Main Street Lansing Annual Banquet set for March 21

Local business can win $2,000 prize in Open 4 Business contest

The Main Street Lansing Annual Meeting and Dinner is set for Saturday, March 21 at TJ Hunter’s Banquet Hall on Main Street in Lansing. New this year is a contest that will award $2,000 to a local business in an Open 4 Business: Fish Tank Edition contest.

Open 4 Business is a statewide contest sponsored by Main Street Iowa, with potential winnings of $28,000 in grant funds. Any business located within a designated Main Street District and in operation for at least one year is eligible. Funds can be used for things like inventory, equipment, marketing, computers and software.

Each Main Street community can enter one business in the contest, and Lansing’s entry will be decided at the Main Street Lansing Annual Meeting and Dinner. Following the dinner, competing businesses will pitch their business ideas in front of judges, similar to the television show Shark Tank (hence the local contest title of Open 4 Business: Fish Tank Edition).

The winner will receive $2,000 and the chance to compete in the statewide contest. While the statewide award requires a 25% cash match, the local prize of $2,000 (one of the largest in the Main Street Program) requires no cash match; the winner simply needs to apply for the statewide contest before receiving the local funds.

The $2,000 local prize is made possible by Kerndt Brothers Savings Bank, Kerndt Brothers Insurance Agency, Lansing Fitness Center and Main Street Lansing.

“The general public is welcome and encouraged to attend,” said Andy Kelleher, Executive Director of Main Street Lansing. “We’d love to give the competing businesses a large audience.”

Tickets to the Annual Meeting or more information about the event can be secured by calling 563-538-9229 or emailing director@lansingmatters.com. Ticket cost includes a lasagna dinner and seats for the business contest. Doors open at 5 p.m.