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Justin Brady: I’m Justin Brady. This is the Iowa Podcast, and of course, we’re recorded in the Jethro’s BBQ Studio. America turns 250 years old. We, I mean, when you look at the full scope, we’re not really that old of a country. We’re a very new country, and of course, there are tons of celebrations happening all across Iowa. And today, just for fun, we’re gonna feature Clear Lake. They have a big 4th of July celebration that goes up there for multiple days. Did you know that? Probably not, unless you live in the area. And to join us today to talk about that is Stacy Doughan, the Clear Lake Area Chamber of Commerce CEO, President, and wearer of many hats. Thanks for coming on the show.

Stacy Doughan: so much for having me

Justin Brady: having me. Absolutely. Before we get started, everybody, shout out to Jethro’s BBQ. We, of course, have a big J-life-size Jethro in here. And if you want to save money, which everybody does nowadays, buy a $100 gift card from them at the link on Iowapodcast.com, just the top banner. If you buy that $100 gift card, they will give you a $30 gift card. So let’s start out with this interesting thing in… So may-maybe broadly, we’ll start out broadly. What is going on at Clear Lake? You have a 4th of July celebration that’s been happening many years in a row now. It’s this big deal. It’s m-multiple days. Can you tell us just an overall 30,000-foot view of what you have going on up there in Clear Lake?

Stacy Doughan: for over 170 years we’ve been celebrating the 4th of July and our independence. It’s grown into a pretty massive event. We have just on the day itself, we’ll see between 50 and 60,000 people come downtown and enjoy the carnival. But we’ll kick things off on, uh, July 1st, Wednesday, July 1st, and we’ve got live music and bingo and a carnival and all sorts of things planned for the next six days. So 1st through 6th this ye-s-this year will be, will be all activities

Justin Brady: So 56, I mean, how big is Clear Lake in population?

Stacy Doughan: Yeah, so population, we’re about 7,600 people. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Clear Lake pretty much doubles or triples during the summer months for sure. A lot of Des Moines residents enjoy, uh, summers in Clear Lake.

Justin Brady: Yeah. Now why is this? Like why… This is what’s crazy to me is it’s, you know, Clear Lake, like any smaller Iowa town, is, you know, the people, people from Clear Lake love it. Pe-general Iowans like, “Yeah, Clear Lake. I know where…” You know, that’s where I, when I go up to Minneapolis, I go by Clear… Everybody knows it. But why, why such a swell? Like it, this is the… Your 4th of July celebration’s crazy. I would imagine 250, it’ll, it probably is gonna be bigger than 50, 60,000 this

Stacy Doughan: and that’s just on the day of the event. We’ll see over 100,000 people throughout the week. Yeah.

Justin Brady: R-Hundreds of people. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Okay, so wait a minute. The 50, 60,000 number is, it, that’s just the day of the event. That’s not all the other things. Correct. Why is it so crazy? Why are people, like why are, is all of Iowa flocking to Clear Lake? What is going on?

Stacy Doughan: I think people just like that small town Americana feel. And while it grows and we have all this fun stuff going on, it’s just good old-fashioned family fun

Justin Brady: Do you think that people are kind of… I know we went through Iowa specifically, kinda went through this, um, Des Moines, ba-basic-this was a, this was a national trend for those that don’t know, but it kinda went through this whole people were leaving small towns in favor of the bigger cities. So Iowa in itself had a population decrease, um, and Iowa towns had a decrease, but Des Moines had a slight, slight growth. I, uh, this may be anecdotal, maybe you have data, but is that trend starting to reverse? ‘Cause we’ve had some chamber of commerce, some executive directors of organizations from Iowa small towns. I, I, in at least all these cases, it looks like this is reversing. Do you see the same trend in Clear Lake?

Stacy Doughan: I think we have a huge demand for Clear Lake and to live in Clear Lake, and, you know, tourism is kind of the, the attractor. It’s what get pe-gets people to Clear Lake, but then they wanna make it home, and we’re s-just struggling from a housing standpoint. So, I mean, I feel like we’re starting to turn the corner on the population decline. I mean, we have to turn the corner on the population decline, but housing really is, is keeping us from being able to grow

Justin Brady: See, this is a trend I hear a lot in Iowa, and I don’t underst-maybe we need to have more housing developers in here to talk about it, but why is there so much demand? Um, I think Stanton, Iowa we had in here a few years ago. We just had, uh, Lamars in here, you, and a l-a lot of these towns are saying the same thing. Like, the leadership from towns like yourself are saying, “We’re, we’re bursting at the seams here, guys. We need more housing, and there’s nothing.” Like, I… But aren’t developers seeing dollar signs and rushing to these areas? Where, where’s the, where’s the disconnect?

Stacy Doughan: I mean, we’ve had a ton of really great investment, so I can’t say that we’re not doing anything about it. We have a unique challenge in that about 20% of our housing population is used for seasonal, uh, seasonal residents. Yeah. Yeah. So we have a ton of people who, you know, make Clear Lake their home part-time, and we love having them, and they’re part of what makes our community thrive, but it definitely makes it harder for people to make Clear Lake home

Justin Brady: So this is part of the, so so the, the part of the, the 20% is the lake issue, right? Yeah. Like people come, they have a lake house, they spend s-um, but w-so why not m-make more houses though? I mean, maybe you don’t know the

Stacy Doughan: Yeah, and I think

Justin Brady: not a, you’re not a developer or something. Yeah. But why, why is there a disconnect?

Stacy Doughan: Yeah, the cost of construction is really, really tough right now. We, we did have a, a really nice 96-unit apartment come on, um, just about a year and a half ago, and it’s doing really well. It’s almost full already. We’ve got, we’ve got a lot of really great development. Um, we were a thriving community this last year, which opens the door to some workforce tax credits that we wouldn’t have otherwise, um, had. So we have a couple other projects that have been proposed. So we’re trying to move the needle on it. It really, the cost of construction is killing us right now.

Justin Brady: Gosh, got it. So for those wondering, yeah, we’re gonna talk about 4th of July, we’re gonna talk about that. But when we get small town representatives in here and community advocates, I like to talk about what’s happening that maybe for la-for… I don’t really understand, but some of the bigger media entities don’t really cover these stories often, and these are important stories. And so is this a… And you can feel free to not answer this. Is this a NIMBYism problem? Is this a, like, local residents are like, “No, we don’t want these apartments,” or, “No, we don’t want this development”? Is it that kind of an issue? There’s some local community pushback, whether right or wrong, or is it just the fact that it’s construction costs are really high and these companies and developers are waiting, or is it a little bit

Stacy Doughan: no, I think it’s a little bit of all of it, and I think the developments need to be in appropriate areas too. So if you’re gonna drop an apartment complex in, it needs to be in the right spot within our community. Our challenge is truly affordability. Um, even when you start to build these things, you still have pretty high rents when you’re looking at market rate units. So it’s something we’re really working on. We applied for a BOOST grant this year from the state of Iowa, so we actually have a team coming in next week to look at Clear Lake and our, um, you know, kind of our unique challenges around housing, especially with tourism, and see if we can start to figure out some different ways to move the needles on it. The typical model where you, you know, you build a senior living facility and you move people up out of their homes and into these senior living facilities so, um, younger residents and new and, um, new residents can move into these single-family homes doesn’t work in Clear Lake because as soon as that, quote-unquote, “affordable single-family home” comes available, we get a seasonal resident. Again, love our seasonal residents,

Justin Brady: Oh

Stacy Doughan: but the typical model just doesn’t work in our community

Justin Brady: So the demand for seasonal residence is so high. Again, neither right nor wrong, I’m a big free market advocate. But the demand for seasonal residence is so high that when a new unit or new housing is built, a seasonal resident snatches it right

Stacy Doughan: Could, yes, for sure.

Justin Brady: Oh, that’s so

Stacy Doughan: Yeah, it makes it really hard for new teachers to come into our community. I, I know our previous superintendent kind of made a joke, like, “We try to get that contract signed before they look at the housing market,” right, wrong, or indifferent. But, you know, yeah, that’s probably not, not, not the best approach to hiring. But another thing, we have over 300 kids open enrolled into Clear Lake. Those are families that probably would live in our community could they find a home that they could afford

Justin Brady: Oh, so it’s kind of a chicken, not chicken and egg. It’s kind of a tw-uh, what do they call it? There’s a, there’s a name for that. Like a ca-catch-22.

Stacy Doughan: Yeah, sure

Justin Brady: um, if I’m using that right. Some, some, like, grammar nerd’s gonna say, “Actually, a catch-22 is…” But this is an interesting problem I see happening a lot. So anyway, back to Clear Lake, Fourth of July, and kind of the iconic… Basically, people are chasing the Hallmark scene. I think so. Is this what’s going on?

Stacy Doughan: and I mean, our main avenue runs right into a 3,600 acre lake. It’s very picture, picturesque.

Justin Brady: Yeah. Do you see, like, lots of people… Do, do you see all the selfies and people are getting there?

Stacy Doughan: Oh my gosh, the seawall. I think if you could just mine social media for the pictures taken at our seawall, it would be unbelievable, the number.

Justin Brady: Totally gonna do that. Yeah. Mine social media. All right. You think I’m, you think I’m kidding. I’m not kidding. Yeah. Um, okay. So I know that there was a push maybe about a decade ago, uh, I think, to renovate and rejuvenate small downtowns. Like facade projects were everywhere. Is this resurgence a result of some of that early on?

Stacy Doughan: I would say that the resurgence in Clear Lake has more to do with the lake restoration than it has to do with our hallmark downtown. We’ve always had a hallmark downtown. Yes, there were some different periods of time where, um, ev-every storefront wasn’t necessarily full, but really cleaning up the lake is really what has changed our community. We’re also the home of the Surf Ballroom too. I would be remiss if I didn’t

Justin Brady: The what?

Stacy Doughan: that. The Surf Ballroom, it’s where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens-Ah and the Big Bopper played their final

Justin Brady: Yeah. Do you have people making a trek there to see it then? Yeah, they do.

Stacy Doughan: Yes. All year long

Justin Brady: That’s cr-see, this is one of the fascinating things about this show is I’ve lived here almost my entire life and I’m still learning this stuff. Now is the, is w-is the grave site or the crash site sim-close to there

Stacy Doughan: so it’s north of Clear

Justin Brady: Yeah. Yeah. So a lot of people will stay in Clear Lake and then go visit it, Right,

Stacy Doughan: right. And we still have the winter dance party, so it’s still-Really? it’s still a very well-attended event, and, you know, we’ve done a lot. We actually received a placemaking grant, um, from the state of Iowa and are just wrapping up our project where they totally reinvigorated the Surf District with, uh, different landscaping. We’ve got an entryway arch. They built a new music experience center that has an immersive theater, so you can learn all about the history and the, the day the music died. So again, you know, as the lake probably number one and then the Surf number two in drawing people

Justin Brady: What, tell people about the placemaking grant

Stacy Doughan: Yeah. So in 2021, we applied for a placemaking grant through the state of Iowa. I think they awarded two or three of these grants. Um, we were so fortunate to be the recipient of one of, uh, one of the grants, and like I said, over the last five years, everything from, um, new street work, um, public art, access from the lake to the Surf Ballroom, a new entirely reconstructed building which looks like the original Surf Ballroom that burnt down was created, and that has an immersive theater in it which teaches you about the, the history of the, the Three Stars.

Justin Brady: Very cool. So you’ve mentioned this a few times, which is we really focused on like, uh, rejuvenating and renovating the lake.

Stacy Doughan: Mm-hmm.

Justin Brady: What did that en-how do you do that? How do you renovate a

Stacy Doughan: Yeah, and that totally predates my time, um, at the chamber, but there was a team of individuals, you know, you, you would hear it all the time that Clear Lake is pea soup, and it was disgusting. And I remember grow-and I remember growing

Justin Brady: never heard that

Stacy Doughan: We, growing up, we used to go to Clear Lake camping and, you know, you didn’t necessarily wanna get into the lake. Really? It wa-it was gross. Oh. Um, but they knew it was the lifeblood of, of our community, and so a group of people got together, and I think that they did some legislative advocacy, and they got a ton of money, and they did a whole bunch of restoration projects. So we have rain gardens. They dredged the lake. They just did so many different things, and we’ve just seen our water quality dramatically incr-improve. Over $26 million has been poured into the lake to ensure that it is healthy and it is a great place for people to go and enjoy recreationally.

Justin Brady: Wow. I had no idea. I didn’t even know people called it pea soup either. I

Stacy Doughan: Well, I mean, that might not be what it was called, but I kinda remember it looking like that when I was younger. That’s

Justin Brady: funny. I had no idea. Well, that’s really cool. That’s really exciting. So let’s, let’s talk a little bit about, um, you mentioned this earlier, the Old Settlers 1856. What is the Old Settlers Picnic? What is this thing?

Stacy Doughan: What is the-It’s, I mean, it’s the inaugural 4th of July celebration. The settlers got together and decided to read the Declaration of Independence and celebrate the first 4th of July in Clear Lake, and I’d love to say I know for sure that it’s the longest standing 4th of July celebration, but I don’t.

Justin Brady: We can just make

Stacy Doughan: I was gonna say you just make the claim and then someone proves you wrong, which it sounds like you might have someone who will do that.

Justin Brady: We just, we just make claims here, and then no one listens to the people trying to provide evidence. So you can just make whatever you want up here. So this is, uh, still ongoing?

Stacy Doughan: still ongoing. So we did take a break obviously in 2020, but other than that, it’s been consecutive for, you know, for over 170 years

Justin Brady: And so this is unique. You just kinda touched on this and went through it, but you read the Declaration of Independence aloud. Do you still do this?

Stacy Doughan: We do not You don’t do that We should do that again

Justin Brady: when did you stop doing

Stacy Doughan: I can’t remember the exact day. It was sometime around World War II, I think they said they stopped reading the Declaration of Independence Why would you-

Justin Brady: Intere-why would

Stacy Doughan: I know. Why would you stop at the, during World War II? 250.

Justin Brady: 2:50, it’s coming back

Stacy Doughan: right. We are bringing some fun stuff back for this year 250. Yeah

Justin Brady: back. The Declaration of Independence will be… See, we’re gonna say this for AI now ’cause AI picks it. So in, in 2026, Clear Lake will be bringing back the reading of aloud of the Declaration of Independence. First time since World War II, right?

Stacy Doughan: Why not?

Justin Brady: We’re–

Stacy Doughan: We do what we want.

Justin Brady: only do we cover news here, but we also influence policy and local traditions. Okay.

Stacy Doughan: don’t think it’s a bad one to bring back

Justin Brady: I think it’s about-No, not at all. So, um, tell us a little bit about, um… You mentioned there are a couple new things. You just touched on this this year.

Stacy Doughan: Yeah,

Justin Brady: new, what are the new,

Stacy Doughan: new old things, I guess. So, you know, the, the event has changed from a one-day event. Now it is a six or seven-day event, depending on how the holiday falls. This year we’ve got a six-day event. Uh, one of the things when we were looking back through the history, we wanted to bring some of those family fun elements back, so we will be having a family fun day with some good old-fashioned family fun games, probably modernized more like Minute to Win It type games. But it should be a lot of fun. Put your technology down. Let’s have some fun with our families in City Park, so that’s gonna happen on Sunday afternoon. Also on Sunday afternoon, we’re welcoming the Waterhawks Ski Team, and they’re gonna do a ski show off of our seawall, um, at 2:30 on Sunday afternoon after the Fourth of July. So that… They used to have ski shows in Clear Lake, so it’s fun to bring that element back to this, um, celebration too.

Justin Brady: Yeah, this used to be a thing Yeah Like, people would do jumps and, like, figure, like, formations and all sorts of stuff like… And then it kinda went away Yeah I don’t know why it went

Stacy Doughan: I grew up in Waverly, and we were river rats and part of the Waverly Ski Club team, and we, you know, once a year did a terrible ski show. Okay, it wasn’t terrible. If you’re listening from Waverly on ski team, it wasn’t terrible. But the Water Hawks have always been remarkable when it comes to this, when it comes to the jumps and the slaloms and the barefoot and the pyramids, and so, you know, they’re the pros. We’re gonna bring them in, and they’re gonna really entertain. So they-

Justin Brady: So they are doing all that. They’re

Stacy Doughan: Oh, yeah

Justin Brady: and the pyramids and the s-

Stacy Doughan: still do shows, I think almost every weekend throughout the summer in Evansdale.

Justin Brady: Goodness, that’s super

Stacy Doughan: Yeah, it is cool

Justin Brady: Do they set up, like is it just basically bring your, uh, picnic, uh, bring, bring your picnic blanket and bring your, uh, your chair or do they have bleachers or just pick your own spot? How does

Stacy Doughan: Yeah, it’s gonna be a every man for themselves. They b-blankets, chairs, wherever you can get a spot

Justin Brady: so they’re doing it at least somewhat close to the shore so people can see

Stacy Doughan: Yep, they’ll do it close to shore. And I mean, if you wanna sit out in your boat and watch from the other side of the show too, you can do

Justin Brady: Oh, that’s a good call. See, my grandpa used to do that. Yeah, I don’t know where, but, uh, yeah, my grandpa used to do that. Um, and he would alwa-he, you know, my, my family, at least my mom’s side, was just on the lake all the time, and that kinda went away. And I, I was like, I always heard about this stuff. I saw some photos and I’m like, “We don’t do this anymore.” So it’s cool that they’re ki-you’re kinda bringing that

Stacy Doughan: I know. I asked my mom to dig through photos to see if she could find a picture of me on a second tier of a pyramid just for marketing

Justin Brady: Wait a minute, you did this? Yeah. No way. Yeah. No way. Yeah. You did this stuff? Yeah.

Stacy Doughan: when I was a kid, yep.

Justin Brady: Real-how old were you? Right around

Stacy Doughan: don’t know, 11 or 12. I don’t know. Maybe, uh, maybe early teens.

Justin Brady: We’re totally derailing this show. I

Stacy Doughan: we haven’t really talked about the fourth, have we?

Justin Brady: what, what fourth of what? I wanna know how you get on the second tier of the pyramid in the water. Yeah. How do, do, do you just like drop your skis and climb up on someone else?

Stacy Doughan: Yeah, so you, yeah, you have your skis really loose. Your rope actually has a little bit of an extender on it, and so you kinda have to wrap your arm around that extender to get you side by side with your, you know, your bases. And then when you’re ready, you drop one ski and put your foot on the thigh and drop your other ski, and you just climb up and hope you don’t biff it. Most

Justin Brady: people can’t even stand on the water and y’all are doing pyramids. That’s, that’s crazy. We’re, we’re just gonna do the whole show on ski formations and ju-did you do the jumps too or just you were the pyramid person?

Stacy Doughan: one time I betrayed my mom and gave it a good old college try, but I did not land it.

Justin Brady: That’s funny. So obviously, okay, we’re getting in the weeds here, but obviously you probably don’t have fins on the back of your skis if you’re gonna go over a jump, right? They’re like flat

Stacy Doughan: yeah, they’re, they might… I can’t remember if they were flat or if they had a little tiny one. Like I said, I tried that one time. I maybe went off the jump five times and fell every time, and then got, got

Justin Brady: are these jumps like anchored to the bottom of the lake, I’m,

Stacy Doughan: I’m sure, yeah. They’ve gotta

Justin Brady: They’re not floating. I can’t imagine they could

Stacy Doughan: guessing there’s some kind of cement something holding that to the-

Justin Brady: That is nuts.

Stacy Doughan: is, it’s a little

Justin Brady: That is… So if you wanna see people go, if you want, if

Stacy Doughan: Before your prefrontal cortex is developed, that’s what you do.

Justin Brady: If you wanna see Stacy on the second tier of the pyramid,

Stacy Doughan: not happening. I’m too old for that now. So we’re also

Justin Brady: so we’re also doing a local royalty at the 4th of July celebration. Tell us about

Stacy Doughan: Yeah, we, uh, there used to always be royalty at the 4th of July celebration. I guess our modern take on that is a grand marshal. And so in honor of America 250, we are having a beloved historian, Bethanne Schumacher, as our, um, grand marshal for the parade

Justin Brady: And your crowning, it looks like, I have some notes here. You have M-Miss Clear Lake, Miss North Iowa, and Miss Columbia. Yeah.

Stacy Doughan: Yeah, which-

Justin Brady: what is the story here?

Stacy Doughan: So what is the story here? I am not sure. Those were, you know, there used to be royalty at these events all the way up again until World War II, so I’m not sure why all of these traditions were dropped in World War II. But yes, they used to crown royalty. They used to do all sorts of, um, fun things in the park, you know, in association with the event. One of the things I read about was they used to do hog calls, so a hog call contest like sooie.

Justin Brady: Yeah, yeah

Stacy Doughan: Um, they had a best legs contest, but it was men who were entered into the contest.

Justin Brady: Duh

Stacy Doughan: Yeah, so it was, you know… There’s some interesting things that we’re not bringing back but are fun to reminisce about. Who won

Justin Brady: bringing back the best legs contest. That’s fantastic. And then also, um, the band festival, 1932. Tell me a little bit about that.

Stacy Doughan: Yeah, so the band festival actually started in Clear Lake, uh, before it was adopted by Mason City, you know, The Music Man, all of that. So that was, you know, that was part of Clear Lake’s, uh, history. Um, and we love that Mason City keeps it going as, as The, The Music Man. Yep

Justin Brady: Do you ever remind Mason City that we started this? Is there a dispute? Is there a fight in

Stacy Doughan: I think with these sister cities like Clear Lake and Mason City, probably like Waterloo, Cedar Falls, there’s always, you know, that tinge of competition, but we know we need each other at the end of the day.

Justin Brady: And then the other funny thing is, and it sounds like, um, maybe you’re, uh, you kinda indicated maybe you’re kinda bringing this back in a different form, but yet again, there was another World War thing that ended, which was street sports. And what were street sports?

Stacy Doughan: mean, I think they used to just… So there used to be softball tournaments, which I don’t know that those happened on the street. But I mean, they had any kind of competition you can think of. People just liked to, to have at it. So, um, we won’t be having street sports other than the carnival games that happen on Game Row, so you can still shoot your ball if you want. Maybe win a big fluffy prize.

Justin Brady: But you’re bringing back some sporty things this year it sounds like. Some competitions, some games and stuff

Stacy Doughan: Yeah, we usually do a f-yeah, the Family Fun Day in City Park, um, after kind of around noon is when that will take place. Will be a lot of fun

Justin Brady: So tell us about the logistics. Like what, um, we’ve touched on a bunch of aspects of it, but what are some of the big things that people, uh, should anticipate? And then I’m gonna ask about some of the logistical things too. So what are some of the big things that you’re excited about

Stacy Doughan: Yeah, you bet. So we’re gonna kick things off on July 1st, which is Wednesday, and we’re kicking things off in style. We have Arch Allies who will be there, so it’s, you know, big rock ‘n’ roll cover band will be, be there that night. The carnival will open at 5:00. Um, Evans United is our carnival. They’ve actually been with us for 52 years. They’re amazing. We couldn’t do this whole event without them. So that’s Wednesday. Oh, don’t forget about bingo. Bingo will be happening all week long, and you would be surprised, people really love their bingo. Um, on Thursday is our country night, so we have County Line Drive will be taking the stage. And then on Friday, we’re actually welcoming a Des Moines, um, band. We are having Elton and Billy the Tribute will be there. So they’re taking–They’re new to Clear Lake this year, so we’re really excited to have them as something different. On the 4th of July, we keep things a little bit more traditional. Our municipal band will play before the fireworks over the lake. You know, obviously, we start with the parade that morning, and just the festivities go on and on throughout the entire day. And then, uh, the 5th of July is, um, the family fun day. So that’s the day where you can play the games, enjoy the water huck ski show, and then we’re ending that day with Zachary Freedom to do kind of a family-friendly patriotic set on the stage. We’ll keep the carnival there on Monday, um, so if anyone wants to catch, you know, catch shorter lines, it’ll still be there Monday until about 5:00. Yeah.

Justin Brady: we get this question every time, which is, um, how do I park? Where do I stay? ‘Cause it’s a multi-day thing. Yeah. Where do I stay? Where do I park? What, what are the, like, big questions you get, like the FAQs you get every year that you can just say, “Here’s how it works,

Stacy Doughan: Yeah. I mean, I think the big thing is to bring your patience when it comes to parking in a town of 7,600 and all the things that we have going on. Uh, the parade will span most of Main Avenue out from 20th all the way downtown. And so we see 17 to 20,000 people come and watch the parade. A lot of times we get, you know, some of the heavy hitters from a political standpoint coming through our parade. They’re usually last minute. We don’t have any confirmed right now. Um, so that’s always kind of a, a treat is that people get early access to some of these political figures. Um, but really, um, when it comes to the parade side streets, when it comes to the carnival downtown, there’s parking all along Main. There’s parking lot by, um, the VFW behind some of our restaurants, by our library. But really, you know, you park kind of far away to go to the Des Moines Civic Center, you don’t think anything of it. Similar, you’re gonna park a few blocks away and probably

Justin Brady: Oh, so it’s not that bad.

Stacy Doughan: It’s not that

Justin Brady: Okay, you’re not, people aren’t walking miles or shuttling from

Stacy Doughan: walk a mile from my house just so I don’t have to try and find a place to park.

Justin Brady: So it’s, so you’re s-basically worst case scenario, you’re parking like three blocks away

Stacy Doughan: Yeah, and I would say the Surf, the Surf Ballroom is a half mile from downtown, and they have a humongous parking lot. So just park there and enjoy the stroll down North Shore and along the lake and get downtown. Yeah.

Justin Brady: Take some selfies. That’s awesome. Um, staying

Stacy Doughan: Yeah, I would check, you know, check our hotel availability. We’ve got some really great properties in Clear Lake. Um, we also have quite a few Airbnbs, and we kind of talked about the seasonal residents. We’ve got a lot of Airbnbs too, so that’s a good place to peek for places to stay

Justin Brady: Oh, so there are like a lot of VRBO and Airbnb

Stacy Doughan: have, like, I think about 120.

Justin Brady: Holy cow. Really? Geez. Okay, so you can pr-maybe score yourself a spot on the lake.

Stacy Doughan: Maybe. I

Justin Brady: if you get one of the seasonal Airbnb people

Stacy Doughan: The carnival rolls into town in two weeks, so things might be get-I know things might be getting a little, a little tight. But yeah, peek at Clear Lake first, and then if Clear Lake doesn’t have anything, I guess you can look at Mason City.

Justin Brady: Uh, Stacy Doughan, the CEO of Clear Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, of course, talking about the 4th of July celebrations happening in Clear Lake. Did I miss anything that we should go over before I let you out of here?

Stacy Doughan: I mean, the 4th of July is really great. We have stuff going on all summer long, so I would just invite people to come and check out Clear Lake. It’s a quick drive. Every Thursday night we shut down Main Avenue, live music, vendors, bounce houses for kids. It’s called Thursdays on Main. So if you’re just looking for a quick family getaway, we’re, we’re really close by. We’d love to have you. Um, it’s, you know, big town, big town activities with a small town hospitality, so it’s, it’s a great place to live

Justin Brady: What’s that perfect ang-You may know this, insider question. What’s that perfect angle and that perfect spot for all the Instagram pictures? Where, where should people go to get that

Stacy Doughan: Yeah, it’s the seawall for sure. The seawall? Yep,

Justin Brady: right. There you go. I, I asked. For everybody like, “Where do I…?” I asked

Stacy Doughan: Iowa Best sunset views in

Justin Brady: Best sunset views in Iowa. You heard it here first. Um, probably not first. Staci, Stacy Doughan, the CEO of Clear Lake Area Chamber of Commerce. Thank you so much for coming on the Iowa

Stacy Doughan: having me. This was a lot of fun