The 37th annual Lincoln Highway Bridge Festival went off without a hitch last Saturday.

Several food vendors made their way to downtown Tama for the event, serving up local eats to local residents, including a record turnout for the fireman’s breakfast.

Marlys Upah was in charge of planning for the festival for the first time this year after taking over for Sue Carnahan. Cloudy skies and a potential storm threatened the festival early in the day, but that didn’t stop anyone.

“It’s gone fantastic. The parade was awesome. This was the first year we’ve done it over the bridge and everyone accommodated really well,” Upah said. “We were a little concerned with the coldness but it’s definitely picked up and people really turned out. a lot of people came out from the community.”

Challenges will always arise during the planning of major events such as this one, but Upah was prepared.

“The biggest challenge was that Sue Carnahan was in charge of this for over 20 years. She answered a million questions for me and was willing to help with anything,” she said. “But when you do something for the first time, you don’t know what you don’t know.”

Upah went on to thank Carnahan, Mayor Doug Ray, the fire department and Kendall Jordan for their help with the festival and parade.

“Just seeing everyone get out and about, because the volunteers that do this put in a lot of time and effort and it’s good to see people come out and enjoy that,” Tama Fire Chief Richie Jiminez said when asked what the best part about this day was for him.

Cat Campbell Currier of Cat Trax from Marshalltown was the DJ for the third straight year of the festival.

Currier loved having the bridge included in the parade.

“The parade was fantastic, this being the first year they were able to go across the Lincoln Highway bridge, after the community rallied together earlier this year to convince the city fathers, county and the state to maintain the bridge and rebuild it,” she said. “I think that was a huge way to honor the bridge and include that in the parade route.”

Currier wouldn’t be doing her job as a DJ if she didn’t mention the several musical acts on display over the weekend.

“We had great entertainment last night with the Tri-County community band. They sounded fabulous,” Currier said. “The South Tama County High School jazz band played and they also sounded fabulous.”

Currier said her favorite part about the festival was also seeing people in the community out and about.

“After two years of COVID, two years ago we didn’t even have it and last year was a smaller version, but this year was in full force,” she said.

She went on to thank the Tama-Toledo Area Chamber of Commerce, Upah, all of the EMS services and the fire department for all that they do to help with the carnival.