COLUMBUS JUNCTION, Iowa - Gnats and mosquitoes are the buzz around town.
"They`re just ridiculous. There`s clouds and clouds of bugs," said Lori Sturtzer while trying to avoid swarms of bugs during her evening exercise.
Others we spoke with described the bugs this year as "horrible."
And, while most of us run from the bugs, there is one local company that is on track to have a very successful year because of them.
Simply Soothing in Columbus Junction, Iowa. Home of the Bug Soother.
When we are in the middle of a buggy season like the spring of 2019, the offices and warehouses at Simply Soothing turn into something like Santa's workshop. The people who work there, work as hard as Santa's elves on Christmas eve.
Nikki Salek and her family have been making bug soother since 2008.
She said 2019 is proving to be one of their most successful years ever.
The challenge is meeting the demand.
"We are still making but we are a little behind," said Salek.
She said on any given day, upwards of 600 small orders flood their team.
In the warehouse, where employees are packing shipments to send to major retailers, she compares this time of year to their own "Black Friday."
In the factory, special formulas fill bottles all day long.
The team is small. Most of them family and friends.
"We try to keep everything local. So most people who work here are from Columbus Junction," said Salek.
It's a small town business that is dedicated to repelling those annoying pests.
