to take a lot of money and a lot of planning, done in stages, over a period of at least five years.
Next Wright County Economic Development Director (WCED) DarrelSteven Carlyle spoke about the many projects that have been funded through WCED in 2023. Among the projects are a biofuels project involving a German company interested in making a $1.6 million investment in the Ag Industry park in Belmond, which is still in development. The WCED also began exploring, Carlyle said, “the possibility of a public water system,” for the Ag park, which could provide a “long-term water supply for the nearby Ag facilities.” Carlyle also spoke of efforts by the WCED to ensure that funding for necessary housing repairs for income sensitive Wright County homeowners is available through a new partnership with the Fort Dodge based Heart of Iowa regional housing trust organization. “To date, a total of eight homes and residences in Wright County have received funding,” Carlyle noted. He also spoke about promotional videos the WCED commissioned to promote Wright County. He also spoke of $25,000 in funding that went to the Belmond, Clarion, and Eagle Grove communities, to help fund loans “to businesses that they saw to be fit, and to help their communities and businesses to prosper.” He also discussed the success of a loan made to fund a Clarion auto repair business, which has since added another employee, and reports that they will be hiring more employees in the near future. And speaking of job creating, WCED’s work with the owner of a 270 square foot industrial complex in Clarion has led to the space being leased to a company which has brought 45 new jobs to the Belmond area. Among several other achievements, which Carlyle called out Eagle Grove’s Kim Demory, former Editor of this paper who now works for WCED, for her role in making them happen.
“In front of you you have your timeline of events here. Everybody on there and the organizations that they’re with, the city could not operate without those organizations,” said Eagle Grove City Administrator at the start of his speech, naming the CDC, Chamber of Commerce, Our Foundation for the Future, Wright County Economic Development, the County Supervisor, the Eagle Grove Community School District. “We talk to those daily,” Davis stated, “to make sure that what we want to accomplish, we can accomplish. And there’s a lot of power in partnerships. The city could not operate without those organizations, and those organizations need people. So we encourage you to get involved, to do what you can, so that everybody moves forward.”
Davis then gave a breakdown on some of the projects the city has undertaken in the past few years, and an update on what’s to come. As examples of past work Davis pointed to road work throughout much of the city, including the downtown revitalization project. As examples of what’s to come, Davis spoke of repairs to the still more roadways, and to the Eagle Grove pool, which he said should start soon and be complete in time for the swimming season. And, Davis discussed the Eagle Grove water plant, which is relatively new and should remain functional for decades to come, putting Eagle Grove in a good position.
Davis also spoke about the calls for service for emergency services, such as police calls, EMS and ambulance calls, and fire department calls, which were up substantially from previous years. “There are sirens running every single day in this town, and we could not do it without the Public Safety departments and the volunteers for EMS and the Fire Department,” Davis said, “we couldn’t operate without those volunteers.”
Davis also noted how major food processing companies are making their homes in Eagle Grove, “As you heard from Todd Kasperson,” Davis said, “Prestage Foods decided to make Eagle Grove market their worldwide headquarters for pork processing. Gold Eagle Cooperative thought ‘hey, they’ve got a good idea too, so we’ll come down to Eagle Grove and move our headquarters over to the mansion’, so that’s moving forward too.”
Local Real Estate agent Mike Ryerson spoke about how the hispanic immigrant community is under served, but are making significant financial contributions. “Our rent rate here is higher than Fort Dodge and Webster City,” Ryerson said, noting that sometimes multiple families crowd together to afford the high rents. Ryerson called for “a page of Spanish” in the local newspaper to serve the community, “we’re losing them to the Spanish driven areas that all the other towns in central Iowa have, (which) have as many immigrants as we do.”
Ryerson pointed to the food industry as the engine of this growth. “Two years ago every egg McMuffin in America came through Eagle Grove. McDonalds. Yet, they’ve switched contracts. It’s now McDonalds omelets that are coming from Eagle Grove. The chicken industry here is just amazing! And thank the Supervisors, they’ve done that.” Ryerson then talked about the CDC houses, noting that the first of the manufactured homes had sold to a 26 year old Prestage employee, and the second home has three interested parties looking to buy the $200,000.00 house. “Now think about that, those of you who’ve live here all your lives,” Ryerson said, urging the crowd to do the math on what renters could afford if enough houses were available to buy. “Our Hispanic immigrants can afford about a 150,000 house at $900 per month rent. So that’s what’s driving the market,” Ryerson said. And while Ryerson noted that some immigrant workers are unbanked, their checks are still getting cashed and “good for Eagle Grove, that cash is circulating.”
Lastly, pharmacist Andrew Wagner, owner of the Eagle Grove Pharmacy was introduced by Mickey Cooper, who spoke about how he started working there in middle school, then worked through High School, then became a technician, before deciding to become a Pharmacist, ultimately buying the Pharmacy. Wagner spoke about the Chamber of Commerce, “The Chamber, this next coming year, we’re really focusing on what we can do to get people in the doors of businesses and spending money there, in Eagle Grove. So we’re kind of looking at all the events that we put on and how they relate to businesses, and getting people downtown and spending money.” Wagner spoke about how not having Summerfest last year led to the organizers of some class reunions considering holding their reunions outside of town. And then he made some big local news, saying “so we decided we’re going to have Summerfest this year! So that’s something to put on your calendars for June 15th.” Wagner also praised new Chamber Director Brooke Hathaway, who stepped in when the position opened recently. “She has been great,” Wagner said, “she’s kinda taken the helm at the Chamber, and we’re very excited for what’s to come.”
