DYERSVILLE, Iowa — Truck Country recently held an open house to mark the recent opening of its Dyersville location.

The truck service company was founded in 1958 in Shullsburg, Wis., and now has 25 locations across the Midwest.

“We service all medium and heavy-duty trucks and provide parts for all makes and models,” said Jenny Hornsby, director of marketing. “We have a lot of customers who are based toward Delaware County and on the west end of Dubuque County, and it made sense for us to open a location here to better service them.”

According to Ron Fettkether, head of fixed operations for Truck Country in Dyersville and Dubuque, the company services semi-tractor trailers but one of its major focuses for the Dyersville area is other kinds of working trucks used for construction and transport.

“One of the things we looked at in Dyersville was the vocational market, which is the dump trucks, feed trucks, milk trucks and all that stuff,” he said. “This is a heavy-industry area, so we’re able to give them service on the day to day, whatever their needs might be and anything in the trucking world.”

John Gile, general manager of the Dyersville, Dubuque and Shullsburg locations, said the vast majority of vocational work comes from the Dyersville area, providing a strong incentive for them to open the new location.

“Of our vocational business, over 80% of them reside within 10 miles of here,” he said.

Truck Country also works to provide opportunities and grow the skills of new auto mechanics.

Karla Thompson, director of Dyersville Chamber of Commerce, said the community is very excited to welcome the new business.

“We’re definitely glad to see Truck Country move to Dyersville and have a location here,” she said. “They did it for visibility, so this will help the trucking industry. They want to get the trucks in and back on the road due to the truck driver shortage. That’s a need throughout the whole country, so we are honored to have them in our community. They were talking to us about where they get their parts locally and within other communities within an hour’s drive. I think if we can fill those immediate needs in our community, that’s just a great partnership we can have with Truck Country.”