Eight things that make me proud in Cedar Rapids

 

Cedar Rapids sign, taken from the 3rd Avenue Bridge

Our big orange photo op is not one of them. I don't hate it, but I don't love it. Many other towns have already done it, so it's not exactly original, and writing your name on everything seems more like a sign of insecurity rather than pride. ("Gulf of America," anyone?) 

Do these photo ops age well? There's this one in New Bohemia from the ill-fated NewBo Evolve festival. It's still there, seven years later...

NewBo sign, 1300 block of 3rd Avenue SE

...and I took this picture of it in a snowstorm in January 2024, so maybe they do?

But I'm not here to complain about the sign. Really, I don't hate it. I'm here because my inability to appreciate its wonderfulness has led me to contemplate the things about Cedar Rapids that do make me proud. These are the things I show visitors and new students. I was going to list five, but I'm up to eight, and might have gone further, but I should get this written, and anyway what I missed might inspire you to make your own list!

Blake Shaw performs in CSPS courtyard,
October 2020

1. Arts and theater scene. Whether your art of choice is visual, musical, or theatrical, there's just a lot going on here. CSPS Hall, where I volunteer, has been showcasing eclectic music and art since 1993, and has been an anchor for growth in New Bohemia. The Cherry Building has regular exhibits of art by residents of its studios. There are several theater groups, and our local colleges feature all manner of fine arts productions. This is all on top of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, the Eastern Iowa Symphony, and Theater Cedar Rapids. There's a lot to appreciate here, most of it accessibly priced and presented. City of Cedar Rapids arts and culture page 

Group ride on the Cedar River Trail, May 2023

2. Bike/trails network. What Cedar Rapids has in common with the host cities for the last three Congresses for the New Urbanism is our bicycle network is progressing, and is just a few connections away from being fully functional. On my side of town, the CeMar Trail will create a direct, paved route from the core of Cedar Rapids to the center of Marion. The Cherokee Trail, when completed, will go from downtown all across the west side. Our separated bike lanes downtown were the first or second in the state, depending on who you're asking. Linn County Trails Association page 

Gazette offices, downtown Cedar Rapids
(two blocks from their old offices)

3. Cedar Rapids Gazette. With limited resources, the Gazette is a solid local daily (at least online) paper that is locally owned, a rarity in a town this size. They do not shy away from exploring, in both news and opinion sections, aspects of issues that don't fit the lines coming from the Statehouse or Chamber of Commerce. And their offices remain downtown, which goes far with me.

Clifford the Big Red Dog helped open the new
main library in August 2013

4. Cedar Rapids Public Library. I got my library card as soon as I moved to town, and have been a satisfied patron ever since. I always find something worth reading in their vast collection. The main library has endured the 2008 flood, at the time the most costly disaster ever suffered by a U.S. library; the expectation they will be a refuge for the increasing unhoused population; and a state government that is suspicious of its efforts to serve a diverse population. A new facility under construction will provide expanded services to the west side.

Interior, Craftd Coffee, downtown CR

5. Coffee. For whatever reason back in the 1990s, the big chains were late in colonizing our town, allowing a rich variety of local shops to emerge. The big boys are here now, but the locals are holding on, mostly in the core of Cedar Rapids as well as Marion and Hiawatha. They are places to sit a spell, enjoy free or cheap refills, and see friends old and new. I have my favorites, but the whole of the coffee scene is even more than its parts.

The Round Barn, longtime home of the 
Indian Creek Nature Center

6. Indian Creek Nature Center and city parks. More than fifty years ago, someone had the vision to establish a place on the outskirts of town where adults and children could learn about nature while in nature, the community could celebrate the joys of homemade maple syrup, and the staff could model sustainable land conservation. To this add Bever and Ellis Parks, the oldest and best of our mixed-use parks, which include natural areas as well as playgrounds and swimming pools.

Cultivate Hope Corner Store grand opening, 2022

7. Matthew 25. There are a lot of social service organizations around town, but this one, begun in 2006 by pastor brothers Clint Twedt-Ball and Courtney Ball, is distinctive. From the start they had the goal of working with the neighbors rather than merely working in the neighborhood (in their case, the Taylor and Time-Check neighborhoods on the near west side). They were forced to pivot by the 2008 flood, and have continued to change over the years in response to new challenges. They opened the Cultivate Hope Corner Store in 2022. With Clint's departure this year, leadership is passing to a new generation.

Ready for Food Truck Tuesday
at New Bo City Market, May 2024

8. New Bo City Market. Since its inception in 2012 it's been more of a food court than a market, but it's a food court unlike any other around, with a variety of ethnic offerings not found elsewhere in town. Some shopkeepers have been able to make the jump from a market stall to their own shop, proving the market's worth as an incubator as well. Their Friday night concert series is a summer tradition now. A capital campaign is underway to expand the size of the facility, including a grocery store, dental clinic, and meeting space.

Nature therapy, with homemade syrup

2025 has been miserable in a lot of ways, but this weekend the good people of Cedar Rapids could take comfort in a long-standing community tradition: the spring Maple Syrup Festival at Indian Creek Nature Center. Saturday was overcast but unseasonably warm--we might have beaten the normal high temperature by 20 degrees. The Nature Center announced on social media Sunday the total attendance over the two days was close to 3000, about 10 percent above last year.

Skies over the Nature Center grounds: If you look
very closely, you can see a kite in the sky

Saturday mid-morning the crowd was sizable but easily managed. The parking lot was very full, with cars spilling out onto Otis Road.

Parking lot, Indian Creek Nature Center

There was less competition for parking spaces farther away, for those willing to walk. I parked just off Mount Vernon Road, which netted me a pleasant walk in via the Sac and Fox Trail...

Trees along the trail, including derecho damage

...as well as sighting two unusual birds as I drew near. (I tried to identify them with the resources at the Nature Center, and guess they may have been red-breasted nuthatches. Many people know birds better than I do, but they weren't with me, so as far as anyone knows they were red-breasted nuthatches.)

Volunteers from the Carpenters' Union served pancakes and sausage

I sat in the main room next to a couple I recognized from events at Coe College; a lively young family of five presently joined us. Elsewhere in the room there were people from church, one of my sons' former teachers, my former physician (now retired), two former attendees of Corridor Urbanism meetings, and many many people I don't know. 

Volunteer Justin Voss kept us supplied with juice, milk, and coffee

For this morning, anyway, we all were comforted by comfort food and surrounded by nature. Maybe not everything will be okay, and things certainly will never be perfect, but for the moment we were together and all was very very good.

Obligatory food porn picture

Music by Sheila Stevens: I caught covers of Kacey
Musgraves and Starship

After lunch, looking through the picture windows 
at the Bird Sanctuary

SEE ALSO: 

"Making Sweet Connections to Nature," Indian Creek Nature Center, 26 March 2025

"Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Day," Holy Mountain, 24 March 2024

"Maple Syrup Festival 2016," Holy Mountain, 19 March 2016 [last one at the old Round Barn location]

Last year, there was snow!

Riding the Districts 2024

Gathering under cloudy skies at Prairie Park Fishery

This year's Districts ride featured clement weather, two of Cedar Rapids's arguably bikeable destinations, and the latest information on trails development. The ride was hosted by the city's Parks and Recreation Department. The roughly 15-mile ride began and ended at the Prairie Park Fishery, with stops along the route at Indian Creek Nature Center and Bever Park. 

Bever Park is along what will become the Interurban Trail from Cedar Rapids to Lisbon. Randy Burke, who has been with Linn County Conservation since 1979, said the trail has been in the works almost that long! There remain land acquisition issues, negotiations of the route with the towns of Bertram and Mt. Vernon, decisions about how to get under the north-south highway (US151/SR13), and "a lot of little things [and] design stuff... it's going to end up being a very expensive project." Ron Griffith, a traffic engineer with the city, said the Cedar Rapids section had federal funding through the Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization that will allow completion of that portion in 2029.

Posters at the Fishery showed trail development progress across the metro. I was glad to see updates on the CeMar and Grant Wood Trails, although sorry to see their expected completion has been pushed back about six months in both cases, so it will be 2026 before the CR-to-Marion loop will be all finished.

Ron Griffith said the Morgan Creek Trail on the city's west edge has been completed as far as Covington Road, and they are seeking bids on the next phase, which will be followed by fundraising.

The ride itself was mostly pleasant and occasionally complicated. I counted between 40 and 50 riders. Stephanie Schrader and Doug from the Parks Department got things going--I almost said "rolling"--at the Fishery, a relatively new facility on land donated just a few years ago by the Martin Marietta Corporation which had been the most recent owner of a long-used quarry. It now boasts a 1.7 mile trail loop around the lake, connection to the Sac and Fox Trail, and fishing piers three of which are ADA-accessible. 

They introduced City Council member Ashley Vanorny, who also welcomed the group, and gave a shout out to former mayor Brad Hart who was a fellow rider. Then Ron Griffith talked about the route and trail safety.

Nearly all of the four mile ride to the Indian Creek Nature Center was done on Otis Road, because the trail along the river was partly flooded with all the rain we had in May. We met at the Penningroth Barn, the dairy barn that served as the nature center's headquarters from 1973 until 2016, with which I have many fond associations.

arriving at the barn

They still have a few of the old exhibits.

Sarah Botkin and a pile of bark

Sarah Botkin, manager of the new headquarters down the road, explained the center's mission as "nature based education and land restoration." She said many other interesting things, too, but I was distracted by the dense squadron of mosquitoes, which embraced all of us like long lost friends. I guess the nature center is lower, wetter, and more wooded than my house!

Penningroth Barn

Most of the five-plus miles to Bever Park were on the Sac and Fox Trail, mostly okay, but occasionally soupy or sandy. A few of us had trouble maintaining balance, but no one was hurt. The crushed limestone surface held up under our tires, too. Eventually the trail will lead directly into Bever Park, but for now we did the same subdivision-plus-brutal-hill that the MPO Ride took in May. I know a better route, at least for individual riders, and next time I am resolved to take it.

At Bever Park, there were snacks...

...and the aforementioned news. And more snacks. Also water of various types.

I rode home from Bever Park. I live right down the street from the park, so I had started my morning by riding the planned final leg from Bever to the Fishery. I did a modified version of their route, via Memorial Drive, McCarthy Road, and Otis Road. None was difficult on a Saturday morning, but I would be leery of cycling that route on a weekday when there is a lot more traffic.

Most riders drove their bikes to the Fishery...

Prairie Park Fishery parking lot is spacious

...which for all its wonderful features is far from a low-traffic street or a transit stop. Same goes for Indian Creek Nature Center. So much of our trail development is car-dependent i.e. it assumes you will drive to the trail. The missing links on the CeMar and other trails can't be fastened too soon!

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Day

 

It seems I'm always ready for March to bring Indian Creek Nature Center's annual maple syrup festival, even when the last two months in the Midwest hardly qualified as winter. Then Friday came a surprise snowstorm, thick goopy stuff that arrived so suddenly the schools didn't have time to cancel classes. It was already melting by Saturday, but enough remained to lend some scenery to the pancakes and sausages. The Nature Center estimated Sunday that 2700 people came through the lines over the course of the weekend, which means the staff and volunteers served at the rate of 300 people an hour!

This way to the pancakes!

Hard at work over the griddles

Waiting for the next batch: Untimely equipment failure
created some brief backlogs

Refilling the sausage tray

It all plated nicely.

Syrup was made from the Nature Center's own trees.
Coffee donated by Caribou

Most of our party had seconds, which encouraged an after-breakfast hike:

Woodland Trail view

Along the trail:
The old Bertram Road bridge has been repurposed

Amazing Space building

McCarty Wetland

On a chilly morning, few if any people had their pancakes outdoors. There was plenty of room inside in the main hall, where we sat and where there was musical entertainment. People used the classrooms, too, where the ambience doubtless was quieter. We saw a few people we knew, and a lot of people we didn't. What a great place to see your community!

There were also demonstrations of syrup-making down the road at the former Nature Center space.

For the Nature Center, greeting 2700 happy pancake eaters, not to mention mobilizing two days' worth of volunteers, is a good way to promote the many ways it provides value to the community: trails, programs for all ages, acres of wild space, and modeling ecological living. I love the Nature Center, but I confess there are years where I go from maple syrup festival to maple syrup festival without ever getting back. It's good to be reminded that it's here, every day of the year, and doing a lot of good work.

This is particularly important as our warm winter signals the steady accumulation of climate change. I enjoy a clement day as much as anyone, but the last nine months have been the warmest on record worldwide, the oceans have never been this warm in human history, winters are getting warmer, and springs are getting earlier. Something is going down, something that we have only a partial notion of, and it's not going to be pretty. Or clement. It's messing with syrup production, too: this year Nature Center trees produced only 500 gallons of sap (last year they got 2000); the variability affects private producers, too, like Danno Potter of Garnavillo, who told the Cedar Rapids Gazette: It puts a lot of pressure on us. We can't be wrong.... I drink a lot of coffee in the morning thinking how I can (adapt) (Miller 2024). Coffee's going to be affected, too, of course! The Nature Center crowd knows all this, or most of them do anyway. They know we have to live with and in nature, not just put it on our pancakes, and even in a town where you can get anywhere in a car in 15 minutes.

Speaking of which, the Nature Center's remote location has given it room to expand in a genuinely unspoiled area, and to develop an impressive range of hiking trails on its large campus, but it's difficult to get there without a car. (This is shown by the jaw-dropping spread of parked cars during Nature Center events. Cars are bigger than people, of course.) As our metro trail network gets fleshed out, it will be easier to get there by bicycle, at least in the warm months. It's almost three miles from the nearest bus stop, at the Mount Vernon Road Hy-Vee, and there's far from being enough potential traffic to warrant extending the #2 line out this far. It's a conundrum.

Getting all those people there required a lot of cars

Indian Creek Nature Center is on Facebook and Instagram and in the blogosphere. Not on Mastodon, yet, however.

SEE ALSO: "Maple Syrup Festival 2023," 26 March 2023

Maple Syrup Festival 2023

 

A sure sign of spring, even on a blustery overcast day, is the annual Maple Syrup Festival at Indian Creek Nature Center. This year was the 40th such event, so we had even more reason to celebrate! I don't know how much of the metro population attends or volunteers during the course of the weekend, but it's well into the thousands, making this annual experience once that is shared around a pretty fair proportion of the community. The Maple Syrup Festival, along with Christmas, Pride and the Freedom Festival in the summer, and maybe some high school and college sports are ways we mark the year together.

Serving lines were short mid-morning Sunday

Beverages served inside

Bluegrass music

Obligatory food porn

a little early maybe? but it's 5:00 somewhere

Syrup is produced onsite
 (We're eating last year's crop)

The Nature Center promised "We won't run out of pancakes," but warned "We will run out of parking." It struck me as we ate in the auditorium that you and your family of whatever size could have easily found a place to sit down, but as usual cars were spread all over the property and down the roads. That shows, as if it needed showing, how huge a footprint cars require. It's the same at a Kernels game. I used to joke that it seemed like everyone at the game drove themselves to the game, then walked home and drove their other car to the game, but ha ha, no, that's how much space cars take. We need to stop taking all this for granted.

I also reflected, maybe because the day before I'd taken a group of students to the State Capitol in Des Moines, that semi-wild spaces like the Nature Center are at once a commodity (that we can sell to tourists), an amenity (that makes life in Cedar Rapids fun), and a space for nature. The Nature Center, as you can tell from their website, works really hard to make the fun educational, and nature education fun. And of course, the income generated by the Maple Syrup Festival helps pay for the year-round care they provide their property. Wild spaces are an unqualified good, though, and shouldn't require tourism to make us value them.

I'm not sure these days what Iowa values anymore--stay tuned for my annual pan-the-legislature post in about a month--but the Nature Center, in its quiet and subversively fun way, is doing great work in maintaining natural space, both for our use and for the rest of nature.

turkey vulture

forest slowly restoring itself,
but still scarred from the storm in 2020

fungi found a tree stump

SEE ALSO: "Urbanism at the Nature Center? Heck Yeah!" 23 March 2019