Area projects receive Paint Iowa Beautiful grants

Last summer, when nearly everything was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, members of the Pioneer Historical Society's board decided their building needed some sprucing up.

Their museum, located in the tiny Van Buren County city of Farmington, is a one-room church that was built in the 1800s.

'During COVID, we realized the building hadn't been cleaned in quite a while,” board Treasurer Heidi Schutt said. 'We cleaned and moved some things around but realized the walls need a lot of work.”

Schutt heard about the Paint Iowa Beautiful grant program.

The program is a partnership between Orange City-based Diamond Vogel Paint Company and Keep Iowa Beautiful.

The program provides free paint to a wide variety of public service projects throughout Iowa.

'I don't think the museum has been repainted in more than 50 years,” Schutt said.

The board applied for a grant to repaint the interior walls of the museum.

This week, they were notified that their application was approved, although there was a small glitch.

'We requested 14 cans of paint, but they sent four,” Schutt said. 'I hope that was just a typo. I have to get ahold of them about it.”

Schutt added that they will need to do additional work on the walls, including spackling some cracks, before painting can begin.

A spruce-up project in Columbus Junction is also receiving free paint.

Columbus Junction Public Library Director Mandy Grimm got word Tuesday that a project to repaint walkways at downtown intersections had been approved.

'A project was done several years ago where we painted the walkways at all the downtown intersections,” Grimm said. 'As soon as it was done, there were lots of positive comments. It adds a little bit of homeyness.”

Over the years, the paint has worn off, so the decision was made to apply for the grant.

'We want to freshen the whole thing up,” Grimm said.

They have not yet received word regarding when their paint will arrive.