Urbanism at the Nature Center? Heck, yeah!

March in Cedar Rapids means it's time for pancakes at Indian Creek Nature Center! After a long winter and some heavy early rains, the day was sunny and bright and welcome. The annual Maple Syrup Festival, now in its 36th year, has grown bigger than ever since the Nature Center moved into its new space in 2015. When we arrived mid-morning on Saturday, over 1000 people had preceded us. Some of them are pictured in the pancake line above!

After our pancakes, we walked around of the trails on the Nature Center campus. We went for the hilly paths, because low-lying areas were still flooded.

Helga Mayhew, who was volunteering at the event, asked me, "So is this urbanism?" Yes, it is--Thanks for asking! Community is a hallmark of urbanism, and the Maple Syrup Festival is a highlight of the city's calendar, a one-weekend event that brings together people from all over the area. Not only that, but it mobilizes a huge force of volunteers, taking tickets, flipping pancakes, clearing tables and guiding people towards parking spaces. That's an even stronger community-building feature.

The Nature Center, located on a huge campus southeast of the city, exemplifies the priceless wild areas that have been under pressure from the suburban model that has dominated American development for the last six decades. The more we urbanize, the more land there is for farming and wilderness. The Nature Center has been a leader in preserving wilderness in the Cedar Rapids area, most recently adding the Etzel Sugar Grove Farm in rural Linn County.

The one way that I can imagine to improve the urbanism of the Maple Syrup Festival is to provide some transportation options. City buses don't run this far, and with the trails soggy-to-flooded the only way to get here is by private car. (We can argue whether Mt. Vernon Road is bikable. I say not.)

Cars were parked in lots and all along Otis and Bertram Roads. A shuttle bus was running people between the main building and the old barn (which itself served as the Nature Center for many years)...

..but you still had to drive out and park at or near one of the buildings. I wonder, given the increasing popularity of the event as well as the environmental mission of the Nature Center, if an alternative means of transportation could be devised?

SEE ALSO: "First Maple Syrup Festival in New Digs," 22 March 2017

[If you're reading this in time, the Maple Syrup Festival continues Sunday 3/24 from 8-12:30. The Nature Center is located at 5300 Otis Road SE.]