In this posting, I wish to focus on an important announcement and press release prepared by City of Dubuque Public Information Officer Randy Gehl significant to celebrating our past, present and future as a community:

“Dubuque, Iowa’s oldest city, will celebrate its 175th anniversary in 2008 and a $25,000 grant program has been created to encourage community-wide commemoration of the milestone!
       
The anniversary marks 175 years since the Black Hawk Purchase Treaty went into effect on June 1, 1833, and opened to pioneers a strip of Native American land 50 miles wide on the western bank of the Mississippi River.  This treaty legally permitted miners to “settle” in the area now known as Dubuque.
       
While the official settlement of the area, later to be known as Dubuque, occurred in 1833, other non-Native Americans were in the area long before that date.  Julien Dubuque, the city’s namesake, received permission from the Mesquakie tribe to mine lead in the area now known as the Mines of Spain in 1788.  He died in 1810, 23 years before white pioneers could legally settle the area.  The town of Dubuque was incorporated on April 3, 1837.  Iowa was organized as a territory in 1838 and did not become a state until 1846.
      
During the summer of 2007, the Dubuque City Council accepted applications and appointed an 18-member 175th Anniversary Celebration Coordinating Committee to facilitate broad-based community involvement, coordinate a calendar of events, and develop a funding process and award funds from a $33,000 budget to assist with events.

The committee is chaired by Mayor Roy D. Buol.  In the initial meetings, the committee’s discussions have included:
●  a desire to encourage existing festivals and special events to incorporate the city’s 175th anniversary into their 2008 events;
●  sponsoring one “Official Event of the 175th Anniversary Celebration;”
●  the development of a 175th anniversary calendar of “sanctioned” events designed to educate, commemorate, and celebrate the occasion; and
●  the creation of a special website (www.dubuque175.org) to serve as a central location to publicize events related to the 175th anniversary.

The committee has developed a special grant program to encourage community organizations and groups to develop a wide variety of projects, contests, events, and displays to commemorate the anniversary.  The goal of the program is to generate a wide variety of creative ideas from a diverse group of community organizations which will encourage citizens to become involved in the year-long celebration.  Priority funding will be given to projects that have broad community impact and historical significance.  

Grant applicants should categorize their project as educational, commemorative, and/or celebratory and can request no less than $200 and no more than $5,000. Eligible activities include, but are not limited to:

●  essay contests,
●  oral history projects,
●  visual arts projects (photography, video, sculpture, paintings, etc.),
●  photo and video documentaries,
●  special publications,
●  historic tours, and
●  special concerts.

The deadline for grant applications is December 15, 2007.  The committee will review the applications and announce awards in early January 2008.  For a grant application, or for more information, visit  www.dubuque175.org or call 563-589-4151.” 

         
As Mayor, I encourage and invite broad interest and participation to foster the kind of activities and events that will recognize our City’s successes over the past 175 years as we celebrate our heritage and communicate a shared vision for the future!