Iowa City Real Estate Blog

It's Senior Day at Johnson County Fair today if you want to head on over. I was there yesterday for Kids Day on probably the hottest day of the year... Okay, I don't think it was, but it sure felt like it! Most of the animals were exhausted from the heat. The cheeky little goat in the slide show below caught my eye - Apparently didn't want to miss a thing! If you haven't made it over there yet and want to know what's going on just scroll down below the slide show and you'll find the schedule for today and tomorrow. Want to know where it's at? Here are the Directions to Johnson County Fairgrounds.

This is a first for a slide show for me so if it doesn't work for you on your PC, just click on this link and it will take you to Picasa where you can view the photos on their server. Or.... You can head on over to my website ichomesforsale.com where I've posted the photos too...




Wednesday July 28 - Senior Day

• Classic Car Display
• Pickleball Demonstration
• 5.00pm Banned Wagon Group
• 7.00pm Bill Riley Talent Contest
  

Thursday July 29 - Veterans Day

• Chainsaw Display & Auction
• Pie Contest & Auction
• 6.30pm Skid Steer Rodeo
• 7.00pm Extra Credit Project Band
• 9.30pm Fireworks

You'll find more information at the Johnson County Agricultural Association website JohnsonCoFair.com.

OPEN HOUSE 2237 Oakleaf St, #3 Coralville Sunday July 25, 2.00 - 4.00pm

Updates galore in this spacious townhouse in Coralville. Come visit with me at my open house at 2237 Oakleaf St #3 and check out a condo with a difference in a fantastic central location. Vaulted ceilings in living room, dining room and kitchen - Freshly painted this week in a nice neutral color. New light fixtures, new ceiling fan AND new carpet in the entryway too. Priced at $124,400 this is a lot of house for the price with a 2 car garage and a nice fenced in common area. With just three homes in the complex this is a very small condo association with low condo fees too at just $65 per month! Directions: 22nd or 23rd Ave to 9th St to Oakleaf St

Located off 9th St it's less than 5 minutes to Coral Ridge Mall in one direction and 2 minutes to the Strip and Lantern Park Plaza in the other direction. (Hyvee, Hobby Lobby, Radio Shack etc. are at Lantern Park Plaza).

Bus stop is just around the corner offering a quick commute to UIOWA and UI Hospitals.

Rents are going up and condos are the best prices we've seen in years. What a great time to think about owning your own home! If you finance through one of our local banks you may qualify for their in-house 100% financing too! (Email me for contact numbers if you would like more info about that).

Come check this one out Sunday July 25 - I'll be there between 2.00 - 4.00pm.

Living and Learning. That's the tagline for the 2010 Johnson County Fair. It kicks off on Monday July 26 through July 29, 2010. Fun for the entire family. And 70,000 visitors every year are proof of that! Kids and tractors. Can you really imagine anything better? Well... maybe kids and fire engines, but it's a close call! I was there this morning. I'd say these photos depict the quiet before the storm... Next week it will be quite a different story...

Looking for the schedule? That's right here.

Directions to Johnson County Fairgrounds.

As part of Iowa City's Summer of the Arts Program we have a variety of events going on outdoors this weekend in downtown Iowa City. What's even better is that these events are FREE!

Friday July 16 you can catch The Recliners and Turkana at the Ped Mall. The show starts at 6.30pm and ends at 9.30pm.

Saturday July 17 MidWestOne Bank's Free Movie is Bring it On. It's showing after sunset at the University of Iowa Pentacrest, outside of Macbride Hall in downtown Iowa City.

Also on Saturday Poetic Rebound presents A Night of Dance from 6.30pm - 9.00pm. Location: Black Hawk Mini Park outside of Iowa Artisans Gallery at the corner of Washington and Dubuque Street.

You can find more info at Summerofthearts.org

Iowa City Aerohawks Radio Control Air Show, Sunday July 11, 2010 - 1.00pm - 4.30pm - Hebl Ave, Iowa City (Plenty of free parking available)

When it comes to family friendly things to do it doesn't get any better than this! The Iowa City Aerohawks are having their Annual Radio Control Air Show on Sunday July 11 - 1.00pm - 4.30pm. Events include a freestyle flying competition, helicopter demonstration, giant scale aerobatics and more. And as if this all wasn't enough to keep the kids happy, to top it off there's a candy bomb drop for them too!

If you were at the 4th of July Parade in Coralville last week you'll know The Aerohawks had an impressive float with the most amazing model airplanes on show. Now's your chance to see them in action! Gates open at 12.00 noon and the fun begins at 1.00pm. Bring a chair, there's so much going on you won't want to leave until it's all over at 4.30pm. Directions: Melrose Ave, 2+ miles west of West High School.

The 4th of July Parade in Coralville  - If you weren't there, let me just tell you to mark your calendar - You'll want to be there next year! Participants came from all our neighboring towns. Iowa City, North Liberty, Riverside, Tiffin, Oxford - Everyone was there. It was spectacular...This is how you celebrate Independence Day! Enough words. Pictures are better...Video will follow, once I figure out how to upload it without the quality deteriorating. (It seems the learning curve to this video thing is more than I expected - much more!)

It's Friday and it's 4th of July weekend - Lots of choices for things to do in Iowa City and Coralville this weekend... In Iowa City we have the Toyota-Scion Jazz Festival - a 3 day event from July 2 - July 4. In Coralville the 4th of July celebrations started yesterday already making it a 4 day extravaganza.

With all this going on, is anyone thinking of going to the movies this weekend? It's my regular day for looking at new movies so let me give you the lowdown on what your choices are this weekend just in case you are. As far as new movies are concerned, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse has been out a couple of days now and is sure attract a lot of attention - 4th of July weekend or not! I haven't seen any of the Twilight movies, but then I'm not a teenager. I'm definitely not in the demographic they are shooting for! They have quite a cult following so I'm sure they'll do well. Apparently Eclipse, the new sequel has pleased the critics more than New Moon, the last offering. I don't think it really matters though. Cult followers won't care. They'll think it's great no matter what.

The other new movie is The Last Airbender, directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The movie is based on the successful Nickelodeon TV series and it seems the controversial Mr. Shyamalan messes up badly taking it to the big screen. Who knows, maybe it's got a forgiving cult following too who will look past the poor interpretation of the source material. It wouldn't be the first time critics got it all wrong!

You can check the schedule for movies at the Coral Ridge Mall Movie Theatre in Coralville and the Sycamore Mall Cinema in Iowa City...

The weather is perfect and there's fun stuff going on in both Iowa City at the Jazz Festival4thFest. and in Coralville at And if neither of the above movies are your cup of tea Toy Story 3 is a safe bet for a fun time. The way things are going it might end up being the movie of the year!

I was going to skip mentioning the World Cup this week, since the USA and England are both out of it and interest is lower because of that... However... Brazil just got knocked out by the Netherlands! Pretty amazing stuff! And if you don't know too much about our football, let me just tell you that Brazil is THE team that has been in the most World Cup Finals and taken the most trophies home... Germany, ("my" team by extension through my German sons), is the next most successful team historically speaking and of course they're playing Argentina tomorrow. Exciting stuff, made all the more exciting by this turn of events with Brazil. Maybe Ghana can pull a surpise out of the the hat too. It would be great if there was an African country in the semi-finals.

Anyway, enough about football, let's get on with the celebrations...Whatever you're doing this 4th of July weekend have a fun one!  

Free, Family-Friendly events in Iowa City this 4th of July Weekend!

It's 4th of July weekend and one of the highlights of the year starts today with the Toyota-Scion Jazz Festival.  This is part of the Summer of the Arts program that provides support and promotes the arts and cultural events in the area.

This 3 day musical extravaganza runs through July 4. Along with the opportunity to enjoy some good jazz music, there's also the chance to enjoy some high cuisine on Culinary Row. Good music and good food, what more could you possibly want? Oh, I know... good weather! Well it seems we've got that one covered too with sunny skies and temperatures forecast in the 80's for the next couple of days - Fingers crossed the isolated storms forecast for Sunday stay away for the 4th of July Firework Display!

The tradition of the Summer of the Arts is to provide free, family-friendly fun events, so you expect plenty of that this weekend. FUN Zone will have some fun activities for kids between 4.00pm - 9.00pm on Friday and 12.00pm - 9.00pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Live music starts today, (Friday July 2, 2010), at 4.30pm with the United Jazz Ensemble on the main stage and the last performance is at 8.00pm with Bob Washut and the Dream Band, also on the main stage.

On Saturday July 3 the live musical performances begin at 1.30pm and the last performance of the day is at 8.00pm on the main stage with Roswell Rudd's Trombone Tribe.

The same goes for Sunday with live music starting at 1.30pm and the last performance at 8.00pm on the main stage is Dr. Lonnie Smith. It goes without saying that there will be a firework display celebrating the 4th of July after dark. It will take place at Hubbard Park and scheduled to happen after the musicians have finished their performances at the Jazz Festival.

Where exactly is all of this happening? Downtown Iowa City, along Clinton St and Iowa Ave. The main stage is at the Old Capitol building. You will find a complete schedule of events with details about who is performing along with where and when, plus a list of the vendors on Culinary Row on the Summer of the Arts website.

Photo courtesy of HHoran Photo Studio Iowa City

Coralville has grown in leaps and bounds in the almost eleven years I've been living here. During all that growth I'm happy to say it hasn't lost any of it's charm or sense of community. At this time of year you can definitely see that Coralville is built on hometown tradition. It's always been that way and this year's 4th of July celebrations are no exception.

The Independence Day celebrations begin today making this one long and fun weekend for all. Almost all of the celebrations take place at or around S.T. Morrison Park in Coralville. The event kicks off at 3.00pm on July 1 with the Carnival by Star Amusement with the Carnival opening daily through July 4 at noon.

July 2 you can enjoy a picnic dinner from 5.30 to 8.00pm at Morrison Park  with grilled food from Hy-Vee available for purchase. There will be free entertainment from 6.00pm to 9.30pm with the Stars of Tomorrow Showcase when area talent performs for an opportunity to play in Nashville.

On July 3 bring those lawn chairs and enjoy two free concerts. The fun begins at 6.00pm with The Mayflies and their followed at 8.00pm by The Nitty Gritty Dirt band. (I actually remember listening to them in my youth... Oh dear, I think I'm giving away too much there!)

Of course the biggest day will be on the 4th of July when you can fortify yourself with a pancake breakfast at Northwest Junior High from 8.00am until noon in preparation for a busy, fun filled day. Noon is when the 4th Fest Parade starts. All day long there will be activities for families to enjoy and in the evening you can enjoy more free music followed by fireworks after dark.

For a more detailed list of activities for this 2010 - 4th of July weekend you can check out the schedule of events and parade map @ Coralville.org


Photos of downtown Coralville, including Morrison Park

If you thought last weekend was a great weekend for movies then you're in for a real treat this week! The most anticipated new release of the year is coming out today and according to those who are "in the know" it lives up to the hype and some! Toy Story 3 is what I'm talking about of course. In 3D no less... Really cute story line too. If you're like me you're probably wondering where they could go with Woody and Buzz. Well, let me just tell you the makers had the genius idea of telling the story of what happens to toys when their owners grow out of them... Expecting to land in the attic the toys get shipped off to Sunnycare Daycare and it's there the fun begins. Of course they've introduced some new characters into the mix to keep it interesting. Of course Woody doesn't stay put and goes on walkabout. Looks like they've figured out all the right buttons to press, doesn't it? I'm sure they have and I'm sure they'll be rewarded at the box office!


You can check the schedule at the Coral Ridge Mall Movie Theatre in Coralville and the Sycamore Mall Cinema in Iowa City...


Jonah Hex is the other new movie out today. Josh Brolin plays the disfigured gunslinger/bounty hunter on his biggest adventure yet. The reviews are somewhat lacking. (And I'm being polite). Maybe the villain of the piece, played by John Malkovich can save the day... I wouldn't hold your breath though. There are too many good movies out at the moment to imagine this one making any headway. (What do I know though, it's not my kind of movie in the first place - not a big fan of blood and gore movies).


That's the big screen covered. On the little screen things are starting to get interesting with the World Cup. France seems to be losing ground and on it's way out of the tournament. Spain, one of the favorites got off to a rocky start losing their first match. And I got up at 6.30 am this morning to watch Germany have one player get sent off the field + miss a penalty to lose to Serbia. To add insult to injury this is the first time they've lost in a group game in the World Cup since 1986! All I can say is that I could have done without the excitement that early in the morning and I hope our other two teams do better. England needs to kick it up a notch, as does the USA. By the end of the day we will know whether they've managed to do that... By next week we will have sorted out the riff raff and should be seeing some quality soccer football.


Here's the schedule. Time shown is South African time - 7 hours ahead of us. (With an icon to change the time zone too). and football... If you're wondering what all the fuss is about. Tune in. A major tournament like this feeds on itself and as excitement breeds more excitement the games get better and better. Don't take my word for it. Watch it and figure it out for yourself!