Corridor Community Action Network will host its second-ever CCAN-Con on Saturday at the Ped Mall. The convention, last held right before the onset of the COVID pandemic in 2020, is a community engagement and volunteer fair founded by CCAN Director Mandi Nichols. Local organizations will be tabling, as well as providing various workshops and training. […]
Iowa City Ped Mall
Posted inCommunity/News
Public art meets the front porch swing in Black Hawk Mini Park
The official description of Mi Casa, Your Casa 2.0 calls it an “international participatory public art installation” that “features a series of three-dimensional red frames that illustrate the warmth, comfort, and safety of our home.” But anyone walking past Black Hawk Mini Park can be forgiven if their first thought is, Oh, look, swings! The […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Riverside Theatre offers peek into their future space, launches new capital campaign
In late summer 2017, a building on the Ped Mall owned by the Swisher Trust, home to Union Bar and Revival, went up for auction. Little Village got access to the top floor of the building, derelict and covered in haunting graffiti: demons, clowns, skeletons, and even a bit of apocalyptic street poetry. “No ghosts […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Loop, an interactive art exhibit, lights up the Ped Mall
Loop began to light up the Ped Mall on Friday. The interactive art installation combines spinning illustrations and quiet music, all powered by the person viewing the art. The installation features large cylindrical pods that mimic the display of a zoetrope, an early 19th-century precursor of the movies. Zoetropes were tabletop devices containing a loop […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Designing a playground for all in Iowa City
It’s been just over a year now since the Department of Justice reached a settlement agreement with the Iowa City Community School District over the dozen playgrounds that failed to meet ADA requirements. Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (which turned 30 just last year) provides that “no qualified individual with a disability […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
It’s nearly time for the annual Ped Mall bench makeover — applications are open for BenchMarks 2021
The Iowa City Ped Mall has seen Herkys on parade, tree sweaters, outdoor pianos, a massive $20,000 bike rack and more, but perhaps its most enduring and diverse public art project has been its painted benches. Since the summer of 2012, the City of Iowa City, Iowa City Downtown District and sponsor GreenState Credit Union […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Second phase of Ped Mall Improvements Project starts with the removal of trees
Construction on the second phase of the Ped Mall Improvements Project began on Monday. This phase focuses on the east-west corridor running from Clinton Street to Linn Street. The work is beginning with the trimming and removal of trees.
Posted inCommunity/News
Group asks Iowa City to remove ‘hostile’ new Ped Mall benches
A group demanding the removal and replacement of the new Ped Mall benches met with Iowa City Manager Geoff Fruin on Monday morning. Organized by Iowa City’s Catholic Worker House, the group believe the design of the new benches, which have armrests in the middle, are a form of hostile architecture, intended to stop people […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Your Village: Are the new Ped Mall benches hostile to the homeless?
“Everyone is curious about the new benches on the Ped Mall. Are they an example of hostile architecture, designed to make life harder on the homeless? Or are they designed that way to be ADA-compliant? Or is there another line of thought behind this particular choice in benches?”
Posted inCommunity/News
Your Village: What’s going to happen with the Ped Mall bricks?
Have a question about what’s going on in your community? Ask Little Village. Submit your questions through the Your Village feature on our homepage, or email us at editor@littlevillagemag.com.
Posted inCommunity/News
Pop-up shops planned for the Iowa City Ped Mall this holiday season
Pop-up shops are coming to the Ped Mall for the holidays. The Iowa City Downtown District (ICDD) is hosting its third annual Downtown Holiday Market, and this year it will feature a variety of shops in three temporary structures that will be built in Black Hawk Mini Park.
Posted inCommunity/News
Amber Tamblyn heads to Iowa City to get out the vote
Early Voting with Amber Tamblyn Ped Mall — Monday, Oct. 24 at 12:30 p.m. Actress, director, and writer Amber Tamblyn is hitting the streets in downtown Iowa City today for the University of Iowa’s Early Vote event at 12:30 p.m. on the Ped Mall. Tamblyn has been stumping for Clinton across Iowa, beginning with assisting […]
