In summer, there’s raspberries and strawberries, cherries and tomatoes, apples and blueberries. The apple season carries over into fall, along with pumpkins and blooming flowers. From above, the lines of orchards and plantings crisscross over 90 acres. Wilson’s Orchard and Farm, a short trip off Hwy 1 north of Iowa City, is a “you-pick” orchard […]
Best of the CRANDIC
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Best of the CRANDIC: Comedian Travis Coltrain on what prepared him to bomb
This year’s Best of the CRANDIC winner for Best Stand-Up Comedian graduated from the University of Iowa in 2021, where he took Megan Gogerty’s stand-up comedy course and worked as a DJ at student radio station KRUI. These days, he teaches preschool and works as the booker at Joystick Comedy Arcade (formerly The Yacht Club), […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Best of the CRANDIC: CommUnity CEO Sarah Nelson on how the 988 lifeline ‘changed everything’
Sarah Nelson is a graduate of Iowa City West High and the University of Iowa. She led Foundation 2 in Cedar Rapids before taking over as CommUnity Crisis Services’ CEO in 2021, and can now say she’s overseen the only two National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL) centers in the state. At CommUnity — winner of […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Best of the CRANDIC 2022: The winners!
Nearly 100 years after the CRANDIC train route first started running between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, Little Village presents the fifth annual reader-selected Best of the CRANDIC awards, celebrating the best of the region. Little Village readers cast their votes in 100 categories from Aug. 1–Sept. 30. They were also given the opportunity to […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Best of the CRANDIC Spotlight: Eastern Iowa’s LGBTQ softball league puts the werk in teamwork
Best of the CRANDIC 2021 winner: Best Community Sports League In three short years, the Lambda Softball Association (LSA) of Eastern Iowa was founded, became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and grew to include three beginner rec league teams, three competitive D-division teams and the Dirty Divas, a traveling team that competes in cities across the country. […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Best of the CRANDIC Spotlight: Carrie Houchins-Witt can do your taxes and perform Sondheim in the same day
Best of the CRANDIC 2021 winner: Best Financial Planner/Tax Service Carrie Houchins-Witt is a CRANDIC staple both behind and away from the calculator. Over a decade ago, she began putting her passion and skill for numbers into use preparing tax returns for the actors she performed with, learning quickly just how invaluable that service was. […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Best of the CRANDIC Spotlight: Iowa Running Company helps joggers face winter head on
Best of the CRANDIC 2021 winner: Best Shoe Store Iowa Running Company, tucked between a pizza restaurant and donut shop in Cedar Rapids’ New Bohemia neighborhood, stocks a solid variety of running shoes and practical activewear and even features a couple of treadmills for checking your gait to find the best possible pair of sneakers. […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Best of the CRANDIC Spotlight: Colonial Lanes owner Brad Huff on keeping Iowa City’s oldest bowling alley a safe, retro escape
Best of the CRANDIC 2021 winner: Best Bowling Alley Bowling, putt-putt, arcade games, a lunch counter and sunken bar. That’s how Colonial Lanes rolls. The business opened in 1959, and current owner Brad Huff has overseen the lanes at the CRANDIC’s Best Bowling Alley since 1972. Little Village sat down with Huff to discuss CL’s […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Best of the CRANDIC Spotlight: Mandi Nichols created the Corridor Community Action Network Facebook page just in time
Best of the CRANDIC 2021 winner: Best Local Facebook Page Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, I found myself with an overabundance of diapers that my daughter had grown out of. Disoriented and feeling cut off from friends, family and usual donation options, I threw out a plea on Facebook asking where I might safely gift […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Best of the CRANDIC Spotlight: The Haunted Bookshop still found a way to surprise customers during lockdown
Best of the CRANDIC 2021 winner: Most Commendable COVID-19 Mitigation Game, Best Toy Store The Haunted Bookshop has found clever ways to safely recreate the atmosphere of their beloved store, from the popular “Surprise Me!” option, which allows customers to describe their tastes and let booksellers decide the rest, to online browsing via Instagram (@HauntedBookshopIowaCity), […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Best of the CRANDIC Spotlight: SEIU Local 199 fights to secure ‘care for caregivers’
Best of the CRANDIC winner: Hardest Fightin’ Union — Union of Iowa’s Caregivers (SEIU Local 199) Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 199 is a union that fights for healthcare workers and other caregivers in Iowa. They conduct collective bargaining for wages and salaries, handle labor management issues and provide member benefits like providing insurance […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Best of the CRANDIC Spotlight: Andre Perry takes a graceful bow
Best of the CRANDIC winner: Best Nonprofit Director (The Englert Theatre) When Best Nonprofit Director Andre Perry announced his departure from the Englert Theatre this August, the general consensus in the community was that, although his shoes would be hard to fill, his greatest strength as a leader was in raising up everyone around him […]
