Dysart hopes pocket park keeps city ‘moving forward’

DYSART, Iowa (KCRG) - Some residents of Dysart are working to make small town life in Iowa more attractive, and they’re doing it one project at a time.

Catherine Wieck said she and others in the group Vision Dysart are “hoping to get more things going on Main Street.” Their most recent addition is a pocket park, which opened about two weeks ago.

While the park is small, it’s part of big hopes for the future.

“It’s pretty hard in Iowa, small towns are struggling. And to have a good quality of life and try to compete with amenities from the bigger cities to keep young families, you have to keep moving forward or you’re done. So we just feel it’s important to keep adding, adding to Dysart,” said Janet Wilson, another member of Vision Dysart.

Wilson, Wieck, and the rest of their group spent the last two years raising money to make this park a reality. The sewed aprons, baked bread, and made cookies to raise the money needed to match the grant money they applied for. The total cost of the park was about $28,000. “That’s a lot of cookies,” said Wilson.

These women said all the baking and sewing was worth it to improve upon the town they love.

“Keep it growing, keeping it vital,” said Wieck. “Keeping it a great place to live and to work and to play and to learn.”

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