Hello, Council Bluffs and Burlington!

This weekend will be your first chance to visit one of our “Silver Ticket Cash Stops” and enter the contests we’ll have for cash prizes!

We made the announcement last month about our summer project with the Iowa Tourism Office, and now the first of the 25 “must-see” events of the spring and summer are almost here.

On Saturday, our Silver Ticket Cash Stop tour will make its debut at the Celebrate CB festival in Council Bluffs. We’ll be inside the Main Street Café (102 S. Main St.) and you can enter our contest from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Then, we’ll announce the winners of the contest’s four cash prizes at 1:45 p.m. at the Performance Dome in Bayliss Park.

On Sunday, we’ll be at the PZAZZ! Great American Grill-Off in Burlington. We’ll be on the Party Patio at the PZAZZ! Entertainment Complex (3001 Winegard Dr.) and you can enter our contest from 1:30-4 p.m. Then we’ll announce the winners of the contest’s four cash prizes at 4:30 p.m. on the stage at the Party Patio.

During each Cash Stop, you can enter nonwinning tickets in “The Silver Ticket” instant-scratch game for a chance to win one of four cash prizes ($100, $150, $250 and $500).

So why are we doing all this? Well, the game is called The Silver Ticket and our entire theme is silver because the Lottery is turning 25 this year!

Legislation authorizing a lottery in Iowa was signed into law on April 18, 1985, and the Iowa Lottery sold its first tickets during a kick-off celebration on Aug. 22, 1985, at the Iowa State Fair.

It’s our anniversary, but it’s your celebration! We hope to see you while we’re out and about!