Keep Iowa Beautiful

10/09/2026

📸✨Flashback Friday to this winning photo from 2019!

All four seasons in Iowa are beautiful in their own way, but it’s tough to compete with autumn in Iowa when the color of the leaves start change. This picture, “Boone & Scenic Valley railroad Steam Engine,” submitted by Justin Rogers, which won first place in 2019, does an amazing job capturing that magical time in Iowa when the leaves are a mix of the green of summer and the orange, yellow and red of fall. 🌳🍁🍂

We would love to see your favorite season captured on film! Submit your photos in Keep Iowa Beautiful's Photo Contest today! 👇

https://keepiowabeautiful.org/photography-contest/

10/08/2026

A set of bleachers can mean so much more than a place to sit! 💙

Recently Mingo Hometown Pride completed their Paint Iowa Beautiful grant project: painting bleachers near the community basketball court near the Chichuqua Valley Trail. The finished bleachers will provide a cleaner, more welcoming place for families, residents, and visitors to gather while attending youth sports and other activities. But this project means way more than that!

According to Emily Perry, a Mingo Hometown Pride volunteer… “Beyond the physical improvements, this project is a great example of what Hometown Pride means in a small community. Through volunteer time and effort, we were able to take something we already had and give it new life. Our basketball and softball fields are gathering places where neighbors connect, families support our youth, and memories are made. Investing in these spaces helps strengthen community pride while demonstrating the impact that volunteers and grant funding can have when working together.”

Perfectly said, Emily! We couldn’t agree more! 🎨💙

Congrats to Mingo Hometown Pride on the completion of your Paint Iowa Beautiful grant project! And as always, thanks to your generous partner, Diamond Vogel, for funding paint and making transformations like this possible across Iowa!

10/07/2026

More pics from Keep Iowa Beautiful's staff road trip last week to visit Hometown Pride coaches and communities! Amazing things are happening all over Iowa...below are just a couple great examples!

10/02/2026

📸✨Flashback Friday to this winning photo from 2026!

Did you know that the Keep Iowa Beautiful Annual Photography Contest has a Youth Winner category? Now in its second year, the Youth Winner category was created to encourage young Iowans (grades K-12) to participate in the arts through our photography contest and celebrate their skills!

The photo highlighted today is from our inaugural Youth Winner, Zane Raza of West Des Moines. His photo “Driftless Falls” was chosen from many wonderful photos submitted by Iowa youth across the state.

If you know a budding photographer, please share the link to the contest with them!!! 👇

https://keepiowabeautiful.org/photography-contest/

10/01/2026

📸 October is Photographer Appreciation Month! 📸

THANK YOU to all the amateur and professional photographers who participate in the Keep Iowa Beautiful Photography Contest each year! We are so grateful to be a part of the hard work, creativity and dedication you put into capturing the best of Iowa!

Please visit our website and see all the winners over the decade! The talent of the photographers who participate in our contest is incredible!!!

https://keepiowabeautiful.org/photography-contest/winners/

Want to participate in this year’s contest? You can find the link in the comments!

Photo Credit: Enjoy a picture pulled from our archives! This is “Summer Sunset” by Justin Rogers, submitted for our 6th Annual Photography Contest. We are attempting to manifest sunshine with his gorgeous photo.
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09/30/2026

Road trip!!!! 🚗

Keep Iowa Beautiful staff members Andy Frantz and Lorin Ditzler hit the road this week! They visited Hometown Pride coaches in Eastern Iowa, and spent time in the communities the coaches serve.

Here are a few pics from their trip to Walker, Shellsburg, Luxemburg and Peosta. Stay tuned for stories about each of the communities they visited!

Visits like this are a great way for Keep Iowa Beautiful staff to see things firsthand so we can better support our Hometown Pride coaches and communities!!!

East Central Iowa Council of Governments
Keep Luxemburg Beautiful

09/29/2026

🥳 Congratulations Lake Park Hometown Pride! This is an incredible accomplishment and amazing example of residents, businesses, volunteers and donors rallying together to improve the community. 👏

🌊 $28,500 FOR OUR COMMUNITY POOL! 🌊

We are incredibly excited to share that $28,500 has been raised to support the Lake Park Community Pool! 🎉

That includes $18,500 raised through our Our Pool, Our Future event, PLUS an incredibly generous additional $10,000 gift provided to support the pool.

What an amazing show of support for something that means so much to our community. 💙

A HUGE thank you to everyone who made this possible—our sponsors, donors, volunteers, businesses, auction donors, event attendees, and everyone who contributed in any way.

This is what happens when a community comes together!

Thank you, Lake Park, for helping us invest in Our Pool, Our Future! 💦

We’ll be sharing more photos, individual thank-yous, and acknowledgments soon!

09/28/2026

We are excited to share a community grant opportunity from Keep America Beautiful and Dollar Tree! 🌳✨

The Love Our Community Recognition Award provides grants to recognize and support elected officials, including mayors, county commissioners, and other local government leaders, who developing creative, innovative, and effective approaches to addressing litter in their communities.

Funded by Dollar Tree, the award will provide $50,000 in total grant funding to help communities implement or expand innovative, data-informed litter solutions.

Do you know a local leader whose community in Iowa would be a great fit? Check out the grant guidelines and apply today! 👇

🔗 Link to apply: https://kab.org/apply-here/

09/25/2026

📸✨Flashback Friday to this winning photo from 2025!

If actions speak louder than words, and a picture is worth a thousand words, then a picture of an action must be a pretty big deal?!?! Well, we think it is. That’s why we dedicated a category to Iowans in Action for the Keep Iowa Beautiful Annual Photography Contest!

Show what makes Iowa great by capturing the spirit of Iowans as they live, work or play! Submit your best shots, now through December 11.

👉 Enter here: https://keepiowabeautiful.org/photography-contest/

📷 Photo Credit: “Fly Iowa Air Show” by Lee Navin, Honorable Mention in Iowans in Action in 2025

09/24/2026

Yesterday, Keep Iowa Beautiful hosted one of our quarterly “Hometown Pride Connect” webinars, geared at getting volunteers from Hometown Pride Committees across the state together for a learning and sharing experience.

The topic was “Get the Word Out: Marketing Tips for Hometown Pride Committees,” and was focused on helping committees promote their projects, events, and accomplishments. 📣

We were lucky to be joined by a panel of amazing speakers to share their expertise and experience. Thank you so much to the following:
• Jessie Shiels, Emerge Marketing Solutions – Keep Iowa Beautiful’s statewide marketing partner
• Lucinda Sperry (Designgoddess), Norwalk Hometown Pride
• Samantha McCandless (Blue Thistle Co.), Lake Park Hometown Pride

And thank you to all attendees, from Hometown Pride committees across the state, for your ongoing quest to strengthen your community’s cultural and economic vitality.