In the year 2000, former Governor Robert Ray and Founder and Chairman of Casey’s General Stores Donald Lamberti finalized their plans to create a state-wide organization that would assist Iowa communities in making the state a better place to live, work and raise a family.  Born was KEEP IOWA BEAUTIFUL, the 23^rd state affiliate of Keep America Beautiful. 

“In celebration of the 20^th Anniversary of the founding, KIB has created an expanded photo contest with a pot of cash awards of over $2,000,” said Kevin Techau, KIB Executive Director.  

“This is a great way for Iowans to share what they like about Iowa,” added Techau.  “There are five categories to enter your favorite photo of what makes you proud to be an Iowan and captures the beauty and spirit of Iowa.”

The two-phase contest begins now with entry deadline on December 18, 2020. Each of the five categories will be awarded 1^st place: $100, 2^nd place: $75, and 3^rd place: $50.  

January 18-31, 2021,  the five first-place winners will be on KIB social media for voting and selecting the Social Media Favorite.  The winner will receive an additional $100.  At that time the Robert D. Ray Best of Show Awards will be announced.  1^st place: $500, 2^nd place: $250 and 3^rd place: $100.

Randi (Ray) Watson, Robert and Billie Ray’s eldest daughter, has agreed to serve on a panel of judges.  “One of my Dad’s favorite hobbies was photography,” said Randi.  “During his 14 years as governor, he and my Mother traveled to many places around the world and he usually had a camera hanging around his neck.”  Randi added, “Dad was so proud of Iowans and their efforts to make Iowa a great place to live.”

The five categories are:

• Iowa Landscape
  Capture Iowa’s beauty through depictions of Iowa’s landscape, including but not limited to: farm fields, rolling hills, and wooded forests.
• Iowa Water
  Feature Iowa’s beautiful water systems with depictions of Iowa rivers, streams, ponds and lakes.
• 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.
• 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. 
• 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!

Contest rules and entry guidelines are on KIB’s website.  www.keepiowabeautiful.com

Four Maquoketa homes were selected this week to be the first properties designated as Outstanding Homes of the Month. This new program is a collaboration of Maquoketa Hometown Pride and the city’s Property Maintenance Board. This new program recognizes residents for the pride they take in their homes and the contribution that doing so makes toward the betterment of our community.

The Outstanding Homes chosen for the month of May are:

• 803 East Grove Street, home of Deb and Larry Templeton;
• 216 North Arcade Street, home of Danny Miller;
• 311 East Judson Street, home of Joan Yanda; and
• 309 Thomas Avenue, a newly renovated rental owned by Steve and Kathy Klocke.

A colorful Hometown Pride sign marks these properties through the end of the month. The Outstanding Homes of the Month program will recognize four well cared for homes each month, one in each quadrant of the city using Platt and Main Streets as dividers.

“Property maintenance has been identified as a top priority of the City and of Hometown Pride. This new program is one small way that we can show our thanks and appreciation to those who have been contributing to the beautification of our community,” said Jessica Kean, 2nd Ward Councilwoman and Chair of Maquoketa Hometown Pride.

If you would like to nominate a home for recognition, please submit the address by email to [email protected], by Facebook message to Maquoketa Hometown Pride, or call the Jackson County Economic Alliance (JCEA) at (563) 652-4549.

Diamond Vogel and Keep Iowa Beautiful announced the grant awards for the 2020 Paint Iowa Beautiful program.  The program provides free paint to a wide variety of public service projects throughout Iowa.

“The partnership with Keep Iowa Beautiful allows Diamond Vogel to assist and work with many local volunteers that help build communities, making Iowa the number one state in the nation to live,” said Doug Vogel, Vice-President, Marketing, of the Iowa based company.  “Governor Reynolds will be signing a proclamation designating April as Keep Iowa Beautiful month and we are pleased to do our part by awarding paint to 114 community projects in Iowa.”  

Kevin Techau, Executive Director of Keep Iowa Beautiful added, “The Paint Iowa Beautiful program helps us increase our assistance to neighborhoods and communities in improving the attractiveness and beauty of where we live.  These projects definitely improve the beauty of Iowa, its countryside and its communities.”  

In the 17-year partnership with KIB, Diamond Vogel has awarded over 11,165 gallons of paint for 1,000 community projects in Iowa.

About Diamond Vogel

Diamond Vogel is an Iowa based, family owned company started in 1926 by Andrew Vogel.  It serves 13 states with seven manufacturing facilities and over 53 service center outlets providing Architectural Finishes, Industrial and Original Equipment Finishes and Home Decorating Products.  www.diamondvogel.com  

About Keep Iowa Beautiful

Keep Iowa Beautiful was established in 2000 by Governor Robert D. Ray and Donald F. Lamberti becoming the 23^rd State Affiliate of Keep America Beautiful.   It is a 501c3 charitable organization working with citizens, neighborhoods and communities in improving the vitality and cultural health of the state of Iowa.  KIB is helping build stronger communities to develop sustainable futures.  For more information see our web page at www.keepiowabeautiful.org

2020 PAINT AWARDS

CITY	ORGANIZATION	TO BE PAINTED	CONTACT
Afton	Afton Community Club	Commercial buildings	Mary Hill
Allerton	International Center For Rural     Culture and Art, Inc.	Christian Church,  Victorian House, &    Round Barn	David Wampler
Alta	Hanover Historical Society	Buildings on Historical Site	Gene L. Suhr
Armstrong	City of Armstrong	City Maintenance Shop	Tracie Lang
Arthur	Arthur Public Library	Children’s/Adult’s Section	Kailey Childers
Bedford	Bedford Area Chamber	Garage doors	Cole Walters
Belmond	Belmond Historical Society	Country school house	Larry Turner
Boone	Harrison Township Trustees	School house	Laura Loots
Calamus	Calamus American Legion	CALCO Community Center	Lance Goettsch
Shimek Forest	Friends of Shimek State Forest Equestrian Trails, Inc.	Picnic table tops and benches	Lora P Conrad
Carlisle	Chamber of Commerce/Carlisle Hometown Pride	Sidewalk mural	Gabrielle Breheny
Carter Lake	Carter Lake Improvement Club	Building exterior	Mitch Rasmussen
Cedar Rapids	Czech Village New Bohemia            Urban Main Street District	Mural on the Novak Building	Monica Vernon
Cedar Rapids	Indian Creek Nature Center	Pennigroth Barn and Sugar House	Jason Bies
Center Point	Town of Center Point	Fross Park restrooms	Molly Stuelke
Chariton	Van Allen Elementary School	School library & media center	Josh Morgan
Chariton	Chariton Public Library	Interior of the public library	Dawn Morgan
Cherokee	Cherokee County Fair Association	East Restroom Building	Peggy Corrington
Churdan	City of Churdan	Water Tower & Shelter House	Krystal Kempf
Clinton County	Clinton Co Agricultural Society	Livestock barns & Exhibits roof	Mary Stevenson
Clinton	Gateway Area Community Center	Children’s play area and murals	Theresa Rieger
Colfax	City of Colfax	Women’s Club Park Buildings	Wade Wagoner
Council Bluffs	Council Bluffs Area Chamber of Commerce	Various homes	Turner Morgan
Creston	Union County Development Association	Asphalt Art in Uptown	Mindy Stalker
Cumming	Cumming Hometown Pride	Water tower	Natasha Adams
Davenport	Unity House of Davenport	Historic home	Kelly O’Brien
Davis County	County Agricultural Society	Picnic tables and posts	Barb Cole
Dayton	City of Dayton	City Hall and Council Chambers	Sara Pieper
Decorah	Seed Savers Exchange, Inc.	Historic Cattle Yard Fence	Heather Haynes
Denison	Crawford County Women in        Business Impact Organization	Crawford County Fairgrounds	Rachel Desy
Des Moines	Blank Park Zoo Foundation	Blank Park Zoo	Amanda Nuzum
DeWitt	Kids’ Business of DeWitt, Inc.	Classrooms and bathrooms	Tricia Ludrof
Dubuque	City of Dubuque	Storm drains	Kristin Hill
Dunlap	Dunlap Mural Project	Bonsall Building exterior	Jill Schaben
Dysart	Vision Dysart/Dysart           Development Corporation	Street surface	Mary Behrens
Eagle Grove	Eagle Grove Chamber	Building in Commercial District	Sara Middleton
Elk Horn	Danish Windmill	Windmill’s Exterior Catwalk	Lisa Steen Riggs
Elkader	Main Street Elkader	Alley Wall	Kate Lower
Elkport	Immanuel Preservation Society	Church	Beverly Bahls
Emerson	City of Emerson	Downtown buildings	Stephanie Latta Mayor
Garner	City of Garner	Golf Course Club House	Daisy Huffman
Glenwood	City of Glenwood Parks & Rec	Park shelters, benches and dugouts	Angie Winquist
Glidden	City of Glidden	Various homes	Brooke Peterson
Goldfield	Stevenson, Inc.	Various homes	Scott C. Stevenson
Goodell	City of Goodell	Community Hall storage room	Daisy Huffman
Gowrie	Gowrie Public Library	Library	Lacey Spece
Greene	City of Greene	Buildings in the Business District	Marnie Schmidt
Guthrie Center	Main Street Guthrie Center	Williams Building	Laura Wolfe
Havelock	Hometown Pride Committee	Fire hydrants	Amanda Tripp
Hopkinton	City of Hopkinton	Wastewater Treatment Plant	Saarh Helle
Ida Grove	City of Ida Grove	Pump House	Heather Sweeden
Indianola	Warren County Historical Society	Warren County Historical Museum	Deb Taylor
Jasper County	Jasper County Gun Club	Trap Houses	Teresa Arrowood
Jefferson	Greene  County Christian Action Resource Center	Food Pantry	Shirley Haupert
Jesup	Boy Scouts Troop 95	Jesup Gazebo	Cameron Troyer
Keokuk	Great River Players	Kantamneni Building	Susan Dunek
Kimballton	Audubon County Economic Development & Tourism	New Genesis Art Studio	Sara Slater
Lanesboro	City of Lanesboro	Shelter house	Angie Richardson
Laurens	Laurens Hometown Pride	Trail signs	Hilary Reed
Le Mars	Le Mars Main Street Program	Olson Cultural Event Center	Richard Ziettlow
Linn Grove	Wonders of Nature	Nature Center and various homes	Marian M. McNabb
Lisbon	City of Lisbon	Dugouts and facility doors	Drayton Kamberling
Malvern	Mills County Fair Association	Various buildings	Mary Bolton
Marshalltown	Central Iowa Fair	Show Pavilion	Shannon Espenscheid
Marshalltown	Cartwright Downtown                Farmer’s Market	Open Air shelter	Trisha Wilder
Missouri Valley	Missouri Valley Chamber	Ice house building	Jeannie Wortman
Monroe	Monroe Hometown Pride	City Hall & Park Tennis Court	Kimberly Thomas
Montezuma	Community Development	City Common Spaces	Abby Hubbard
Monticello	Parks and Recreation Dept.	Picnic Tables	Jacob Oswald
Montrose	Montrose Riverfront, Inc.  (MRI)	Historic Old Berry Shed	Greg Ruth
Moville	City of Moville	Haskell Pool & Memorial Park	Megan Cross
Nevada	Main Street Nevada	Patton Building	Henry T Corbin
New Hampton	New Hampton High School	Culinary Arts Room	April Schmitt
New Hampton	City of New Hampton	New Hampton Community  Center	Karen Clemens
New Market	City of New Market	Community Center and City Hall	Angie Tracy
New Sharon	City of New Sharon	Picnic shelters and playground	Dianna Klinker
New Virginia	New Virginia Hometown Pride	Old Firehouse	Nicole Wilson
Newton	Newton Main Street	Benches	Erin Yeager
Norwalk	Norwalk Hometown Pride	Police garage	Michael Foss
Odebolt	Rural Legacy Projects	Rural Schools Museum	Carol Raasch
Oelwein	City of Oelwein	Park campground	Joshua Johnson
Onawa	Magic Depot Child Care Center	Magic Depot	Amanda Yanak
Oskaloosa	Fine Arts & Cultural Events	Murals	Diane Ottosson
Ottumwa	Wapello County 4H Expo	Dorm rooms	Lisa Richardson
Parkersburg	City of Parkersburg	Parkersburg Building & Depot Park Downtown	Aimee Allan/Chris Luhring
Pella	Historical Society/Museums	General Store	Valerie Van Kooten
Pleasant Hill	Parks & Recreation	Ralph Grant Memorial Stage	Rick Courcier
Pocahontas	Pocahontas Hometown Pride	Murals	Suzanne Dudley
Postville	Northeast Iowa Wellness and Recreation Center	Wellness Center locker rooms	Melanie Bauch
Prairie City	Prairie City	Storage building	John Lloyd
Reinbeck	City of Reinbeck Park Board	Shelter Houses	Julie Wilkerson
Riverside	Riverside Chamber of Commerce	Downtown Store Fronts	Russell Rogerson
Sac City	Sac City Chamber / Main Street	Various homes	Lance Wilhelm
Shelby	City of Shelby	Little Library and various homes	Karen Schlueter
Sheldon	Prairie Arts Council	Lynn  Township Country School	Karin VandenBerg
Sidney	Hometown Pride Fund	Mark Jewell Photography Building	Jonna Loewe
Spencer	Clay County  Heritage	Parker Museum & Duroe Building	Stephanie Horsley
St. Ansgar	Community Betterment	Historical downtown building	Sommer Falk
Stanley	Stanley Fire & EMS	Overhead doors on Station	Joe Bahe
Stanton	City of Stanton, Iowa	Mural and crosswalks	Jenna Ramsey
State Center	Development Association	School house museum	Everett Halsted
Story City	Story City Greater Chamber	Antique Carousel Pavilion	Karen Hermanson
Tabor	Tabor Hometown Pride	Tabor City Park Restrooms	Susan Shepherd
Urbandale	Urbandale Parks and Recreation	Culverts, fences, garden posts	Jan Herke
Vinton	Vinton Parks and Recreation	Vinton Skate and Activity Center	Matt Boggess
Walcott	City of Walcott	Crosswalks, stop bars, and curbs	Paul Stagg
Walford	City of Walford	Baseball Diamond dugouts	Janet L. Gann
Waterloo	City of Waterloo	Bicycle lane and bicyle boxes	Mohammad Elahi
Waverly	Leisure Services Parks Dept.	Storage Facility	Garret Riordan
West Liberty	Muscatine County Fair	Fairground buildings	Kelsey Morris
West Union	City of West Union	Crosswalks and bike shareos	Kathleen Guyer
Winterset	American Legion Post 184	Legion Hall	Jason Kems

Governor Kim Reynolds is proclaiming April as Keep Iowa Beautiful month.  The proclamation will encourage all citizens to help plan and participate in local programs that will enhance the cleanliness and beauty of our communities and state.  

Governor Reynolds will be present the winners of KIB’s annual awards program and three high school scholarships.

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Keep Iowa Beautiful award winners are:

First Trust & Savings Bank of Wheatland is receiving the 2020 Keep Iowa Beautiful Corporation Award for its outstanding corporate citizenship.  The financial commitments to local projects and encouraging employees to be involved in leadership roles on local committees are making our communities and our state a better place to live and work. 

Iowa’s County Conservation System is receiving the 2020 Keep Iowa Beautiful Organization Award for providing a better Iowa County through conservation, education and recreation making Iowa a better place to live.

Community of Maquoketa is receiving the Keep Iowa Beautiful Robert D. Ray Award of Excellence for the revitalization efforts through the Maquoketa CAN campaign.

Gerald F. Schnepf is receiving the 2020 Keep Iowa Beautiful Donald F. Lamberti Hometown Pride Vision Awardfor his many years of service as KIB Executive Director making Iowa a stronger and better place to live and raise a family. 

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The three Iowa high school seniors are enrolling at Iowa State University and University of Iowa.  The $1,000 scholarships are in honor of three pioneers in KIB’s 20-year history:

Molly Simmons from Yale attending Iowa State University.

She is receiving the Byers Environmental Scholarship.  Through educator Bob Byers leadership, KIB’s Litter-Free Scholl Campus program was started in NW Iowa.  His dedication to young people and environmental concerns was a driving force encouraging young people to help improve their community.

Lydia Johnson from Bondurant attending Iowa State University.

She is receiving Fultz Communication Scholarship.  William J. Fultz, founding KIB Board Member and artist, started an advertising agency that became the largest agricultural advertising agency in the world.

Patrick Taylor of Iowa City will be attending the University of Iowa.

He is receiving the Schnepf Community Service Scholarship.  Gerald Schnepf, KIB Founding Executive Director, spent 50 years working to make Iowa a better place to live.

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.

The Fultz scholarship is awarded to a senior planning on studying communications, public relations and/or marketing.  

The Schnepf scholarship is 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.

Keep Iowa Beautiful (KIB) is awarding three $1,000 scholarships to Iowa high school seniors who are enrolling in an Iowa college or university.  The scholarships are in honor of three pioneers in KIB’s 20-year history:

Molly Simmons from Yale attending Iowa State University.

She is receiving the Byers Environmental Scholarship.  Through educator Bob Byers leadership, KIB’s Litter-Free Scholl Campus program was started in NW Iowa.  His dedication to young people and environmental concerns was a driving force encouraging young people to help improve their community.

Lydia Johnson from Bondurant attending Iowa State University.

She is receiving Fultz Communication Scholarship.  William Fultz, founding KIB Board Member and artist, started an advertising agency that became the largest agricultural advertising agency in the world.

Patrick Taylor of Iowa City will be attending the University of Iowa.

He is receiving the Schnepf Community Service Scholarship.  Gerald Schnepf, KIB Founding Executive Director, spent 50 years working to make Iowa a better place to live.

The scholarships will be presented by Governor Kim Reynolds during a ceremony on March 23^rd at the State Capitol.  At that time the Governor will also be signing a proclamation making April Keep Iowa Beautiful month.  

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.

The Fultz scholarship is awarded to a senior planning on studying communications, public relations and/or marketing.  The Schnepf scholarship is 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.