MUSCATINE, Iowa – Five small businesses – all located in Main Street Iowa districts – can move forward with expansion projects after winning in the state’s 2025 Open 4 Business contest held here Monday, Aug. 4.
A combined $80,000 in state grants will be split among the winners, who pitched expansion ideas to a panel of judges. The awards were announced on the eve of the Iowa Downtown Conference. It is taking place this week in downtown Muscatine.
The live pitch event, held at the National Pearl Button Museum, featured finalists from Ames, Elkader, Mount Pleasant, Waverly and West Branch. Each entrepreneur had five minutes to present their growth strategy to a panel of judges.
The Main Street Iowa grant recipients and their locations are:
- West Branch — The Honey Den, $25,000.
- Waverly — Z’s Pizza & Diner, $20,000.
- Elkader — DroneXperts, $15,000.
- Ames — Torrent Brewing Company, $10,000.
- Mount Pleasant — Preppin Mama, $10,000.
The awards were presented Monday night by Debi Durham. She is director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) and Iowa Finance Authority (IFA).
The 2025 Iowa Downtown Conference, hosted by IEDA, begins today, Aug. 5, and runs through Wednesday, Aug. 6. The event, which includes activities at a number of Muscatine venues, is being held at the Merrill Hotel in downtown.
“These incredible business plans remind us why our Main Street programs matter so much,” Ms. Durham said. “They’re the engine that helps small businesses grow and stick around — and they play a big role in making our communities the kind of places where people want to visit, live and truly belong.”
Grant is ‘life-changing’
Top honors went to The Honey Den. That boutique candy and gift shop opened in 2023 by Tiffany Frederick in West Branch. It is located nearly 50 miles west of the Quad Cities.
Known for custom candy assortments with personalized labels, Ms. Frederick is expanding her wholesale and fundraising programs that support boutiques, nonprofits and schools nationwide. The grant will support professionally designed packaging, a commercial-grade label printer, expanded inventory, upgraded fundraising tools and targeted marketing.
“This grant is going to be life-changing — it will put my business in fast forward and allow us to shine on a national level while meeting growing demand,” Ms. Frederick said in the IEDA news release. “Retail isn’t easy. But by diversifying and thinking boldly — by moving product out the back door and the front — we can create something that lasts.”
This year’s contest drew 22 applicants. Twelve of them were invited to interview virtually with a panel of judges, who then selected five finalists.
Finalists made live business pitches Monday before Muscatine Mayor Brad Bark, also president and CEO of the Greater Muscatine Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Jacki Boldt, who leads the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program; Chris Deal, Main Street Iowa board member; and Karla Organist with the Institute for Decision Making at the University of Northern Iowa.
Open 4 Business supports the growth of existing small businesses in Iowa’s more than 50 Main Street communities. Now in its 11th year, the program has awarded grants to more than 45 businesses. They are administered through IEDA’s Iowa Downtown Resource Center and Main Street Iowa programs.
