Cale Stelken

NORTH LIBERTY– Matt Zacek always had a passion for cooking, but for decades never realized it beyond a family pastime.
“I’ve always had this ability to take an empty pantry and make a meal out of it,” he remarked. That is until about five years ago while watching an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. The show featured a non-profit restaurant in California called Worth Our Weight, which serves as a culinary apprentice program for at-risk kids.
“It really struck a cord with both my wife and I as something we would really like to do,” Zacek recalled.

NORTH LIBERTY– Bigger musical talent, new activities and a strong attendance at an evolving park characterized North Liberty’s 12th annual Blues & BBQ Saturday, July 14. A muggy start tapered off into the evening as the festival played host to an estimated 17,000 people.
“We’re really proud of that number,” said Nick Bergus, Communications Director for the City of North Liberty and member of the 2018 Blues & BBQ committee.
The Pig & Pint Prelude sold out for its second year with 260 guests, up from the inaugural event. The event is expected to return next year as it continues to grow.

TIFFIN– This summer, Tiffin introduced perhaps one of its most scenic recreation spots, quietly unveiling the new Tiffin Timbers frisbee golf course.
The roughly 20-acre layout features nine holes taking players through heavily wooded grass paths, open prairie and partially along the city’s concrete, multi-use trail.
“It’s got a beautiful layout with the timber and the open fields and so forth,” remarked City of Tiffin Parks Director/Public Works Maintenance Worker Jonas Zimmer. “We were able to design it and kind of cut it through the timber, and use the timber to our advantage.”

NORTH LIBERTY– It’s been a slow burn, but over the course of 10 years, Journey Counseling Services (JCS) has made a solid niche for itself in North Liberty.
Located at 6 Hawkeye Dr. Ste. 105, the ministry offers Christian-based counseling with over 30 years of combined experience.
“As we’ve been doing this longer, I’ve found it to be kind of a unique spot that we’re in, because not a lot of other people do it,” said owner and counselor Holly Smigel.

OXFORD– It was a sunny and humid holiday in Oxford, with temperatures lingering around 90 degrees on the afternoon of Wednesday, July 4. But that didn’t stop its residents and members of surrounding communities from filling up the sidewalk along downtown Augusta Avenue for the town’s 2018 Independence Day parade.