The Making of the 2010 Keep Columbus Beautiful Earth Day Celebration

Sep 19, 2026

The Making of the 2010 Keep Columbus Beautiful Earth Day Celebration documents a sustainability-focused partnership between the University of Iowa Department of Urban and Regional Planning and the city of Columbus Junction, Iowa. The work supports community place-making while addressing changing demographics, immigration, and youth population loss. Over eight months, the project develops an approach spanning a communication assessment, community cleanup and beautification events, and youth participation aligned with Earth Day, culminating in practical execution.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages28

Reading Time10 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Welcome to Columbus Junction

The Beginning: Proposal Development

The 2010 Columbus Junction Earth Day Celebration

Communication Committee

Event and Workshop Committee

Youth Committee

Conclusion

Appendix

Appendix: List of Documents

The Making of the 2010 Keep Columbus Beautiful Earth Day Celebration 5/7/2010 Karl Burhop, Andrea Heffernan, Zak Hingst, Liz Levy, Suyun Ma, Ashley McAskill, Sara Snyder Introduction............................................................................................................................................ 3 Welcome to Columbus Junction............................................................................................................. 3 The Beginning: Proposal Development .................................................................................................. 7 The 2010 Columbus Junction Earth Day Celebration ............................................................................. 9 Communication Committee ............................................................................................................... 9 Event and Workshop Committee ..................................................................................................... 14 Youth Committee ............................................................................................................................. 21 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 25 Appendix: List of Documents................................................................................................................ 27 The University of Iowa Department of Urban and Regional Planning partnered with the city of Columbus Junction to promote sustainability within the community as well as provide us, second year graduate students in planning, with hands on training in our final semester. We worked with Mallory Smith and developed a project that not only aligns with the efforts and goals of the Keep Columbus Beautiful project but also works to combat the challenges of rapidly changing demographics, burgeoning immigration and loss of the youth and young adult populations being faced by many small towns across the country. We worked to help Columbus Junction create a sense of place within the community, which is critical to meeting these challenges and creating a sustainable community. Our project had three components – a communication assessment, community clean up/beautification events, and youth participation. Seeing as sustainability is our overarching theme, we planned our events to coincide with Earth Day in late April. The pages that follow provide a complete description of Columbus Junction and our work over the past 8 months from proposal development to execution. Welcome to Columbus Junction The City of Columbus Junction is located in Louisa County at the confluence of the Iowa and Cedar Rivers. The town was established in 1874 and was originally named Sand Bank. The town is known for one of the few remaining swinging bridges in the country; the bridge was built in 1886 to allow residents to easily cross a deep ravine between 3rd and 4th Streets. Columbus Junction’s history is deeply embedded in its proximity to the railroad – similar to that of many small Iowa towns. The railroad, along with farming, dominated the early history of Columbus Junction as well as its more diverse demographics. A common misperception is that the Hispanic population is relatively new to Columbus Junction but in reality, the Latino community has been in the area since the early days of the railroad. The first influx of Hispanic immigrants came to Columbus Junction in the early 1900s to work on the railroad. It is undeniable that the Hispanic population has put their roots down in this community as a number of area businesses are owned and/or operated by members of the Hispanic community. Columbus Junction has experienced a new influx of Latino immigrants recently as a result of thereopening of the local meat packing plant. In 1983, IBP acquired the former Rath packinghouse putting it back into production and

FAQs

What partnership created the 2010 Keep Columbus Beautiful Earth Day project?

The University of Iowa Department of Urban and Regional Planning partnered with the city of Columbus Junction, Iowa, to provide hands-on training for graduate students and to promote sustainability in the community.

What were the project’s three main components?

The project consisted of a communication assessment, community cleanup/beautification events, and youth participation.

Why did the team align activities with Earth Day in late April?

Because sustainability was the overarching theme, the team planned events to coincide with Earth Day in late April as part of the project’s execution.

Sep 19, 2026

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