Courier Progress Edition - "Culture infusion"

Sunday, February 1, 2009 6:12 AM CST
Culture infusion
Museums add vibrance to downtown Waterloo
By MELODY PARKER, Courier Arts / Special Sections Editor
WATERLOO - With the opening of the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum and Phelps Youth Pavilion in 2008, downtown Waterloo is realizing its potential as one of best cultural destinations in the state.

“We’ve raised the profile of the Cedar Valley,” says Cammie Scully, director of the Waterloo Center for the Arts and Phelps Youth Pavilion. “There’s a lot of excitement in the community. There’s a whole renaissance that’s happening in Waterloo. This community is blossoming, and everything feeds into everything else, and the better we get, the more develops around us.”

The completion of the Public Expo, the reopening of the Dan Gable Wrestling Museum after devastating flood damage, new dining and entertainment venues and the eventual completion of the Riverfront Renaissance project are helping to poise downtown Waterloo for an additional increase in tourism.

“It’s obvious that it’s happening when you stand back and look at what’s been done already,” Grout Museum District director Billie Bailey said. “At our end, the Grout Museum District has opened the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum. A block away is Expo Plaza and the public market. Go another two blocks or so and there’s the Phelps Youth Pavilion. Go down Fourth Street and you’ll see that the streetscape is changing. There are fine places to eat with CU Restaurant and Galleria de Paco and a Mexican restaurant, Jameson’s Pub and Barmuda bringing a restaurant and entertainment downtown. It’s fun to have that start happening in your own downtown.”

More than 28,000 visitors have enjoyed hands-on activities and exhibits at the Phelps Youth Pavilion since its grand opening in April. More than 9,000 people have visited the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum since its November opening.

The $11.5 million addition to the Grout Museum of History and Science culminated a major fundraising effort that included more than 700 individual and business contributors, as well as a $1.5 million state Vision Iowa grant.

Bailey said reaction to the new museum has been phenomenal. “One local person told me, shortly after we opened, ‘This is wonderful. I don’t even feel like I’m in Waterloo.’ I take that in a positive way, that good things are happening here. Another visitor said the museum is as good or better than anything they’d seen in Washington, D.C.”

The museum devotes exhibit space to every major war in which Iowans have served from the Civil War to the present conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Displays also commemorate the five Sullivan brothers who died serving together aboard the USS Juneau during the Battle of Guadalcanal.

Bailey said what also has put the museum “on the map” is the breadth of Iowa veterans’ war stories found in hundreds of hours of interviews.

“It’s not just about the battles and military equipment, but about the people who went to war and the people at home,” Bailey said.

The Phelps Youth Pavilion is at the forefront of children’s art museums in Iowa and the nation, Scully said. Other museums may be installing children’s areas or adding activities, but the Phelps is totally devoted to children’s art. It is filled with interactive exhibits that are models for other institutions.

Visitors have come from throughout the United States to see the $6.3 million addition to the Waterloo Center for the Arts, Scully said. “We’ve had people from Chicago, Minneapolis and Omaha say they’ve never seen anything like this. In the Cedar Valley, children come with their school groups and then return with their families.”

Traffic also is steadily flowing through the Waterloo Center for the Arts’ exhibits and cafe, and the center’s profile has been raised. “We’re booked two years out for weddings and receptions and rentals. The cafe is catering lots of events. The gift store has a higher profile because it is a storefront and absolutely beautiful,” Scully said.

Adding strength to the downtown renaissance is a partnership attitude. “We’re supportive of each other, and there’s a lot of joint promotion and partnering on projects,” Scully said. “We’re all part of the mix, plus the historic homes and state designation as a Cultural District, and it’s a pretty rich environment filled with opportunities.”

Contact Melody Parker at (319)291-1429 or melody.parker@wcfcourier.com.

Courier Progress Edition - "Culture infusion"

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