MP represents at Iowa State Fair

By Grace King, Mt. Pleasant News

DES MOINES ? Representatives of the City of Mt. Pleasant, The Mt. Pleasant Area Chamber Alliance, Midwest Old Threshers and Iowa Wesleyan University are having a good time at the Iowa State Fair speaking on behalf of the city and everything it has to offer.

This is the fourth-year volunteers and employees of the four entities have gathered at the state fair in the air-conditioned Varied Industries Building on the southeast corner of the grounds. This year, the groups are greeting old friends and introducing visitors to their booth #541 to all the attractions in Mt. Pleasant.

Mayor Steve Brimhall munched on a cinnamon roll and sipped coffee, gearing up for the day on Wednesday, Aug. 15, as he boasted about how the booth peaks a lot of people?s interest in coming to Mt. Pleasant to see what it has to offer.

?We?re trying to bring people to Mt. Pleasant, that?s for sure,? said Brimhall, who is assisting in manning the booth for two to three days. ?We meet a ton of people who have been to Old Threshers or know of it but haven?t been. We meet a lot of people who have been to Wesleyan, and they reconnect. I think it?s a good place to get out in front of people.?

Representative of Midwest Old Threshers Rich Seberg said there has been a lot of interest, particularly surrounding the entertainment that will be at the reunion in just a couple weeks. As people stop by to check it out, they are entered into a drawing for free tickets, given a family pass to ride the carousel and can collect Old Threshers-inspired temporary tattoos of horses, steam engines, trains or the Old Threshers logo.

There is a smashed penny machine too, a collectors? item with four options of the trolley, tractor, steam engine or carousel horses. All the designs for the tattoos and smashed penny were hand-drawn by former Old Threshers CEO Lennis Moore, said Melinda Huisinga, Chamber Ambassador, IW Trustee and Old Threshers Foundation board member.

IW head basketball coach Alex Huisman was representing the university during the fair on Wednesday. Huisman said that all IW faculty and staff are asked to come help represent during the fair and everyone takes turns.

?For me, it?s a good chance to get out of the office for a day or so,? Huisman said. IW is competing with a dozen other universities represented at the state fair. Students are doing their homework, looking into what majors each university offers and extracurriculars they might be able to participate in.

Alumni are excited to see IW represented as well. Huisman said they are always coming up to the booth to talk about their time at the university and what they enjoyed about it. ?There?s a wide variety of people you get to talk to.?

Representing the City of Mt. Pleasant, Karen Brimhall, Steve?s wife, enjoys meeting people from the other cities represented at the fair.

?It?s an eye-opener sometimes for us and for them because they don?t realize Mt. Pleasant has all these things to offer,? Karen said. ?It?s a wonderful contact for our city.?

It?s not all work and no play for volunteers at the booth. Brimhall?s favorite moment every year is hitting the Cattlemen?s tent and seeing the butter cow. Although, ?this year it?s a butter tractor,? he said.

Huisman and Seberg?s favorite part of the experience is all the food options. ?Anything you can think of that?s fried and put on a stick,? Huisman said.

Melinda and Al Huisinga will spend Friday at the fair with their grandchildren, participating in mutton busting, eating corn dogs and seeing Leroy Van Dike perform.

Before the city, chamber, Old Threshers and IW partnered together for a booth at the fair, Melinda said she brought a steam engine to represent Mt. Pleasant, giving free rides for the entirety of the fair.

That ended after three years because there wasn?t a good place to put the steam engine, which needs a flat surface to run safely. ?Although we never had any accidents or injuries, it is an issue when you have a live boiler,? Melinda said, adding that while she misses showing off her steam engine, she much prefers being in an air-conditioned building.

It?s good exposure, too. With 100,000 people walking onto the grounds of the Iowa State Fair daily, Melinda said that Mt. Pleasant?s daily life, tourism and education is well represented.

?It?s a tremendous opportunity for Mt. Pleasant to get the word out that we have all these wonderful things for Mt. Pleasant tourism,? said Al Huisinga. ?The infrastructure of our town speaks for itself. This is a tremendous opportunity for us to show off Mt. Pleasant to the rest of the state.?