ISU students still looking for activities over Labor Day Weekend may opt to stay in Ames and participate in some of the festivities scheduled for the “All American Weekend.”

According to the City of Ames Web site, www.city.ames.ia.us, the second annual festival will be a combination of many events.

The festival will include a street rod show, a Rib Fest, a street dance, an art fair, a Shakespeare performance, a football game pitting Iowa State against the University of Northern Iowa and a beer garden.

Monte Parrish, co-organizer and co-founder of the festival, said the original motivation for the event was a desire to generate business for the hospitality industry in the area.

“A lot of hotels were short of people after 9/11 and the recent economic slowdown,” he said.

In addition, he said, the event was a natural fit with the Iowa Street Rod and Custom Association, a classic and custom car group.

“That association was looking for an event over Labor Day Weekend,” he said.

Parrish added the activities will be greatly expanded from last year’s festival.

New additions this year include a quilt show, an art fair, the Shakespeare presentation, a beer tent and a 5K run.

John Vetter, president of the Iowa Street Rod and Custom Association, said the car show will draw between 150 and 200 cars.

“It’s one of the bigger events for the Street Rod Association,” he said, adding, “I’ve worked for four to five years to get this event to Ames.”

The cars will be involved in a cruise from Main Street to Lake LaVerne on Friday night, followed by a car show from 8 a.m. until noon on Saturday, with awards presented at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, according to the City of Ames Web site.

The festival will feature theater and art, as well as football and cars.

Searching for Shakespeare, a local theater group, will be performing “Whose Line Was That Anyway?” with performances at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday and Monday at Bandshell Park.

The Shakespeare event will allow students a sample of the Bard’s work, said Tom Norris, executive producer of the performance.

“It’s a collection of scenes, sonnets and soliloquies that offer Shakespeare in digestible chunks,” Norris said.

This year’s festival will also offer an art fair featuring local artists.

Mike Miller, one of the organizers of the art fair, said there is a hope the fair will expand in subsequent years.

“There will be six artists this year, [and] we hope to grow,” he said.

There were more than 20 artists who were interested for next year, Miller added.