Downtown Spring Clean Up Thursday May 12

Several volunteers connected to the United Way's Day of Caring will be helping CR Downtown District staff tomorrow in preparation for a busy event season! Some of this is weather pending but please feel free to contact us with questions!

Quinn

Downtown Clean Up Prepares Streets for Busy Event Season Ahead Project affiliated with United Way's Day of Caring 2011

May 11, 2011-Cedar Rapids, IA-The Cedar Rapids Downtown District reports that 45 volunteers and staff will contribute over 300 hours for a Downtown Spring Clean up scheduled for Thursday May 12th. Projects include flower and native Iowa grass bioswale planting, bench staining, bike rack installations, trail clean up and inventory of sites in need of additional clean up or repair. Volunteers will begin work at 8AM and be on site the majority of the day.

The annual Downtown Spring Clean Up originated through registration with the United Way of East Central Iowa's Day of Caring program. Day of Caring provides over 1,000 volunteers from local companies and organizations to complete a variety of service projects for local non-profit agencies throughout the community. A large portion of the Downtown District's 45 volunteers for May 12 include employees from Rockwell Collins affiliated to the Day of Caring.

Over 550 flowers including Iowa native grasses will be planted in sidewalk cement pots and along the temporary parking lot bioswale at the intersection of 1st Street and 3rd Avenue SE.

A collaboration among the Linn County Trails Association, the Cedar Rapids Downtown District and the City of Cedar Rapids made possible the purchase of twelve new bike racks for the downtown area. Traditional “inverted u” and wave style racks are scheduled for installation during the clean up in selected high traffic locations, including Greene Square Park.

The Downtown Spring Clean Up kicks off critical preparation for the tens of thousands of patrons anticipated to attend several downtown hosted events over the Spring and Summer months, including Downtown Farmers' Markets, Uptown Friday Nights, Freedom Festival and others. A full schedule of Cedar Rapids Downtown District events can be found at www.downtowncr.org.

## About the Cedar Rapids Downtown District: The Cedar Rapids Downtown District's mission is to cultivate and promote a dynamic downtown through business advocacy, riverfront enhancement, community development, sustainable infrastructure, flood recovery, and first-rate event planning for the benefit of the greater Cedar Rapids community. Get the latest on downtown news and events by visiting www.downtowncr.org or join us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.