Coolest Thing Made in Iowa 2026 Competition Heats Up

DES MOINES, April 16, 2026 – The competition to crown the 2026 Coolest Thing Made in Iowa is heating up as the Iowa Association of Business and Industry (ABI) today announced the Top 16 products advancing to the next round of the statewide contest, presented by Nicolet National Bank.

The Top 16 products will now move on to a bracket-style tournament, where Iowans will decide which products advance through each round of head-to-head voting.

“This is where the competition really comes to life,” said Nicole Crain, ABI President. “These Top 16 products represent the very best of Iowa manufacturing — innovative, high-quality and made right here in our state. Now it’s up to Iowans to help decide which product rises to the top.”

The 2026 Coolest Thing Made in Iowa – Top 16 includes:

• Mi-T-M ePowerStation (Mi-T-M Corporation – Peosta)
• Pella Steady Set (Pella Corporation – Pella)
• Beer Caves (Walk-In Coolers & Freezers) (Leer, Inc. – Carroll)
• Weiler D1075 Blasthole Drill (Weiler – Knoxville)
• Butter Braid Pastries (Country Maid, Inc. – West Bend)
• Ironclad Tornado Shelter & Gun Safe (Ironclad Shelter Solutions, LLC – Earlham)
• Spalding Arena Renegade Basketball Hoop (Spalding – Jefferson)
• Winnebago EKKO 23B (Winnebago – Forest City)
• Gushers (General Mills – Cedar Rapids)
• Cedar Ridge Straight Bourbon Whiskey (Cedar Ridge Distillery – Swisher)
• Load Cell (Scale-Tec – Anamosa)
• Flexzilla Garden Hose (Legacy Manufacturing – Marion)
• Marie Callender’s Pot Pie (Conagra – Council Bluffs)
• 23-28XL Scraper (Mobile Track Solutions – Elkader)
• Sterzing’s Potato Chips (Sterzing Food Company – Burlington)
• dScribe Studio, 55″ – Digital Lightboard (Revolution Lightboards – Dubuque)

Voting will be open to the public from April 17 through midnight on April 22. Individuals may vote in each matchup, once per day (every 24 hours) per device.

The contest is brought to you by the Iowa Association of Business and Industry (ABI) and Nicolet National Bank.