Street closures downtown for the Iowa City Pride Festival begin early Saturday morning. City crews will block off Linn Street from Iowa Avenue to the alley on the north side of the Iowa City Public Library and Washington Street from Dubuque to Linn streets, starting at 6 a.m. to allow vendors to set up. Also […]
Eastern Iowa
Posted inCentral Iowa
Planned Parenthood workers in Iowa and four other states join fight to unionize
Four-hundred Planned Parenthood employees across 28 Midwest clinics may soon be unionized. The majority of Planned Parenthood North Central States (PPNCS) workers have joined SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa, filing for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board on May 26. PPNCS includes clinics across the states of Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota […]
Posted inCommunity/News
No swimming at Terry Trueblood Recreation Area ‘until water quality improves’
There will be no swimming permitted at Terry Trueblood Recreation Area, “due to the level of E. Coli detected in Sand Lake,” the Iowa City Parks and Recreation Department announced on Thursday afternoon. Sand Lake isn’t the only local swimming spot currently having this problem. Last Friday, Lake Macbride was one of seven eastern Iowa […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Juneteenth in Eastern Iowa: cook-outs, blood drives, water balloon battles and Black art
It has been one year since Iowa City and the U.S. government have formally recognized Juneteenth as an official holiday. Many cities across Iowa have been slow to formally recognize Juneteenth, even though the holiday dates back to 1865. However, on the state level, Iowa formally began observing Juneteenth as a holiday back in 2002. […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Cedar Rapids Downtown Farmers Market is (slightly) changing its location
Four weeks after launching its 2022 season, the Cedar Rapids Downtown Farmers Market is making a slight alteration to its location. Instead of the layout it’s been using since opening on May 28 — 2nd Avenue SE, 3rd Avenue SE and 4th Avenue SE between 2nd Street SE and 5th Street SE — the market […]
Posted inWeekender
THIS WEEKEND: IC Pride, Juneteenth, Buddy Guy, Benz Beer Fest
READ THE LATEST | SUPPORT LITTLE VILLAGE | SHOP PERKS THE WEEKENDER Your weekly editor-curated arts compendium June celebrations converge in Eastern Iowa this weekend, as Iowa City Pride takes over downtown along with a scattering of other Pride events, and Juneteenth festivities fill both ends of the CRANDIC. Sprinkled in between are some not-to-be-missed […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Coralville City Council appoints Keith Jones to fill its vacant seat
Keith Jones was sworn in as the newest member of the Coralville City Council on Tuesday night during the council’s regular meeting. Jones fills the vacancy left by the resignation of Jill Dodds on April 26. The retired banker was one of six candidates the city council interviewed for the opening during a special meeting […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Lilacs and grieving form the central focus of MusicIC’s 2022 events
Ed Folsom first heard Walt Whitman’s “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” in 1963 on the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Folsom, now the Roy J. Carver Professor of English at the University of Iowa and editor of the Walt Whitman Quarterly Review, was in 11th grade at the time. He recounted […]
Posted inEastern Iowa Recreation
Dating, hiking and falling in love with snow at Iowa state parks
Since moving to Iowa City from Athens, Georgia last August, I’ve spent my free time relaxing in Johnson County’s parks and greenspaces, and my weekends hiking state parks and trails. Here’s a tentative ranking of the five state parks I’ve explored throughout the state so far, plus an honorable Wisconsin mention. Lake Macbride State Park, […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City Pride’s June celebration returns
Iowa City Pride’s 2022 celebration returns to Pride Month this weekend after two years of cancellations and delays. Festivities officially kicked off yesterday with the organization’s bar crawl and events will continue leading up to the all-day festival on Saturday. This year will mark the 51st Iowa City Pride Festival. On Wednesday evening, drop by […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
New opera ‘Orphan Train to Iowa’ brings a dark but hopeful history to the Coralville stage
A little-known piece of Iowa history is coming to the stage in a one-night-only opera from the Crescendo Children’s Choir. Child and adult singers, including professional opera stars, will perform Orphan Train to Iowa: For the Love of Pete on Saturday, June 18 at 7:30 p.m. in the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts. The […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Gov. Reynolds signs ban on COVID-19 vaccine requirements at schools, child care centers and universities
No public or private school, college or university, nor any licensed child care center in the state of Iowa will be able to require anyone attending it — from preschooler to graduate student — to be vaccinated against COVID-19 under a bill Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law on Tuesday. The CDC currently recommends everyone […]
