The Boys & Girls Clubs of Story County is in the final stages of a capital improvement campaign that will expand and modernize their current location. The $7 million project will add 7,500 square feet to the south of their existing building, as well as provide needed updates throughout the building. “The project will address critical updates to the HVAC, lighting, fire, and security systems,” said CEO Ryan Santi. “It will also enhance kitchen and classroom space, and ultimately allow the organization to serve more kids.” The Ames club has been a staple in the community since 1963. Their current facility was built in 1998 and is ready for a remodel. The Boys & Girls Clubs offers a range of services to youth throughout the year. In 2022, they provided over 11,000 meals to students, many of whom regularly experience food insecurity. They also provide a friendly and supportive environment to kids. Last year, they served nearly 800 students through community outreach programs. Over the past several decades, the scope of programming has changed. “The old model of the Boys & Girls Clubs was to show up and hang out,” said Development Director Judge Johnston. “Today, we are an extension of the school day for many of our kids. This includes educational programming, arts and crafts, and serving a hot meal to them daily.” In 2022, they provided 1,500 hours of academic, healthy lifestyle, and character enhancement programs. The Boys & Girls Clubs currently serves 105 students but has a waiting list that they will be able to address after the completion of this new expansion project. The new kitchen will allow for cooking classes where students can learn core lifestyle skills. “We have a number of students who serve as the primary caregiver at home because their parents work long hours,” said Santi. “This type of programming will give students the skills needed to not only cook for themselves, but for their siblings as well.” The Boys & Girls Clubs had $3 million at the launch of their campaign, thanks to a $2.7 million grant from the State of Iowa, and their own contribution of $300,000 that was taken from cash reserves. Through a generous donation from the Burke family and other private donations, they have already raised $4.55 million, two-thirds of their goal, as of October 2023. The public campaign began this fall and was led by Johnston, Santi, and Board President Tyler Farner. They anticipate breaking ground on the expansion project in Spring 2024. To learn how to donate to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Story County expansion project, visit their website at https://www.bgcstory.org
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Todd & Sargent has specialized in design, engineering, and construction since 1933, and their name is synonymous as one of the early pioneers in the grain elevator construction business in Iowa. Since its founding, the company has become a recognized design, engineering, and construction leader in the food and ag space. Headquartered in Ames, Todd & Sargent constructs projects across the United States and Canada. In 1933, George Todd moved his family from Eagle Grove to Ames and started his wood cribbed grain elevator construction business. At that time, most of his jobs were within 100 miles of Ames. In the 1950’s, Todd was looking for a successor for his business and found a viable suitor in Warren Sargent. After working for several years in the steel industry in Pennsylvania, Sargent moved back home to Iowa to partner with Todd, and in 1958, the company was renamed the Todd & Sargent Construction Company. Todd eventually sold his interest in the company to Sargent in 1962 but continued to work for the company until his retirement in 1969. While the Todd family's involvement ended decades ago, the company has always kept that name out of deference to the legacy that George Todd began in 1933." Until the 1950’s, most elevators were wood cribbed and topped with galvanized sheet metal. In 1961, Sargent began experimenting with new designs, such as welded bins with a smooth interior surface that became the hallmark design for feed mills until concrete construction became the economical way to build larger facilities. The agricultural boom of the 1970’s and early 80’s saw an increase in demand for concrete elevators; facilities went from storing hundreds of thousands of bushels in 1971 to millions of bushels by 1980. The turn of the century and beyond brought expansion and a variety of diversified projects for Todd & Sargent. The company completed its first flour mill in 1996 and its first oilseed processing facility in 2003. A new malt house was constructed in Minnesota in 2016. While the design and construction of feed mills and grain elevators have long been steady staples for Todd & Sargent, a constant eye on developing additional markets has further driven the company’s success. Todd & Sargent continued to expand their presence as the industry evolved. Todd & Sargent Canada was created to build shipping terminals in response to an expanding grain industry. In 2001, they began work in the ethanol and biodiesel industry and formed a strategic partnership with West Central Cooperative, forming Renewable Energy Group, specializing in the design, engineering, construction, and start-up of new biodiesel facilities across the United States. Today, more than 300 employees throughout North America help clients efficiently and effectively store, process, and distribute materials with a wide portfolio of projects. For nine decades under family leadership, the company has built a proud heritage of successful projects and strong partnerships that have led to its current industry leadership position. The concept of an escape room is simple: challengers are locked in a room and need to discover clues, solve puzzles, and accomplish tasks in a set amount of time in order to escape from the room. No Escape Iowa offers three levels for challengers: easy, moderate, and hard. Jon Wilson, Manager of No Escape Iowa, not only runs the Ames location but is a connoisseur of the craft, having completed nearly 150 escape rooms from across the country. “When I visit another city, it’s nearly always one of the things that I do when I’m there.” No Escape Iowa currently has four rooms, each original to Ames. The business has been located in Downtown Ames for nearly 5 years and has two more rooms under construction. The rooms are family-friendly, said Wilson. “We see a lot of families come through and book the rooms for birthday parties or other celebrations.” If you have what it takes, think again. The success rate of escaping the room in the allotted hour is just under 50%. The most difficult room, “Game On,” has a record of 46 minutes, 26 seconds. Book your adventure to No Escape Iowa online. No Escape Iowa is located at 328 Main Street. www.NoEscapeIowa.com Woodworking techniques combined with the latest trends and custom graphics is what created the DIY Board & Brush Creative Studio concept. Now with a location in Ames, Board & Brush wants to turn you into a DIY master by educating you to understand and appreciate the beauty of raw materials—the wood, the knots, the color variations, and the simple imperfections that will make your project unique. If you’re not handy with a hammer, sand paper, or power tools, don’t worry. No experience is necessary to learn how to distress wood. Owner Amy Weber and her team will teach you all the skills required to make a personalized wood sign that you’ll be proud to hang in your house. The DIY wood sign workshops started as a “Girl’s Night Out” with wine and crafts concept that quickly evolved into a business idea. Make it girl’s night or family-fun night this winter at Board & Brush. Board & Brush is located at 3326 Lincoln Way Suite 102. www.BoardAndBrush.com/Ames Have you ever wanted to learn how to make French macarons, Vietnamese egg rolls, artisanal sourdough, or a delicious apple tart? Consider taking a class at The Recipe, a new culinary venue in Downtown Ames. The venue is owned and operated by Patrick and Mindy Bergstrom, proprietors of other Downtown Ames businesses such as Nook & Nest, Z.W. Mercantile, and Cooks’ Emporium, where they previously taught classes. Teaching cooking classes at Cooks’ dates back to 1981 with the original owner. In 2018, when the Bergstom’s took over, they continued the tradition and remodeled the business to accommodate. “One of the first things we did was figure out how to make the demo kitchen a little bigger,” said Patrick, noting that they immediately got requests for hands-on classes. By 2021, the classes had been regularly selling out and they explored the idea of a dedicated space. That idea turned into The Recipe that opened this fall. Their most popular classes include Pasta 101 and 201, knife skills, and food prep, but their course offerings are wide-ranging. They sprinkle in sushi classes, those on Mediterranean cuisine, shrimp curry, or a course specifically on kids snacks and dips. Both Mindy and Patrick come from entrepreneurial families, but their career background is in the corporate world. Mindy started working for a web design and advertising company when she was 19, and Patrick most recently worked as a technology executive. For Patrick, his love of cooking dates to childhood. When the opportunity to buy Cooks’ was available to them in 2017, they jumped at the chance and each year added another business to the mix. Patrick hosts the majority of classes at The Recipe but brings in other chefs for some of the specialty classes. “The response has been great so far,” said Patrick. “People get excited to learn new skills, and they want to eat healthier and more inexpensively. We’ve heard from several people that coming to one or two classes has changed the way they eat at home.” With the new space, The Recipe is able to entertain more private events and they are renting their space for retirement and graduation parties, or to cooks who need access to a fully licensed, commercial kitchen. More information and a full list of classes can be found at: www.TheRecipeAmes.com The Recipe is located at 412 Burnett in Downtown Ames After twelve years of considering proposals for a new hotel or the extensive remodeling of one of the old existing hotels, a group of Ames business leaders organized the Ames Improvement Company to carry out the community's desire to have a hotel that would meet not only immediate needs but the future needs of a growing city. The result was the Sheldon Munn, considered one of the finest hotels between Chicago and Denver. Built in 1915, the hotel featured three floors of guest rooms, a large ballroom, meeting rooms, barber shop, coffee shop, dining room, and beautiful lobby. Parley Sheldon, a banker and perennial mayor of Ames at the time, partnered with lumberyard owners H. L. and A. H. Munn, to construct the hotel. The new Sheldon-Munn hotel cost $150,000 and represented the “final word know to modern hotel building and equipping,” as writing in the June 6, 1916 edition of the Ames Tribune. The building included seventy-two guest rooms, a banquet hall, dining room, grill room, and the “most beautiful lobby of any hotel in the middle west” in order to entertain the guests in “ease and comfort.” It also touted “A telephone, hot and cold water, and two lights,” are to be found in every room. The fourth story featured a ballroom and a large dining room stretching the entire length of the first floor. The hotel immediately became a social center for both the town and the college and was an instant success, prompting an expansion to the west in 1926. The $85,000 addition, a close match to the original structure, was completed in February of 1927. Hotel occupancy doubled and there was room for more commercial space on the ground floor. Today, the Sheldon-Munn building has been renovated into apartments, offices, and businesses such as Noir bar, Life Distilled and Nook & Nest. It continues to be a vital part of downtown Ames and is owned and operated by OEI, Inc. Golf simulators, axe throwing, baseball simulators, duckpin bowling, darts, pool tables, shuffle board, cornhole, foosball, Golden tee arcade, and ping-pong, not to mention a full-service bar and kitchen… the newly rebranded Inside Golf & Games has all the ingredients for a great time! “We view ourselves as being a staple in family entertainment for the community,” said Mike Schmid, co-owner of Inside Golf & Games. Along with co-owner Payton Roberts, Inside Golf has expanded their offerings to create an establishment unlike anything else in Ames and Central Iowa. They credit their ability to expand to the community that has continued to support their business. “The people that live in Ames are amazing people and without their support, through good times and bad, we wouldn’t be here today.” Inside Golf opened in 2018 at North Grand Mall in Ames and instantly provided a premium golf experience with the comfort of indoor simulators. “We entered this market during a time when only the most invested and advanced golfers were participating,” said Schmid, acknowledging that it was a niche market. “The first few years, we built our customer base around golfers and their families. With every new investment and update, we expanded our market to include a range of new customers.” The addition of axe throwing in the summer of 2021 was a formative moment for the business. “Although we did not know exactly how that would impact our business, we quickly realized how it attracted a new demographic and changed the overall trajectory of Inside Golf,” said Schmid. Each week, more people were experiencing a new attraction to Ames. “The excitement around this entertaining sport quickly spread and soon enough, local businesses were contacting us to host their team building events and holiday parties,” said Schmid. “That is when we knew we had a valuable offering for the community of Ames and wanted to invest further.” As Inside Golf and Axe Throwing became an outlet for more than just golfers, Schmid and his team continued to brainstorm how they could expand the business to truly make it a place for everyone. They added more space for dart boards and additional pool tables. They booked more corporate events and expanded their axe throwing lanes to fit larger groups. “The additional lanes were filled every weekend,” said Schmid. “After quickly growing our customer base and filling up every weekend we knew we had to do more!” A partnership with Time to Roll, a local start-up restaurant located within North Grand Mall, formed to create additional food options. After one full season of this partnership across the mall, Inside Golf acquire Time to Roll, and in the process added a new partner to the company, Payton Roberts. This acquisition of a full-service restaurant inspired the newest expansion of Inside Golf and the addition of more premium activities that includes Baseball Simulators and Duckpin Bowling. They were fortunate to be able to acquire additional space in North Grand Mall, across from their original location. As this expansion was taking place and they were quickly becoming a premium family entertainment center, the idea of rebranding surfaced as a way to showcase all they had to offer. “In honor of our original customer base, we wanted to stick with Inside Golf but felt we needed to expand our brand to include everything else,” said Schmid. “We landed on Inside Golf & Games to communicate that we are more than just golf; we offer something to Play, something to Eat, and something to Drink for everyone!” Thanks to a great partnership with North Grand Mall, they are working to connect their two separate businesses with a patio / common space concept, making it a perfect space to congregate. After hours, their wing of the mall is home to mini games, including cornhole, ping-pong, with more to come. With an exterior entrance and one of the few active locations open later at night, they are a perfect night out with their range of activities. “Ames needs more family entertainment and things-to-do, and we have been so fortunate to be able to offer just that to the people of Ames.” Inside Golf & Games is located at North Grand Mall If you’re looking for a unique night out in Ames, Time Out may be the place for you. A family-owned bar and arcade, Time Out is full of pop culture nostalgia from the 1980’s and 1990’s. Owned and operated by Chris Harding and her sons, Lance Harding and Logan Ristau, Time Out has been located just off Main Street since 2017. The idea for Time Out began when Harding was looking for a way out of her corporate job in Des Moines. After doing some preliminary research, she pitched an arcade bar to her family, and they ran with it. “I was at a point in my career where work just wasn’t fun anymore,” recalls Chris, reflecting on the origins of the establishment. “I remember pitching the idea to my sons and they immediately ran with the idea.” At the time, Chris cashed in her retirement to fund the project and the brothers instantly started rattling off arcade games that they wanted to see included. “Lance and Logan immediately let their imaginations run wild, thinking back to all the arcades they frequented growing up,” said Chris. “The ideas started immediately,” said Logan. They sketched the design of the logo on a napkin and began work on the layout. They chose the name because they wanted to design it as a place to take a “Time Out” from the daily stresses. Before they knew it, they had a building full of arcade games. “It’s the little things that provide the atmosphere for Time Out,” said Lance, acknowledging the curated nostalgia that they put into the design. He pointed to a Gremlin that sits atop a television on the wall, or Slimmer from the Ghostbusters movie franchise. “Certainly nostalgia is a big part of our place,” said Lance. “Most of the things you see in here date past 20 years, but that is what creates the immersive experience.” Moving around Time Out, you may also recognize a life-sized TARDIS in the corner from the Doctor Who series, a Back to the Future poster, and an extensive music video playlist from the MTV era of music videos playing on the televisions throughout the bar. From the Beastie Boys to Janet Jackson and Whitney Houston, the music atmosphere takes your mind away from your daily life. Even their power-button like, teal and black, futuristic logo, pays homage to another 1980’s science fiction film: TRON. Over the past several years, Time Out has grown a following of dedicated patrons that frequent the establishment. Thursday is known for BINGO night, and each evening on the weekend, Time Out is home to karaoke. They have won various Des Moines People’s Choice Awards, most recently been voted the Best for Trivia Night, Karaoke, Children’s Birthday Party Venue, Date Night Spot, Beer Selection, and Ames Bar. All of this is the result of a family working together and leaning into each other’s strengths. Lance has an eye for details in game placement and decor that gives Time Out its unique atmosphere. He manages the games to make sure that each one is working properly. This isn’t always easy with some games dating back 30-40 years. Logan is credited with designing the entire bar and building it from the ground up. He was key in their construction projects, from the stage to the karaoke booth. If Chris and Lance dream it up, Logan builds it. His artistic ability can be seen throughout the facility from the circuits on the front of the bar to the paintings on the wall. Chris is happy to do most of her work behind the scenes to ensure that each customer has a pleasant experience. Time Out is both family-friendly and a late night hang out, depending on the time of day. “We encourage families to stop by in the afternoons,” said Chris. The list of throwback games continues to expand, but includes Galaga, Ms. Pac Man, Frogger, Super Mario Bros, and Marvel vs. CAPCOM, among others. If those games are not your style, they also have skee-ball and a wide range of pinball games, all of which still take quarters. Time Out is located at 120 Kellogg Avenue in Ames. Iowa State University (ISU) was recently named the #1 Entrepreneurial University of the Year for the Americas by the Accreditation Council for Entrepreneurial and Engaged Universities. This latest recognition of Iowa State’s entrepreneurship program is the third national or international award in as many years and is the result of a university-wide approach to supporting innovation. One of the leaders responsible for this success is David P. Spalding, Raisbeck Endowed Dean of the Debbie and Jerry Ivy College of Business at Iowa State University, and Interim Vice President for Economic Development and Industry Relations (EDIR). Now in his eleventh year at Iowa State, Spalding has been a foundational leader who has overseen the entrepreneurial growth at Iowa State and is at the center of innovation. Under his leadership, the total enrollment at the Ivy College of Business has grown 33% in the ten years from 2012-2022. Spalding acknowledges that the growth is not an accident, but the result of great faculty who care about what they are doing in the classroom. “Iowa State is internationally known for research, but it is also essential that we be on the cutting edge of what is happening in the field,” said Spalding. “Over the past 10 years, we have launched new programs after listening to the needs of our students and industry.” In an ever-changing business landscape, Spalding and his team recognize the importance of staying current. “We talk with a lot of businesses across the state to identify where their needs are, and we build our programs in response to that.” Spalding grew up in Kentucky and spent much of his career on Wall Street in New York City. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history cum laude in 1976 from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and a Master of Business Administration degree in finance from New York University in 1984. He began his career in New York with The Chase Manhattan Bank. His rounds in the banking industry included being vice president with The First National Bank of Chicago and senior vice president with GE Capital Corporate Finance Group Inc. In addition, he was a managing director at Lehman Brothers in New York, and more recently vice chairman of The Cypress Group LLC, a firm that he co-founded and co-managed. After 29 years in banking and private equity investing, Spalding wanted to do something with a higher mission than Wall Street. “I always believed in the transformative nature of higher education, and I wanted to give back to youth in particular.” He returned to Dartmouth and spent the next eight years in higher education, most recently serving as senior vice president and senior advisor to Dartmouth’s president. Through a national search, Spalding landed in Ames, which was also geographically appealing to his family. “I was drawn into the land grant mission of Iowa State University,” said Spalding. Comparing Dartmouth to Iowa State is not easy. Dartmouth is one of the smallest Ivy League schools, with a total enrollment around 6,000 students. But Spalding saw Iowa State was well-positioned to impact a vast number of students across the state, region, and country. “As a land grant university, I appreciate the practical admissions process that allows for broad student access, how the university is engaged in the economic activity of the state, and of course, the research component that has a global reach.” During his time as dean, the college has added six undergraduate majors including entrepreneurship, business analytics, human resources management, health care management, actuarial science, and a bachelor of business administration (BBA), which is an online program for those who started college and want to complete their degree. In addition, five new master’s programs were launched including finance, business analytics, entrepreneurship, healthcare analytics and operations, and real estate development, along with an Executive MBA focused on agriculture, food and biosystems. This year, the college is launching a fully online part-time MBA program and next year, a masters of Accounting Analytics. The office of Economic Development and Industry Relations (EDIR) that Spalding oversees, assists external stakeholders in accessing the unique capabilities and services of Iowa State University. EDIR is a single point of contact to streamline the process of making connections between industry and the university. This office includes Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS), the Iowa Small Business Development Center Iowa (SBDC), Iowa State University Research Park (ISURP), the Office of Innovation Commercialization (OIC), and the ISU Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship. Last fall, the Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship received the 2022 Nasdaq Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence Award, the highest honor presented by the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers, a group of more than 200 leading university entrepreneurship programs around the world. In 2021, Iowa State received the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Model Program Award, the highest of the organization’s four annual Excellence in Entrepreneurship Education awards. The most recent entrepreneurial ranking assessed the prioritization of entrepreneurial initiatives across the university and solidified ISU’s global reputation for innovation and excellence. “This award recognizes our approach to incorporate entrepreneurial initiatives throughout the university and foster an innovative mindset in our students, faculty and staff,” said Iowa State University President Wendy Wintersteen. Innovation and entrepreneurship are ingrained in the culture at Iowa State University, so much, in fact, that it is part of the brand of ISU. “Iowa State has become a recognized national leader in innovation and entrepreneurship with world-class educational programs, activities, and facilities,” said President Wintersteen. “Our numerous awards for entrepreneurial education demonstrate that Innovate at Iowa State is helping our students express their amazing creativity to make the world a better place.” It was this culture that not only appealed to Spalding, but one that he has leaned into and reinforced as dean and vice president. “There is a tradition of collaboration among the colleges and deans at Iowa State. In my experience, this collaboration is like nothing I have ever experienced before.” The culture built the Innovate at Iowa State brand, and the brand is spreading a new energy across campus that is impacting all seven colleges. Iowa State University’s undergraduate entrepreneurship program is ranked #11 in the nation by The Princeton Review. Iowa State was the first public university in Iowa to offer an undergraduate major in entrepreneurship and only the eighth in the United States to offer a Ph.D. specialization in entrepreneurship. Programs like CYstarters, CyBIZ Lab, and ISU Startup Factory exemplify Iowa State’s culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. For Spalding, it comes down to providing opportunities to students that will prepare them for the future and creating a positive economic impact on the state. He points to countless examples where the areas he oversees have a local, regional, national, and international impact and each is led by exceptional leaders. The Iowa State University Research Park (ISURP), led by the President and Director Rick Sanders, has doubled in the past ten years. With tenants like Vermeer, Kent Corporation, Sukup Manufacturing, Workiva, and John Deere, the ISURP is a hub of global technology and innovation. The Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS), led by Director Mike O’Donnell, has helped more than 4,400 businesses and manufacturers in the past five years. The program reaches every county in Iowa and created an economic impact of more than $3 billion. The ISU Research Foundation (ISURF) and Office of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer (OIPTT), led by Director Patrick Klepcyk, facilitates the inventive and creative works of Iowa State University’s employees and students, and transfers that work for the benefit of society. Collectively, they work on about 100 patent applications and 1,400 supporting agreements in a year. The Small Business Development Center Iowa (SBDC), led by Director Lisa Shimkat, offers no-cost business counseling to small-business owners and entrepreneurs. During the past fiscal year, SBDC counseled 4,217 clients and those companies self-reported more than $156 million in sales increases, 213 new business starts, and 1,961 new jobs created. The Pappjohn Center for Entrepreneurship (JPEC) has seen unprecedented success and been validated with top national and international awards. As an example, at the end of last year, 88 total startups have graduated from the ISU Startup Factory and more than $47 million has been raised in external financing since the program’s inception in 2016. Led by Director Judi Eyles, the Pappajohn Center is perhaps the definition of Innovation at Iowa State University. In an op-ed, Dean Spalding said, “the return on the investment that the university delivers from federal and state sources is significant and the ripple effect reaches well beyond campus to benefit every corner of Iowa.” On any given weekend, people will arrive at The Slater Station in Slater, Iowa, by car, bicycle, or the preferred method of a golf cart, to enjoy the outdoor atmosphere, conversation amongst friends, and a cold one. This summer, the bar celebrated its one-year anniversary of selling drinks in a can and being a family-friendly place to unwind from the week. Building a bar was not the original intention of the two couples from Huxley, Ardie and Cindy Drummond and Roger and Carol Ossian, who own the establishment. “Originally, we were going to turn this space into a garage to hold a couple classic cars,” said Ardie, looking around the space that is now a bar. “We thought it would be fun to have a car club and maybe sell a few drinks. That was the original reason why we got our liquor license, but it quickly shifted once we started building it out.” The Drummonds and Ossians are long-time friends, having first met each other when their daughters were playing sports together. The friendship evolved over the years to include woodworking that launched their first business venture together. Roger and Ardie create custom cabinets on the side through their 501 Woodshop label, which was the original reason why they purchased the building on Main Street. As some point when Ardie and Roger were building out the garage, the idea shifted to creating a bar. Cindy and Ardie agreed to take on the day-to-day operations of the bar and spent time learning the point-of-sale system and ordering. “The scary part of starting all of this is wondering if anyone would buy beer from us,” said Cindy, reflecting on the opening weekend. On June 30, 2022, with no announcement and little fanfare, the Drummonds put a small sign out front that indicated they were open. A golf cart passing by saw the sign, stopped, and asked “are you open?” By the end of the night, there were about 30 people who stopped in. “That was enough,” said Cindy. Their first test was the upcoming Fourth of July holiday weekend. “We didn’t know if we purchased enough beer,” said Ardie, who then phoned in a favor from the former owner of the Nite Hawk Bar & Grille. They quickly learned they did not and pivoted to ordering more. When visiting The Slater Station today, pay attention to the custom made tables by Ardie and Roger that are sourced from repurposed materials. The bar is made from beams from an old car dealership in Des Moines. The outdoor tables are old electrical spools, and the tin siding on the walls are from an old barn. This past summer, they installed the roof covering for the outdoor seating and expanded the deck. The owners have plans to continue to expand. They recently purchased the lot adjacent to The Slater Station that they will use for a family-friendly green space, and Ardie has aspirations of finally building the garage on the property, with a “car club” to follow. The Slater Station is located at 501 Main Street, Slater, Iowa 50244. |