Community Development director has plans for Belle Plaine

BELLE PLAINE — Originally from Des Moines, Emma Peebles is loving the small town of Belle Plaine.

As executive director of Belle Plaine Community Development Corporation, she hopes to expand community support for Belle Plaine businesses.

Peebles has lived all over the eastern and southeastern United States with her contractor husband, Coy. In 2020, as residents of Alabama, the couple started a business making custom parts for off-road vehicles.

Two years later, in January of 2022, Peebles told her husband that she wanted to move back home. She’d lost two grandmothers and realized that her own children were missing out on knowing their grandparents.

Living near her parents became a priority.

Moving is normal for them, said Peebles, and Coy was OK with it. “Pretty much wherever I want to go, he’ll go,” she said. “He’s beautiful like that.”

Coy got a job in Cedar Rapids, and the couple looked for a house nearby. Coy saw a house in Belle Plaine on Facebook and suggested Emma check it out while she was in Iowa for her stepbrother’s wedding in May of 2022.

Emma drove around Belle Plaine and saw “all the wonderful things that were here,” she said. The couple took the house and moved to Belle Plaine in July of 2024. Emma was determined to be in the new house for her husband’s birthday.

Emma and Coy have three children: Emma’s stepson Braiden is 14 and lives in Alabama with his mother; Henley Blake is nine, and Rhett David is six. The two youngest attend Belle Plaine schools.

After moving to Belle Plaine, Emma began exploring as she always does when she moves to a new town. “You hunt out the shops. You see what’s around,” she said.

“We went to the pool quite a bit. We’re big into aquatics.”

The family also visited her parents in Des Moines, something they couldn’t do very often from Alabama and other states they’ve lived in.

“Last year I restarted the PTO at the school,” said Emma.

Having spent years as a stay-at-home mom managing a home, Emma found herself looking for something to do when her youngest became a full-time student.

Brittany Davis, another parent and a business owner and Belle Plaine Community Development board member, told Emma that Community Development needed a director. The job required “all the things you’re good at,” Davis told Emma.

Emma got the job and found that Davis hadn’t lied. “It is all things I’m pretty good at.”

Community development had been without a director for an extended period of time, said Emma. Everybody else is a volunteer.

“They did a really good job at knowing what they could do,” Emma said. They scaled back, focusing on community events, such as the July 4 celebration, the trunk-or-treat and the Cider Stroll.

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“That’s what they focused on,” and that was good, because it engaged the community, Emma said.

But Community Development is also about business and economics. “I grew up in a family of entrepreneur,” said Emma, “so I grew up loving, respecting and relying on small business.”

Communities rely them, Emma said. “Everybody’s success is tied in together.”

Emma wants to showcase the community and show what its businesses have to offer. “We have a lot of amazing businesses in Belle Plaine,” she said.

“I want to find resources and building blocks for businesses,” Emma said, whether they’re new or old. Everyone can learn. The business landscape is always changing.

Community Development also won’t limit its resources to businesses inside the city limit of Belle Plaine, said Emma. Anyone who has a tie to the community is welcome to work with BPCDC.

Davis has a business is in Luzerne, but her children attend school in Belle Plaine, Emma said.

Coy and Emma have a business in Chelsea.

“If you have an interest in Belle Plaine…, we would love for you to be here with us.”

Right now Community Development is conducting its investment drive. BPCDC is a non-profit and needs donations.

The organization takes donations from individuals as well as businesses, Emma said. It’s not a membership; it’s more like a sponsorship, she said. Businesses don’t have to pay to use the resources Community Development provides.

Belle Plaine Bucks

Community Development is bringing back Belle Plaine Bucks to encourage shopping locally. The bucks can be purchased at Belle Plaine City Hall.

They work like a gift card, Emma said, but they can be used only at Belle Plaine businesses who have agreed to participate in the program.

MidwestOne Bank redeems the bucks for the businesses.

“It’s kind of a way to encourage people to shop in Belle Plaine,” said Emma. Belle Plaine Bucks are a good gift, she said.

Emma is planning a social media activity in which people take photos of how they spent their Belle Plaine bucks, whether for a service or a product, and post them on social media. They’ll win more Belle Plaine bucks — maybe through a random drawing or how many likes they get.

Website

Peebles is also working on the website. She plans to update the directory so it shows more than name, address and phone number of businesses. She wants to add logos, photos of the storefronts and business interiors and quotes from businesses owners.

“That’ a huge process. It takes a lot of time,” Peebles said, but people don’t know what Belle Plaine has to offer, and it’s the job of Community Development to show them.

For example, Drahos Shoe Store doesn’t just sell shoes, it repairs them. And Don Drahos repairs zippers, too. Peebles’ son had a broken zipper on his coat, and Drahos fixed it for a fraction of the cost of a new coat.

“Saves you money and keeps money here,” Peebles said.