ANAMOSA — A still, humid, lazy summer afternoon finds a few youngsters and a few older customers at Two Scoops Ice Cream Shop on Anamosa’s Main Street. Owner Eilleen Bates said such gatherings have been typical this year.

“The first year was great because it was new,” said Bates, who opened the shop in April 2023. “This year, I think it’s more the norm. When we get those stores open, it’s going to be busier.”

Building momentum to support and attract new business is happening in and around Anamosa this year. Not far away, two natives are putting finishing touches to new businesses.

“We looked outside of Marion and Anamosa, probably for three years, trying to find some land because we wanted a place with a view,” said Judy Lubben of their 20 acres along Highway 151. “This came up, and it just made sense.”

Since launching Lubben Vineyards & Wines in 2018, Lubben and her husband, Dan Lubben, have created varieties drawn from small vineyards near Springville and Anamosa. They will open their first tasting room, with their new home attached, this month.

“Everybody knows us here,” said Judy Lubben. “Not that they didn’t in Marion,” where Lubben Wines’ production and distribution operations are located.

Renovating Anamosa

“It was nice that they chose Jones County and Anamosa,” said Derek Lumsden, Jones County economic development director. “There’s a lot of traffic that comes through here. There’s a lot of things that make Anamosa appealing, and you don’t get lost in the shuffle.”

Lumsden oversees the current effort to renew a traditional Main Street for new businesses in Anamosa, a Jones County city of 5,500.

Drawing on state-allocated federal grants, the city, county and property owners are in the second of a three-phase project to renovate 30 downtown buildings.

“Just the fact that we did 10 buildings in our first (phase), and all but one of them are purchased or full shows that sometimes that what (business owners) needed to hear was, ‘They’re putting money in their building, now I can put my business in there and not have to spend so much,’ ” Lumsden said.

The project’s first two stages drew on $1.15 million in Community Development Block Grants, with plans to apply for another $650,000 to finish another 10 buildings in 2025-26. Property owners must cover 30 percent of improvement costs and sign a seven-year easement with the city.

In addition, a new housing development is going up along Highway 151, and the renovated Main Street buildings have residential potential.

“We’re looking at doing upper-story housing,” Lumsden said. “We’re looking at some infill lots, some rehabs for vacant housing. We’ve got everything you need to do downtown. You’ve got a grocery store, you’ve got banks, you’ve got entertainment.”

Blair Lawton, executive director of the Anamosa Area Chamber of Commerce, said the rehab and new businesses are helping “a lot from a visibility standpoint. It’s a lot more attractive to potential tenants.”

‘Coming back’

“I remember when Main Street was full of shops, until it was pretty barren,” LeAnna Boone said. “It’s coming back again. We have things to do. It’s just a matter of getting people to come in and see we do have a lot of variety.”

Boone and her husband, Todd Boone, opened Boondocks Emporium, just across from Two Scoops, in February. They got the idea for the combination bar, restaurant and retail store — clothing, gifts, and home décor items — after encountering a similar business while traveling.

“We thought it was neat,” she said. “You could have a beer and walk around and shop.”

The Boones’ building wasn’t part of the renovation project, but they hope to land a share of the next grant.

Four buildings

The potential behind Anamosa downtown’s classic facades attracted Eileen Bates and her husband, Josh Bates, to move from Cedar Rapids in 2020.

“We bought four of these buildings here on Main Street,” she said. “We have people wanting to rent them for office space. That would have been great, but we need the downtown businesses.”

The Bates’ properties weren’t part of the block-grant program, but, like the Boones, they may apply for the next round.

“It wasn’t up to code,” she said of the ice cream shop. “It was a hot mess in here.

“It’s been a great experience for me,” she added, noting she’s staffed Two Scoops with several young employees, many on their first job. “I’m losing six of them that are off to college.”

The Bateses plan to develop six apartments above their properties as residential spaces or Airbnb rentals.

“We have the wedding venues coming up,” she said, referring to the Lubbens’ winery and another new event center on Anamosa’s south end.

Event center

“We’re fine-tuning the small stuff,” said Matt Linn, whose Avacentre Anamosa hosted its first wedding July 8.

The former recreational vehicle dealership at the Highway 151/Highway 1 interchange will also house the central kitchen for Linn’s catering business. His first Avacentre in southwest Cedar Rapids was spun off from Linn’s Brosh Funeral Chapel.

“We will offer (catering) services to other funeral homes whenever we acquire other funeral homes,” he said. “It’s gone so well that I’m proud we created the idea. It became a real company, and it’s growing.”

Linn said Anamosa is located to cater events and draw customers from Cedar Rapids, Dubuque and Iowa City — the same markets other local businesses look to tap.

“Our flagship main hub is Anamosa, if you take the center of the wheel and go out 45 minutes” he said. “We’re excited.”

Avacentre will serve some Lubben wines, too.

“We all want to work together as a team,” Dan Lubben said.

Staycations, day trips

“We’ve added quite a few restaurants downtown, a couple more boutique-type stores,” said Lumsden, the county’s economic development director. “The events centers bookend the community.”

Lumsden is looking to promote Anamosa as a destination for “staycation day trips.”

“Most of our advertising goes into the just-far-enough-so-you-want-to-stay-overnight range, a 150-mile radius,” he said.

Lumsden also hopes to attract new residents to town. The Anamosa State Penitentiary is the city’s largest single employer with 300-plus employees, and a large share of the city residents commute to jobs in Cedar Rapids.

“We’d like people to live here,” he said. “Would they live here if they had more options? That’s something we’re looking at developing more, now that we’ve got that entertainment