Spring 2009

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Alum Hosts Cy's Annual Country Barbecue

Alum Don Jordahl is shown in the foreground of his “bank barn” he had moved to his property southwest of Des Moines from Story County. He is holding a wooden peg like those used to restore the 110 year-old barn.

The Dixieland music greets you at the crest of a green, sloping Iowa farmyard. The scene is dotted with alumni sporting cardinal and gold for an evening celebrating their alma mater. The band is nestled in the porch of an old barn housing a buffet line and surrounded by party-goers offering welcomes with hugs and handshakes.

Don Jordahl is host to it all. He opens up his home, his log cabin and his barn southwest of Des Moines to more than 150 area alumni each June for Cy’s Country Barbecue.

“There is something about this country casual atmosphere that amazes me. It invites people to meet and mingle. They linger and perch on the old barn porch,” Jordahl says. “It is just easy to communicate and get to know each other.”

The event began in the mid-1990s. After Jordahl (’58 agricultural education) hosted his fellow members of the ISU Alumni Association Board of Directors at his home for a picnic, he and staff of the Alumni Association decided to invite area alumni. Jordahl hired a band and the tradition took hold.

The barn that houses much of the party is appropriately a “bank barn” that Jordahl, a career banker, had moved to his property from Story County. He had the main portion of the 110 year-old barn restored using the original wooden peg construction. It was originally built into a hill, or bank, giving livestock access to a basement. He’s also relocated a 1870s log cabin from a farm in Minnesota to his acreage and outfitted it with a modern kitchen and bathroom for use as a guesthouse.

More than 150 ISU alumni attend Cy’s Country Barbecue at Jordahl’s acreage southwest of Des Moines annually. The 2009 barbecue is set for June 12.

“Barns aren’t just buildings,” he says. “The engineering and craftsmanship of these buildings are just marvelous.

Built without power tools over 100 years ago, with care and maintenance, some are still standing straight and tall.”

Jordahl quips he is a “recovering banker.” He founded Iowa Banking Magazine in 1992 after working with Brenton Banks (now Wells Fargo) and Bankers Trust Company. He sold the highly respected magazine in 2008, but now only contributes occasionally to the monthly publication.

Jordahl enjoyed 4-H work and working for ISU Extension in Storm Lake after he graduated from Iowa State. But he found his true calling thanks to a meeting Russell M. Vifquain, professor in agronomy and placement director for the college at the time, set up with W. Harold Brenton in 1960.

“Brenton was a wonderful judge of character. He hired me,” Jordahl jokes.

Today, he considers himself “underemployed” rather than retired, and donates much of his time to Iowa State on the Alumni Association Finance Committee; the Athletic Council; Order of the Knoll; Alliance for ISU; National Cyclone Club; and the Greater Des Moines Cyclone Club. He previously served on the ISU Foundation’s Investment Committee.

He also provided funding for a collage of 12 photographs of Christian Petersen’s major sculptures to the newly completed alumni center on the Iowa State campus.

In addition to his support of Iowa State, Jordahl is active in his church and the local YMCA and serves as a Polk County representative for the Iowa Barn Foundation.

STORIES online Extra:

• Learn more about Cy’s Country Barbecue
• See photos of Jordahl’s barn