A little bit about horseshoes, comics and football in Eastern Iowa

This is an online version of my Sunday, July 25, column in The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, IA), but with some links

In 1986, Gazette archives note,  Marlyce Heidt was leaving her post as the Cedar Rapids Area Convention & Visitors Bureau's executive director with a final wish: bringing the Women's International Bowling Congress' annual convention to Cedar Rapids. Note: the organization is now part of the United States Bowling Congress.

The convention, indeed, was held in the city in 1991, bringing 45,000 bowlers and guests who had a good time while dropping $25 million into the local economy. The convention still seems, 19 years later, to have been a success.

Bowlers brought the national spotlight to Cedar Rapids back then. This week, horseshoe pitchers bring it.

I don't know how big this spotlight is. The 2010 National Horseshoe Pitchers Association Tournament at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena is bringing far fewer people to town than the bowling convention brought. But a national tournament carries cache as a prime event in any sport.

This is a strong event for the Cedar Rapids area, if for no other reason, because it brings tourists to town. Gazette coverage will reflect this. Besides a story in the Accent section of the Sunday Gazette we'll have reports throughout this week about the competitors.

We had planned a page 1 story for the Sunday paper but rearranged our schedule to publish it on Monday, July 26, because of the dramatic flooding that hit Eastern Iowa on Saturday, which commanded necessary space on Sunday. Flood updates, with photos, have been posted at GazetteOnline.

 In the meantime, we hope the more than 1,260 throwers coming to town from various places enjoy the city during their stay, and that organizers who worked hard to get the tournament here feel at the end of it all the thrill of throwing a double ringer.

By the way, you can buy patches from the 1991 bowling tournament on eBay. Someone posting one of the patches calls the goldfinch depicted on that patch a yellow robin bird. But if you want to cut the person some slack and you have $5.25, the patch could be yours.

Comic subs

If you have a long memory – and a lot of people do for these kinds of things – you may recognize some of the jokes in two comic strips in the coming weeks.

That's because the people behind “Close to Home” and “Non Sequitor” are grabbing summer vacation time. The syndicate that delivers these comics to The Gazette and other outlets has told us we will be getting substitute, rerun comics during this vacation.

 “Close to Home” comics you see starting Monday and running through Aug. 8 originally ran during the same weeks in 2003, the syndicate reports. “Non Sequitor” in August will be an assortment of comics from a variety of dates; Sunday strips, for example will be from 2006.

Football magazine coming

Summer is such a valuable time in Iowa, especially after the recent winters we've endured, that it is hard to imagine anyone wishing for August to speed by in order to get to September. But some college football fans are doing just that.

The Gazette has just finished work on a special magazine called “If the Stars Align” that may appeal to them. It previews the coming University of Iowa football season and the players who will be key to the team's success.

Hy-Vee and Hy-Vee Drug Stores picked up on the work we were doing and became partners, thus becoming the place where you can get the magazine in August. Plans call for getting the magazine to the stores by Aug. 4 so they can put it on their shelves.