The final stage is about to begin on the Iowa Hall of Pride, which will be part of the Iowa Events Center in downtown Des Moines. Jack Lashier of the Iowa High School Athletic Association has been working on the project for several years and he says work on the interior will begin in April. There’ll be 26-thousand feet of “interactive space” and Lashier says it seems “almost surreal” that after seven years of work, the Hall of Pride will soon become reality. The Hall will include memorabilia as well as interactive exhibits and Lashier has been scouring the state trying to get all of the state’s 402 high schools to take part. About 310 schools have responded, and they’ve developed websites and collected school fight songs. “If you grew up in Iowa and you graduated from an Iowa high school, you are going to want to go to the Hall of Pride because it’s all about those growing up years,” Lashier says. Bernie Saggau, executive director of the Iowa High School Athletic Association, says they expect to open late in the year. “We want to make sure she’s really ready to go,” he says. “We want to make sure we work the bugs out.”
