Gerry, who was born and raised in town, said he’s left two or three times, but he always comes back.

And not only has he lived in his hometown much of his life, but over the past several years, Gerry has contributed to his town in a number of ways.

“I’ve always been very interested in what’s going on in town,” Gerry said. “Now with my wife and I owning Details Flowers, I have a chance where I can step out and do some things to really help the community.”

Gerry’s contributions to the community include serving as the Chamber Main Street president, vice chairman of the county’s planning and zoning commission, and serving on the city’s historic preservation commission.

-Messenger photo by Peter Kaspari Steve Gerry, of Sac City, poses next to a street marker cautioning drivers of bicyclists. Gerry, a member of the city's trails committee, recently helped get the street signs painted throughout Sac City.

For the past year, he has also served as a member of the Sac City Trails Committee.

Gerry said that’s his current focus as he works to improve his hometown.

“I’ve been on a lot of things, but this really caught my eye,” he said. “I’m not a biker, but any way to use the facilities and bring people to the community” is a positive.

“Sac City is not just the world’s largest popcorn ball,” Gerry said with a laugh, referring to the fact that last year Sac City broke the record for world’s largest popcorn ball.

“The ultimate gold for the trails committee is two-fold,” Gerry said. “Our main goal is to hook Sac City with Hagge Park south of town, and our second goal is to hook Sac City to the Sauk Rail Trail in Lake View.”

Besides linking trails in Sac City to those that exist elsewhere in the county, Gerry said the committee has also done work to create new trails in town.

“We have two safety loops,” he said. “One from our community center to our aquatic center and back. And then we have one from South Ninth Street to the elementary school.”

Gerry went on to say that, two months ago, the Sac City Council approved four bike routes on the streets of Sac City.

“As of right now, we’re working on our route maps, our trail head,” he said.

The trails committee has worked with Zac Andersen, Sac County engineer, to create “Share the Road” signs for bicyclists in Sac County. The signs go from Sac City to Lake View.

“And the Hometown Pride Committee is working to, with ‘Share the Road’ signs, hook all the communities in Sac County to the trailhead in Lake View,” Gerry said. “We were kind of an instigator in that and we let it blossom on.”

Besides the trails committee, Gerry, a United States Army veteran, also helped bring the Sac County Freedom Rock to town.

Gerry said the designs on the local Freedom Rock feature a variety of military members from Sac County, including one soldier who received two Silver Stars, and another soldier who was wounded and rescued by two Wind Talkers.

Reflecting on his time in Sac City, Gerry said he enjoys the small-town atmosphere.

“I know that any place I go, I can find a friend,” he said. “We can leave our car doors unlocked or our homes unlocked and we know when we come home, everything will probably be the same. It’s just the small town atmosphere and everybody seems to care.”

He said he looks forward to making Sac City an attractive place for not only the people who live there, but visitors as well.

Specifically, he said the town needs to take advantage of U.S. Highway 20, which is nearly completing its conversion to four lanes.

“Highway 20 is going to be a good thing for us, but we need to get them off of that road somehow,” he said.

Northwest Iowa, including Sac City, has a lot to offer, he said.

“Hopefully we can open people’s eyes that there’s a lot going on, not just in Sac City, but in northwest Iowa,” he said. “Hopefully we can gain partners in regards to working as a cooperative. That means all communities in the county for the betterment of all.”