June 23rd Downtown Iowa City held their second annual, Downtown Block Party for an estimated 42,000 in attendance during the one night only event. Of the 42,000 in attendance there were attendees of all ages enjoying over 20 programming elements, including a sand volleyball court & tug of war in the middle of Washington St, multiple musical acts including main headliner Flint Eastwood on the Englert Theatre stage, silent disco, dueling pianos, fashion show and drag show.

“It was an absolute wonderful evening again this year”, said Director of Operations, Betsy Potter. “The weather was amazing and every inch of downtown was packed with people having a great time. The vibe was amazing, each programming element had thousands in attendance  and even more important, all of our restaurants and bars were busy from start to finish,” said Potter.  For the second year, the Iowa City Downtown District dramatically increased the programming budget to appeal ta diverse audience of attendees and to allow for additional locally-driven entertainment coordinated through downtown’s cultural venues including FilmScene for the Ghostbusters Alleyway Movie, The Englert Theatre Stage that featured Subatlantic, Sister Wife and Flint Eastwood, Iowa City Public Library’s Mario Kart Tournament, Iowa Children’s Museum’s Light Painting and Studio 13’s Drag Show. “The second Block Party was even better than the first!  The Library is very happy to be part of this great event that brings thousands of people of all ages to downtown for a fun summer evening,” said Iowa City Public Library Director, Susan Craig.

“One of our missions was to make it feel inclusive for all and we heard many times over, that we hit the mark! It has been amazing to see the response on social media, alone our Snap Chat filter had 180,000 views”, said Betsy Potter.

Attendees enjoyed eats and drinks from all of the downtown restaurants and bars, as they set up special stations directly outside their businesses with quick serve items and menus. The event heavily promoted the local economy of downtown businesses as there were no outside vendors allowed to be a part of the event. In addition to the huge economic impact for the downtown businesses, the event was fueled by community volunteers from various service organizations, charities, and non-profits with over $10,000 donated to the participating groups.