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The City of Davenport and its community partners, including the Downtown Davenport Partnership (DDP), celebrated the rebirth of Kaiserslautern Square with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, Sept. 17. Kaiserslautern Square, located on 3rd Street across from the Adler Theatre, is a newly renovated outdoor recreation area. It is situated between the RiverCenter, the MidAmerican Energy Building parking ramp and Duck City Bistro in downtown Davenport.
“This park is really going to surprise people,” said Kyle Carter, Executive Director of DDP, which is an affiliate of the Quad Cities Chamber. “From its fun lighting and stage to the unique fog-feature - kids and adults alike will love - Kaiserslautern Square is now a place we expect to see plenty of new events held in the heart of downtown.”
Kaiserslautern Square originally opened in 1993 and was named for Davenport’s Sister City, Kaiserslautern, Germany.
The latest project is the result of a partnership between the City of Davenport and DDP, which led a fundraising campaign to refurbish the nearly four-decade old park area. Through DDP’s efforts, an initial $200,000 was raised from the private sector and general public to provide the seed money to push the project forward.
“This was an incredible community effort to bring the project to fruition,” said Davenport Alderman Kyle Gripp. “It would not have gotten done without help from the Downtown Davenport Partnership, the Bechtel Trust, Regional Development Authority (RDA), Scott County Regional Authority (SCRA), Sister Cities and Duck City Bistro. The newly remodeled K-Square reinvests in existing park space, strengthens our downtown neighborhood and pays homage to our long-standing relationship with our sister city: Kaiserslautern, Germany.”
Carter said the plan is to use Kaiserslautern Square for a host of community events, including DDP-sponsored activities, as well as make it available for others to rent. The recent Alternating Currents festival saw a number of performances held at K-Square. “We dipped our toe in the water with Alternating Currents,” Carter said, adding that he hopes it becomes an active, popular space for all types of events.
“The park’s complete transformation is yet another example of what we can do when the public and private sectors work in concert to achieve something greater together,” Carter said.
NEW DDP EVENT GRANTS
To promote the creation of new events and help existing events in downtown Davenport, DDP has launched a new Event Grants program, Carter said. The DDP grants are designed to enhance cultural offerings and mitigate event costs for property owners and businesses in the Downtown Davenport Self Supporting Municipal Improvement District (SSMID).
To be eligible, the event must be located within the SSMID’s boundaries. The program is available to help cover various operational event costs. Eligible costs for grant reimbursement include: security, road closures, barricade rental, porta potties, hand-washing stations as well as talent fees and other production costs such as stage construction, sound systems and lighting.
Grant request amounts cannot exceed 50 percent of the total qualified event costs (the maximum grant award is $5,000). Requests must be made more than 60 days before the event and applications will be reviewed by the DDP Business Promotions Committee.
Carter said the new grants should help spark new events across the SSMID, including the new Kaiserslautern Square, as well as help provide financial assistance for existing events.
Kaiserslautern Square was originally built as part of 1993 expansion of the RiverCenter, which led to a second new exhibit hall and meeting space on the south side of 3rd Street. The city-owned park had fallen into disrepair in recent years and was in need of renovation when DDP approached the City of Davenport four years ago about improvements, Carter said.
“The reimagined K-Square will be a great place for the downtown neighborhood to gather,” said Gripp, who was among the city leaders on hand for the celebration. “The sleek new design will be popular with concert goers and downtown business patrons while the first-to-the-area fog feature will be a big draw for families.”
For more information on DDP Events Grants, contact our team.
ABOUT SISTER CITIES
Davenport and Kaiserslautern became Sister Cities on June 10, 1960. Kaiserslautern was chosen as a sister city because of its close resemblance to Davenport in demographics, economics and geography. Kaiserslautern’s name comes, in part, from the city’s wealth of water and forest.
The Sister City relationship has spurred several partnership initiatives and cultural exchanges including: