Kicking off summer with the Triple B

By Brooks Taylor, Mt. Pleasant News

Forget the heat, Lisa Oetken was just happy for a stiff breeze and no rain Saturday when Main Street Mt. Pleasant hosted the ?Triple B? at McMillan Park in Mt. Pleasant.

Triple B is short for Bands, Brews and Bar-B-Q, and Saturday?s event was the fifth such event hosted by Main Street of which Oetken is the executive director.

?I?m just happy it isn?t raining,? Oetken said as she looked to the cloudless sky. ?Last year, it seemed like it was 110 degrees out here during it.? Saturday?s temperature didn?t reach triple digits and a southwest breeze at 20 miles per hour knocked a few degrees off the thermometer which read 88.

Oetken was happy with the turnout. ?There are quite a few kids in this area. The craft beer tent is also doing well.?

Operating the pony ride venue were Mark and Deb Kleese of Washington. ?It?s been okay,? M. Kleese said when asked about the participation. ?It?s been steady.?

The Kleeses had three ponies to ride and a sign said ridership was confined to an 85-lb. limit. Asked if adults were riding, M. Kleese said they were. ?A lot of adults like to ride.? The sign, however, said an 85-lb. weight limit. ?We cheat,? M. Kleese chuckled.

Mark McKinley, manager of the Mt. Pleasant Community 1st Credit Union branch, quipped that he was living the dream as he watched the kids enjoying the credit union?s train rides. ?There has been a good flow, and I am sure things will pick up when the bands start playing. In addition to the train, Community First had some handouts that would become necessities, such as sunscreen, hand sanitizer and cooling pads for the kids.?

Dave Oetken served as train engineer for about four hours, he said. ?We had steady ridership, some kids got on four or five times.?

He said his favorite part of the event was looking at the cars in the car show. The car and bike show were two of this year?s new events.

L. Oetken said this year was a transition year for the event. Not only was there no admission charged, bands were performing. ?Eventually, we want to grow it to bands all day. It will probably be another three to five years until it is fully grown.?

Although Main Street hosts the event as a fund-raiser, she was quick to add that raising money was not the main goal. ?We want to give the people in Mt. Pleasant and southeast Iowa something to do. We want people to spend money with vendors and that is one of the reasons why there is no admission. Free attracts.

?This is a community event,? she continued. ?We want people from southeast Iowa and beyond to attend this. If they come to this, chances are they will be spending money elsewhere in Mt. Pleasant.?

The event formerly was hosted in the downtown square, but moving it to McMillan Park has allowed for growth, the Main Street director said. ?We wanted a place where we could grow. It is difficult to grow it downtown. There are a lot of people out here. There is something for everyone and this kind of kicks off the summer.?