Fans of smoked meats can get their fill this weekend in Denison. The west-central Iowa town is hosting the 2nd annual Tri City BBQ Festival, which opens tonight (Friday) and runs through tomorrow (Saturday). Evan Blakley is executive director of the Crawford County Chamber and Development Council.

“The first Tri City BBQ Fest was an enormous success and it definitely exceeded our expectations,” Blakley said. “The estimates were that we saw up to 10,000 visitors to the festival per day. So, it was fantastic and our vendors did very well.” The street festival will be bigger this year — covering more space and likely drawing more people.

“We’re a nonprofit event and we rely on our community to raise the funds. We got pretty ambitious this year and said we’d like to increase the scope and budget of the event by 50-percent,” Blakley said. “What we were able to do with that was market further out into the metros and bring in larger name entertainment.” The musical acts on Saturday night include rock bands Fuel and The Verve Pipe, both of which enjoyed success in the 1990s. Tribute act Hairball plays tonight (Friday). There will be an Iowa Craft Beer Tent and 18 food vendors.

“Our vendors are coming from as far away as Chicago and then we have some professional barbeque vendors from around Iowa as well,” Blakley said. “We have lots of locals who’ve stepped up too. We like that, we like impacting our local businesses more than anything.” The event also serves as a “State Championship” BBQ competition.

“The winner of our event gets to move on to the highest level national event of BBQ, what they call the World Series of Barbeque in Kansas City,” Blakley said. “So, there’s a lot on the line, $10,000 in prize money as well.” There are kid-friendly activities too, including inflatable attractions, a petting zoo and pony rides. Admission to the festival is free, but tickets are required to see the entertainment.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) board today (Friday) awarded direct financial assistance and tax benefits to two companies for job creation and expansion projects. The awards will assist in the creation of 199 jobs and will result in over $24 million in new capital investment for the state. The board also approved innovation funding for six startups.

The board approved assistance for planned or proposed projects located in Ankeny, Coralville, Denison, Des Moines, Independence, Johnston and Urbandale.

In Denison, Quality Food Processors (QFP), which produces bacon and cooked meats by processing on contract for 10 customers, was awarded $1-million in direct financial assistance through the Economic Development Set-Aside (EDSA) program. This $21.7 million capital investment is expected to create 195 jobs at a qualifying wage of $12.70 per hour.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors, earlier this week, approved an Annual Urban Renewal Report for Fiscal Year 2014-15, that ended June 30th, 2015. Local governments are required to complete and submit an annual report showing all TIF activity within each of their urban renewal areas during the preceding fiscal year

The report, presented by Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman, indicated Cass County had one active TIF area: the Amaizing Energy Urban Renewal Area. Sunderman says $277,000 of the original $520,000 bond was outstanding as of July 1st, 2014. $26,000 of the bond was paid by TIF funds in Fiscal Year 2015, leaving a bond balance of $251,000. In addition, interest expense of nearly $9,460 was paid. TIF revenues for FY 2015 was slightly more than $44,217. The Ending TIF fund balance was $20,796.

The Annual Urban Renewal Report for Fiscal Year 2014-2015, will be filed with the State of Iowa.

A traffic stop in Crawford County this (Friday) morning, resulted in a man being arrested on drug and other charges. Sheriff’s officials say a deputy stopped a vehicle driven by 35-year old Williams Matthew Lee Soll, of Dow City. Authorities say Soll allegedly attempted to throw an item out of the vehicle. When the Deputy recovered it, approximately ½ ounce of methamphetamine was recovered and seized.

Soll was formally charged with Driving Under Suspension (a Simple Misdemeanor). He also faces felony charges of Possession with Intent to Deliver Methamphetamine, and Failure to Affix a Drug Tax Stamp Soll was being held without bond in the Crawford County Jail.