EVENT
UPDATES
August 21: Community Neighborhood Meeting at 7p.m. Washington High School Cafeteria, 2205 Forest Drive SE.
Aug. 29-31: New Bohemia Music & Art Festival. Click here for more information.
Aug. 30-Sept. 1: Freedom Festival's Celebration of Community. Click here for schedule details.
Aug. 30-31: Hoop'In it Up! Register your team by picking up a form at a participating HyVee store in Linn County, or send an email to Hoop'In It Up. Be sure to include team name, captain, list of shirt sizes and individual team members. Registration is $150 per team (5 per team). Checks should be made payable to "Hoop'In It Up Downtown LLC" and mail to: 3000 Bever Avenue SE Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52304.
Sept. 6: Downtown Farmers' Market on Fifth Street and in Greene Square Park
September 20: Cedar Rapids Bank & Trust Downtown Drive In Movie Series, featuring Rookie of the Year. Movie starts at dusk.
Oct. 4: Downtown Farmers' Market on Fifth Street and in Greene Square Park
Uptown Friday Nights: Relocated to Cabo Sports Bar & Grill. Click here for details.
Arts & Entertainment: Click here for the best information on rescheduled and relocated events from many downtown arts & entertainment venues and organizations affected by flooding
Several significant downtown buildings and services reopened this week. The Great America Building - a beacon of riverfront resilience in so many of the iconic images from the flood - has begun moving its tenants back in, with some already open for business. Likewise, the Armstong Centre - a central building in the downtown memories of so many Cedar Rapidians - has moved its upper floor tenants back in and many are open for business. Waypoint Services also has reopened its daycare center, and expects the Madge Phillips Center to reopen soon.
Just two months since the flood crest, downtown is now growing stronger by the day.
Committed to Downtown
Full-page ads in The Gazette and the Corridor Business Journal marked the launch of our "Rebuild Downtown" campaign. Radio ads have begun, and the campaign will include other multi-media exposure as well. In order to be included on the "Committed to Downtown" list, flood-affected businesses had to confirm that they "plan to rebuild downtown and reinvest in the future of downtown." Some businesses signed up via this Web site. We reached others through a Business Recovery Survey conducted by the Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown District. While more than 200 businesses already have signed up, we know that there are many more out there that will return to downtown and may want to be listed with the other committed businesses. To get your business name added to our list, tell us of your interest via our Contact Us page on this Web site, or by calling Mallory at the Downtown District at 398-0449. The complete list will be kept on the Committed page of this Web site and will be updated as often as possible.
You need this shirt!
You've seen it around town, and you need one - the Rebuild Downtown t-shirt. We'll have them out at events around town -- Uptown Friday Nights, the Outdoor Drive-in Movie Series, Downtown Farmers' Markets, etc., and they also are at places such as the Chamber of Commerce (424 First Ave. NE) and the Bever Avenue branch of Guaranty Bank (across from Bever Park). All we ask is that you make a free will offering to the Job & Small Business Recovery Fund. We'll collect cash and checks made out to the Downtown District and deposit it in the fund. For more information, call the Downtown District at 319-398-8269 or use the Contact Us page.
Extraordinary contribution
For being a downtown company only since December, ITC Midwest sure knows how to be a good neighbor. The transmission power company's parent company, ITC Holdings Corp., announced Tuesday that it will contribute $500,000 to flood relief, including a $200,000 donation to the Job & Small Business Recovery Fund.
"In the short time we have been here, we've been impressed by Cedar Rapids' spirit and commitment to growth. We want to give back to the community to be part of its rebuilding," said Linda Blair, ITC Holdings executive vice president and chief business officer.
The contribution pushes the fund total to about $2.6 million. Additional donations are needed in order to spread grants and no-interest loans of up to $25,000 to small businesses that suffered flood damage. Your donation is needed and can be made online at www.gcrf.org or sent to:
Business Recovery Fund
c/o The Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation
200 1st Street SW Cedar Rapids, IA 52404
Please include in the check memo "Business Recovery Fund."
Cedar Rapids Downtown flood information
The primary site for flood recovery updates is www.corridorrecovery.org. Our Web site here focuses on information specific to Downtown businesses, organizations and property owners. We do NOT attempt to repeat more communitywide information that’s better centered at the Corridor Recovery site. We post information of specific interest to the west-side and east-side business core as quickly and accurately as possible on the Latest News page of this site.
Over time, we plan to use this Web site to motivate reinvestment in downtown. Businesses planning to rebuild Downtown are listed on our "Committed to Downtown" page, which also has information about how you can add your business to the list. We are all working together toward a vibrant, sustainable, dynamic downtown that will be greater in the next generation than ever before.
Working toward a "new normal"
Numbers tell part of this story: a June 13, 2008 flood crest of 31.1 feet that was 19 feet over flood stage and 11 feet above a 79-year-old record flood; 25,000 homes evacuated; 9,000 downtown workers displaced; and damage and recovery costs that will swirl into staggering billion-dollar numbers.
But far more of this story will be told in terms other than those stoic facts. Much of our story, when it has finally been completely told weeks, months, even years from now, will be about heroes and helping hands; about recovery and resolve; about tears and triumph; about neighbors and friends and strangers who become our friends. This story will be about a proud, historic, beautiful, vibrant downtown that rebounds from devastation to magnificence.
As community leaders such as City Manager Jim Prosser and Gazette Communications CEO Chuck Peters have said, things will never be 'normal' again. However, we will have a 'new normal.' We'll share that journey to a 'new normal' right here.
Some of the most amazing pictures we've seen were taken not only by local and national media, but citizens of Cedar Rapids. Here are a few of them.
