Photo Credit: Brian Abeling, Robert D. Ray Best of Show Winner
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LAST CHANCE TO ENTER—Keep Iowa Beautiful’s 12th Annual Photography Contest
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It’s your LAST CHANCE to enter Keep Iowa Beautiful’s 12th Annual Photography Contest! The deadline to enter your photos for this year’s contest is December 18, 2021. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to win OVER $2,000 in cash prizes!
Each of the five category winners will be awarded with cash prizes: 1st place: $100, 2nd place: $75, and 3rd place: $50. From January 17th -31st, 2022, the five first-place winners will be featured on Keep Iowa Beautiful social media for voting and selection of the Public Favorite Photo. The Public Favorite Photo winner will receive an additional cash prize of $100. The Robert D. Ray Best of Show Awards, determined by a distinguished panel, will also be announced at that time. The Robert D. Ray Best of Show award amounts are as follows; 1st place: $500, 2nd place: $250 and 3rd place: $100.
The five categories are:
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Iowa Landscape: Capture Iowa’s beauty through depictions of Iowa’s landscape, including but not limited to: farm fields, rolling hills, and wooded forests.
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Iowa Water: Feature Iowa’s beautiful water systems with depictions of Iowa rivers, streams, ponds and lakes.
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Iowa Cities: Iowa’s urban centers are hubs of history, culture, and beauty. This category features depictions of Iowa’s cities, street scenes, and urban landmarks.
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Iowans in Action: This category aims to capture the spirit of Iowa through depictions of the people that live, work, and play in Iowa. All means of action that can be captured: biking, running, fishing, hunting and hiking are but a few.
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Iowa Wildlife: Iowa is home to a variety of beautiful critters. This category aims to showcase Iowa’s beauty through depictions of Iowa’s wildlife animals: mammals, fish, birds, bugs and more!
A $5 fee is required for each photo entered. For contest rules and details, and to submit your own photo, visit our website.
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Previous Photography Contest Winners |
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1st Place in Iowa Landscapes:
Dave Austin
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1st Place in Iowa Cities:
Justin West
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1st Place in Iowa Wildlife:
Eric Williamson
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1st Place in Iowans in Action:
Wilford Yoder
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Derelict Building Grant Program Applications Open |
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The Derelict Building Program is available for Iowa towns of 5,000 or fewer residents’ to address neglected commercial or public structures that have sat vacant for at least 6 months.
FY23 application deadline is Friday, February 25, 2022 for applicants who are seeking funding assistance with conducting asbestos inspections, asbestos abatement, structural engineering analysis, phase I and phase II site assessments, building deconstruction and building renovation expenses.
The DNR Derelict Building Grant Program awarded grants to nine small, rural Iowa communities to help deconstruct or renovate abandoned structures, remove asbestos, and limit construction and demolition materials going to the landfill.
The DNR Derelict Building Grant Program was instituted by statute to help rural communities with populations of 5,000 or less remove environmental hazards, improve community appearance and minimize costs by recycling and reusing building materials through deconstruction or renovation of abandoned, derelict buildings.
DBGP funding is awarded annually on a competitive basis with cash matches required. Applications for the next funding round will be due on Feb. 25, 2022.
To learn more and start your community’s application click here.
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Clinton County Hometown Pride Walk of Fame |
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The City of Clinton Hometown Pride Committee announces the ribbon-cutting for the first public display of plaques for the Clinton County Walk of Fame Honorees for 2021 at Citizens First Bank of Clinton, 1442 Lincoln Way at 10:00 am on Monday, November 15th.
The bronze plated plaques of the seven inductees from the inaugural class of the Clinton County Walk of Fame were honored on September 19th at Eagle Point Lodge in Clinton. The plaques be will on display in the lobby at the main location of Citizens First Bank from Monday, November 15th to Saturday, November 20th.
The selection of the first location for the exhibit of the plaques, was made possible by the generous donation of Citizens First Bank to honor Veteran’s Day for several of the inductees. Three inductees in the inaugural class, Artemus Lamb Gates, Henry Langrehr, and Russell Volckmann were selected because of their highly decorated military service. They are joined by the other four inductees, honored for other outstanding achievements: Felix Adler, Linda Luckstead, Duke Slater, and Charles Toney.
Carrie Donaire, Marketing Director of Citizens First Bank thought that having the first public display around Clinton County in recognition of Veteran’s Day on November 11th would be appropriate. Donaire stated “We must not forget the call to duty these men made and the sacrifices they made on behalf of their country. Clinton County should be proud to call these inductees hometown heroes.”
The seven plaques will be displayed at different locations in the Clinton County to give residents a chance to see them at convenient locations. The next display will be at the Clinton County Historical Society Museum beginning December 1st.
In the coming months the Clinton County Walk of Fame exhibit will travel to other sites throughout Clinton County. For more information on the 2021 Walk of Fame honorees, and the future locations of the exhibit, visit www.thesawmillmuseum.org/ccwof.html.
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In Memory of John Karras: Keep Iowa Beautiful’s Karras Cart Initiative |
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We are deeply saddened by the loss of John Karras; Iowa bicycling enthusiast, passionate outdoorsman, and friend of Keep Iowa Beautiful. John, along with fellow Des Moines Register Columnist Donald Kaul, founded the now-famous bike ride across Iowa—RAGBRAI— out of a passion for both the sport and the natural beauty of Iowa’s countryside. Beyond his legacy of RAGBRAI, John and his wife Ann enjoyed a rich life full of adventure and music, surrounded by the ones they love.
In memory of John, RAYGUN has teamed up with Keep Iowa Beautiful to feature two new shirts featuring John’s legendary quotations. Tim Lane, long-time friend of the bicycling legend, assisted with the design of the shirts, saying “John’s passion of cycling was fueled by the beauty of the Iowa countryside and people. He also possessed a great sense of humor into his 90s. These shirts honor his passion and help assist Keep Iowa Beautiful with their mission to maintain our natural beauty.”
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RAYGUN shirts in honor of John Karras
A portion of the shirt sales will go to support Keep Iowa Beautiful’s new “Karras Cart” initiative, which provides utility carts, equipped with litter and waste removal equipment (bags and grabbers) attachable to bikes, to communities and bike clubs across Iowa. These carts will help local municipalities keep their bike trails, parks, and natural areas litter-free and beautiful!
We hope you will join us in honoring John’s memory. A celebration of life will be planned for spring 2022 with dates to be determined. In lieu of flowers, the Karras family has requested memorial donations be directed to the Des Moines Bicycle Collective at dsmstreetcollective.org/donate or @Street-Collective on Venmo.com.
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IMPORTANT: Keep Iowa Beautiful Application Deadlines Approaching! |
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Keep Iowa Beautiful Annual High School Senior Scholarships
Keep Iowa Beautiful will award three $1,000 scholarships to Iowa high school seniors in 2022 who plan to enroll in an Iowa college or university. The scholarships are in honor of three pioneers in Keep Iowa Beautiful’s 21-year history—Bob Byers, William Fultz, and Gerald Schnepf.
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The Byers Scholarship is supporting high school students who plan to enroll and study environmental science, community development, landscape architecture or architecture (historical emphasis) or community planning and sustainability.
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The Schnepf Scholarship will be awarded to a senior who has a record of community service and a desire to continue to support and contribute to the enhancement of the place they live and work. College programs could include community & regional planning and volunteer management.
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The Fultz Scholarship will be awarded to a senior planning on studying communications, public relations and/or marketing.
“KIB seeks to foster positive values in younger generations and reinforce them in older generations. We encourage respect for home, neighborhood, community and state,” said Kevin Techau, Keep Iowa Beautiful Executive Director.
Since the founding of the scholarship program, Keep Iowa Beautiful has awarded $51,000 to 61 students. Applications are due February 11, 2022 with notification in March.
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Paint Iowa Beautiful Grant
Keep Iowa Beautiful and Diamond Vogel Paint are pleased to announce the 2022 Paint Iowa Beautiful program. The program provides free paint to a wide variety of community projects throughout Iowa. Administered through Keep Iowa Beautiful with the paint provided by the Diamond Vogel Paint Company.
“The partnership with Keep Iowa Beautiful allows Diamond Vogel to assist and work with many local volunteers that help build communities, making Iowa a great place to live,” said Doug Vogel, Vice President, Marketing, of the Iowa based company. “This is a great opportunity for Iowans to improve the attractiveness of their community.”
Kevin Techau, Executive Director of Keep Iowa Beautiful added, “The Paint Iowa Beautiful program helps increase our assistance to communities, neighborhoods, historic projects and volunteer organizations improve attractiveness and beauty across Iowa.”
In the 19-year partnership with Keep Iowa Beautiful, Diamond Vogel has awarded over 11,860 gallons of paint for 1,132 community projects in Iowa.
The online grant application is now open to Iowans and can be completed and submitted by February 14, 2022.
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A Season for Giving—Make Your Year-End Gift to Keep Iowa Beautiful! |
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As 2021 comes to an end, we want to thank you for all your support of our efforts to improve Iowa’s appearance, sustainability, and cultural vitality! This year alone, we have expanded our Hometown Pride program to more communities across Iowa, sponsored 39 Pick-Up Iowa events across the state that resulted in over 2,700 bags of litter and debris being removed, and launched an exciting new “Karras Cart” program, which is sure to take off running in 2022. We are so proud of the work being done and it couldn’t happen without your generosity.
When considering this season of giving, we encourage you to lend your year-end support to Keep Iowa Beautiful to help us continue our work improving Iowa communities!
Donations can be made online or checks can be mailed to our office:
Keep Iowa Beautiful
2910 Westown Pkwy. Suite 302
West Des Moines, IA 50266
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When you see litter happening on Iowa’s roadways from a vehicle, Call 1-888-665-4887
Please provide as much detail about the incident as possible:
- License plate number
- Time and specific location (street & city)
- What was thrown from the vehicle
- A vehicle description (color, make and model)
Call 1.888.NOLITTR (1-888-665-4887) to report littering from a vehicle.
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Social Media Submissions
Keep Iowa Beautiful wants to share your community’s good news!
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Are you proud of a completed project in your town? Do you want to show off a new mural in your downtown? Did you host a fun, exciting event for your community? We want to know about it!
Click on the button below to share short descriptions of events, projects, or news from your town! You can include pictures and captions as well. Keep Iowa Beautiful will share your post on our social media!
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KEEP IOWA BEAUTIFUL
2910 Westown Parkway, Suite 302 | West Des Moines, IA 50266
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