Representatives with Jefferson Matters recently attended a statewide event.

The Iowa Downtown Conference was held in Cedar Rapids earlier this week and Jefferson Matters Executive Director Matt Wetrich was one of the individuals that went. He said not only were there lots of Main Street communities, but other economic development entities and lots of speakers that were from Iowa as well as outside of the Hawkeye state. 

Wetrich mentioned one of the highlights was at the beginning of the three-day conference with the host of the event, Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA), and Director Debbi Durham talked about Jefferson being one of the communities that stood out to her with the public art and other aspects that show-off the town.

“Anytime you’re being talked about favorably from the director of the IEDA that is a great thing. We had her in town last fall and gave her a tour. So it’s really cool to know that stood out to her and that they’re recognizing a lot of what’s going on here.”  

Topics from the conference that Wetrich said were of interest is effectively using artificial intelligence to be time efficient and promotion improvements, installing more unique public art, and developing un-utilize spaces.