Tired of the bland food service meals? Mom’s not roasting the usual squid for Labor Day? Maybe you should try the Taste of Iowa this weekend.

The Taste of Iowa will run from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The festival will take place in Cedar Rapids at the Second Avenue Bridge and adjacent riverfront parks. Don’t worry about traffic; there won’t be any: the Taste of Iowa site will be closed to vehicular traffic.

“The festival will benefit The Renaissance Group of Cedar Rapids,” said Deann Cook, co-founder. “We are an alliance of businesses, property owners and individuals dedicated to enhancing the downtown Cedar Rapids area.”

With three stages set up, the festival will feature a wide variety of local musicians with headlining groups for each evening. Pop rockers Cheap Trick are scheduled for Saturday, while Sunday’s country lineup features Pirates of the Mississippi.

Seventies superstars Three Dog Night and long-time alternative rockers, The BoDeans will cap off the weekend.

“We have a headline stage, a party stage and an acoustic stage,” Cook said. “There will be continuous live music the entire festival.”

The festival features nearly 20 of Cedar Rapid’s finest restaurants. Italian, Indonesian, Swedish and Cajun foods are a few of the entrees being served.

The Star Gait ’95 Run, sponsored by the Iowa Medical Center, will be included in Saturday night’s festivities. The race, similar to Midnight Madness, will begin at 9 p.m. A hole-in-one tee-off will run throughout the festival on a small island below the bridge. The winner will receive $15,000 toward a new car at any of the Cedar Rapids car dealerships.

“Mercy Medical Center and St. Luke’s Hospital have teamed up for a children/teen activity tent and youth carnival, while Econofoods has created a tent show casing foods and other products made in Iowa,” Cook added.

A “Blues Break Tent,” sponsored by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa, will feature live blues bands throughout the weekend. Parson’s Technology will display a fireworks show from May’s Island on each of the evenings.

Admission will be $5 at the gate. Firstar Bank will provide free admission for the first hour on Saturday, while APAC Teleservices is sponsoring free admission for kids under 12 and seniors 65 and over. Coupons for half price will also be available in The Cedar Rapids Gazette.

“What’s really exciting is the growing magnitude of Taste of Iowa,” said Scott Byers, president of Iowa Reality and co-sponsor of the event, in a recent press release.

“Iowa Reality and AmerUs Bank are thrilled to be in some way responsible for helping bring this event to the community.”