Trivia night with Iowa PBS
Putting my Iowa knowledge to the test
IOWA FALLS — When I saw that Iowa PBS was creating a series dedicated to Iowa’s 14 scenic byways, I was all in. When I saw that, additionally, Iowa PBS was going to have trivia contests as a tie-in with the series, there’s only one way to describe my reaction. I giggled evilly.
Traveling Iowa and trivia are my things. I might be a Friend of Iowa PBS, but I was ready to roll over the competition like Amy Schneider did in her initial run on “Jeopardy!”.
I enlisted my parents for additional support (and the minimum team size of two). The first of three trivia nights was April 29 at Scenic City Empress Boat Club in Iowa Falls. Because Iowa PBS repeated these games in Clinton and Harlan, I kept this column under wraps — embargoed, as journalists say — until those were completed.
Jessica Tjarks, director of the boat club, said Iowa PBS asked if the club would be interested in hosting because it’s featured in the series. The building dates to 1936 and is popular for receptions. Passengers on the tours love to share their own history of the area.
The first season of the show covers half of the byways, with the Jefferson Highway and Great River Road the most prominent. It also has the itty-bittiest byways: the Glacial Trail in northwest Iowa and Delaware Crossing in Delaware County (36 miles apiece), and White Pole Road in west-central Iowa (26 miles).
Caryline Clark, engagement manager at Iowa PBS, and Hayley Schaefer led the event. Although they had done virtual trivia before and a set for the “Iconic America” series, “you’re sort of guinea pigs for this,” Clark said to us. Trivia night had nine teams, three rounds and swag. LOTS of swag.
Round 1
Did you take Iowa history in sixth grade? Did you pay attention in that class? This round was all about the basics.
In addition to the official state stuff, famous Iowans past and future got their own questions. What Mount Pleasant native and University of Iowa professor discovered radiation belts around the Earth in 1957? That would be James Van Allen.
“We said Van Halen, do we get half a point?” asked the table behind us.
A question about Meredith Willson prevented a perfect score for Team Iowa Highway Ends. Despite my knowing many of the songs in “The Music Man” by heart, his birth year was not in that knowledge cache.
Round 2
Iowa Falls is on the Jefferson Highway, the “Pine to Palm” auto trail that ran from Winnipeg to New Orleans in the early 20th century. This round was all about Iowa’s part of that highway (US 65 north of Colo and US 69 south of Ames, more or less), which received official designation and signage as a Heritage Byway in 2019. Not all of the questions were directly connected to the show.
A question about where materials for early road construction on the Jefferson Highway came from had me pulling two tidbits from my research: Southern Iowa’s ground is lacking in the rock that’s key to concrete construction, and the first rural paved road of notable length in Iowa was between Mason City and Clear Lake. The answer: Mason City. My thought that the unincorporated community of Portland had something to do with it turned out to be wrong. The place in Cerro Gordo County was around long before concrete highways.
Sometimes it’s just pure luck and wild guesses that will carry the day.
Round 3
This round tested knowledge of the “Road Trip Iowa” series itself. The people at Iowa PBS love to find the hidden gems along the scenic byways. In fact, they are so hidden that some images came from episodes that had yet to air, putting everyone at a disadvantage. For the others, it was a memory game similar to what competitors on “The Amazing Race” do in the finale, trying to remember names of the visited places.
A tie for third place resulted in a last-minute tiebreaker, which went to the Scenic City Cruisers Car Club.
Team 4-H Friends had 25 points.
Team Iowa Highway Ends had 26 points.
Friendly bartering of prize packages ensued.
The second half of the “Road Trip Iowa” series will include the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway. If there’s another trivia night, I’ll be ready.
A passing to note
Among the Tama County sites included in “Road Trip Iowa” is the Salt and Pepper Shaker Gallery in Traer, which is about 22 miles off both the Iowa Valley Scenic Byway and Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway. Ellen Young was a major mover and, yes, shaker in obtaining the collection from Ruth Rasmussen and getting grants to support the gallery’s creation. Young, former editor of the Traer Star-Clipper, didn’t mind it when a research-minded dork of a high school student dropped in to browse the bound volumes.
Young died on April 11. The Iowa Valley byway episode, scheduled to air Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., will celebrate her last contribution to the Traer community.
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