Telling Iowa's Stories: Our Recent Clinton Features

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Gabi Torres: I love so much about this

town.

I love the people, I love the landscape, I love the

opportunities that are here.

It's known for the lumber barons that came and had

their mills here.

And one of the factoids you learn as a kid growing

up is like, oh yeah, at one point in time it had

the most millionaires per capita in the United

States or something, maybe for like a year or two,

but still.

And I think now we're known for our riverfront.

♪♪

Gabi Torres: I think that we're known for

our Eagle Point Park area as well.

And hopefully we're going to be known for having a

really incredible arts and culture scene here.

♪♪

Gabi Torres: I am a first-generation Latina

here in Clinton, Iowa.

So, my mom is from Argentina.

My dad was from Mexico.

And they met actually in Boston.

My dad came over to America to finish off his

medical training and my mom was here to learn

English and eventually life brought them here to

Clinton, Iowa.

I just feel so tied and connected to a place that

embraced my family and made them feel like they

could make this home and call it home and feel like

there was nowhere else they'd rather be.

Gabi Torres: I've always just been, I guess, what

someone would call a creative person.

I want to do something really drippy.

Gabi Torres: I didn't really start art as I do

it now until a lot later in my life.

Well, hot dog!

Gabi Torres: My dad was just like, you know, he

was really the one who gave me the courage to

really believe in myself and take the next step.

I am so stoked.

I might have just -- I might have a new series.

Gabi Torres: I was working as a marketing and

development director for our local YWCA at the time

and he was like, you know, anyone can do that job,

but not everyone can be an artist, and you should

just spread your wings and just see what happens.

He really gave me his blessing.

That really was a turning point in my life.

♪♪

The red, the blue, skip over one, the red and

then the other red, and that big one there.

That was from a show called Wild.

Gabi Torres: You know, this was the guy who was

like, you go to school, you become a lawyer, and

you follow this path and then by the end of his

life, right before he really got sick with

Alzheimer's he was just like, life is too short

and you have to live your dreams.

I just felt really compelled to try to use

art as a vehicle for doing something positive and

impactful.

And if I could make a difference, I should,

because that's what my dad would have wanted.

And I think that's really what he meant when he

wanted me to be a full-time artist, to do it

not just for me, but for other, for the betterment

if I could for our town, a place that he adored.

Gabi Torres: So, this past year has been amazing.

It has just been full of projects.

♪♪

Grow Clinton is just beyond excited to

celebrate Gabibird Art Studio and the second

annual reception opening of The Grove.

Gabi Torres: So, The Grove really came out of a

desire to create public art that would be

accessible to everyone and would be very immersive.

So, that's where I came up with the concept of

creating an art forest and that you could walk

through the installation and get as close to the

art as you wanted, you could touch it if you

wanted to, and that it would be an outdoor

experience so that way it would be free.

So, that's The Grove.

Gabi Torres: I look at empty buildings and empty

lots and I don't see ugliness, I just see

possibility.

To me, that is the best blank canvas.

It's like, how do I create beauty in a place that

most people consider ugly or an eye sore?

How do you change that?

My big love and passion project is the Paint It

Back Art Festival that Chris and I do together,

Chris Shannon, and we're creating this really

incredible vibrancy in a part of town that really

was needing that.

(train whistle)

Gabi Torres: You are here in

Clinton, Iowa at what we refer to as the Toyota

building.

(train whistle)

Gabi Torres: This building has

sort of just been sitting vacant for many years, at

least a decade.

And so, I had the idea, along with my partner, we

had an idea that we would try to, if it was going to

be sitting here, we could activate the space through

public art and through murals.

And essentially the idea was this, over one week in

August we would invite artists, both local and

national artists, to come and spend a week painting,

wrapping the building in murals.

Each artist is able to pick their concept and

theme.

There were no limitations.

The only real rule we had was that it was family

friendly and there was something for everyone.

But basically, this is just a big celebration of

this building and the revitalization of it.

♪♪

Gabi Torres: And I have to tell you, since

we've been working here it has been crazy.

The number of cars that drive by has increased.

I've even had a local business, the business

owner drove by to just say, this is awesome and

thank you because since you have been doing this,

my sales have increased.

This is why it matters.

It creates a sense of place.

It gives us an identity and I think can be sort of

an anchor point for the Lyons District and help us

move towards creating an arts and cultural district

here to attract visitors and sort of just get more

people to come and visit our community.

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Gabi Torres: Wildness, literally that

just came out of a desire to do a more intensive

collaboration with Clinton County Conservation, and

also to try to implement an artist residency.

So, not only am I creating pieces of art using

natural materials from their park areas, they

also were kind enough to give me a cabin as a

studio, which is really awesome.

♪♪

Gabi Torres: So, this idea, I was really

interested in figuring out a way to make art that was

less damaging to the environment.

I love working with acrylic and spray paint,

but it's also really toxic and terrible.

Ooh, we're going to have to wipe down that wall.

Gabi Torres: It really just stemmed from a desire

to be able to know how to make pigments and things

and to make art that was maybe a little bit more

environmentally mindful.

I'm not looking for perfection in any way

because it's not about that.

♪♪

Gabi Torres: I think maybe each piece

tells a little story and I might not even know what

the story is.

That actually looks really cool.

I'm pleased with that.

♪♪

Gabi Torres: My purpose and overall goal

is to use art as a way to create change and to make

a positive impact on where I live and my community

and the people who share this awesome place with

me.

♪♪

Gabi Torres: It has always been about my

town and how I can try to make a difference with my

town.

So, all of those projects are very much tied to

place in some sense.

So, The Grove was this park that we transformed

into an outdoor art gallery and made a little

art forest there.

Paint It Back obviously transformed a building.

♪♪

Gabi Torres: And Wildness is about our park

areas that we have here and then hopefully --

obviously the connective thread in addition to that

is these are places that we hope people will come

and see.

♪♪

Gabi Torres: Art can be the game changer

for a lot of places.

If you make something really interesting and

beautiful or just creative and unique, people will

come to visit it.

I just really hope that other people can feel

inspired and feel empowered to do things and

to just take those risks.

This story can be anybody's story, really it

can.

I've had a lot of resources and I have been

very lucky.

And there's also nothing special about me or what I

do.

Anyone can do it and I just hope more people will

because our towns are worth saving, our towns

are worth fighting for, our towns are worth

investing in and there's so much opportunity in

places like this.

♪♪

[Announcer] Good evening once again, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome back to NelsonCorp Field for your Clinton Lumberkings!

[Kohlsdorf] NelsonCorp Field was built on the banks of the Mississippi River in 1937.

Teams came and went until 1954 when the Clinton Lumberkings became a charter member of Minor League Baseball's Midwest League.

[Announcer] And now, ladies and gentlemen, here are the starting lineups for tonight's game!

[Jack Dahm] This is the 88th season for the Clinton Lumberkings, which is absolutely incredible.

They spent 84 years as an affiliate for Major League Baseball.

So, they have had hundreds and hundreds of people go through here who have made it to the major leagues.

[Announcer] Adding second at third base, number 14, Ben Swails!

(applause) [Jack Dahm] Unfortunately, when Major League Baseball basically cut 43 teams out of Minor League Baseball, Clinton was one of them.

[Kohlsdorf] After losing their MILB status in 2021, the Lumberkings joined the Prospect League, a summer ball club for college players.

[Jack Dahm] We play about 60 games in 68 days, so it's just like a downsized minor league season for our guys.

It's an opportunity for the players to go out and get better.

They call it the Prospect League because they're hoping that there's a lot of pro prospects out of here.

[Kohlsdorf] Though the game had changed, Clinton baseball fans didn't miss a beat.

♪♪ [Kohlsdorf] Spectators continued to fill the 5,000-seat stadium to support the next generation of athletes.

♪♪ [Jack Dahm] They're great baseball fans.

You're going to see everybody from young kids to 85-year-old people that have been coming to games just about their entire life.

[Jane Swearingen] My husband and I just started coming several years ago and enjoyed it and we came about every game then too.

When he passed away, my friends joined up with me and here we are for six years.

[Ashley Winter] We decided to come tonight because she has been waiting to see Louie since last season.

We love the atmosphere.

We love playing on the playground and the bounce houses.

There's just lots to do.

♪♪ [Jack Dahm] It's just a part of Clinton.

If you're here it he summertime, you're going to go to the game.

We've got the list of all of the players that played in Clinton that have made it to Major League Baseball.

I'm really looking forward to that first name that goes up there for the Clinton Lumberking that was part of the Prospect League.

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♪♪ [Kohlsdorf] In Clinton's downtown neighborhood, the city's past has been resurrected in a surprising way.

[Rachel Heise] We were always looking for an old church or a schoolhouse or a firehouse, anything that had fun, good, old bones that we could kind of turn into something.

And we happened to know a guy who knew a guy at the right time because when we came here, they were about to demolish this location and turn it into a parking lot, which when we walked in, we're like how in the heck are you guys going to turn this into a parking lot, it's so beautiful.

[Kohlsdorf] Great Revivalist Brewery first opened in 2020 across the river in Western Illinois.

After weathering the COVID pandemic, they were ready to expand into Iowa.

That's when the historic church caught their eye.

After about a year of renovations, the former house of worship was ready for its revival.

♪♪ [Rachel Heise] I show people pictures all the time and they're like oh, that's really cool.

And then they finally come and see it and they're like, the pictures did nothing for this place, you have to see it in person.

[Kohlsdorf] The building was originally constructed in 1898 as St. John's Episcopal Church.

Many of the original fixtures are still here, but with a new purpose.

Pieces of the pews and pipe organ were turned into tables, the alter now holds brewing equipment.

[Rachel Heise] That's the whole point in looking for a place like this.

We didn't want to come in here and turn it into the next IKEA looking place.

We wanted to utilize and bring it back to life and honor all of the history that is in this building.

[Kohlsdorf] While the building is historic, the brewery serves up a drink list and menu that are anything but old fashioned.

[Rachel Heise] We have a full soda line and then we have our tonic and then we have our energy drink.

We also make our own nitro cold brew coffee.

We have any type of beer that you would want from sours to darks to lights to reds.

If you can't come here and find something to drink, then I don't know what to tell ya honestly!

We have a full-service kitchen and we have a full-service pizza kitchen.

We have a nine-foot pizza oven that is wood fired.

♪♪ [Rachel Heise] We're just in our small little niche of the world here.

So, you're like, oh there's got to be other cool church breweries out in the world.

And it turns out there is a few, but there's not a lot.

We literally want to be a one stop shop for everything you need.

You can bring the whole family here.

You can bring your babies and you can bring your hundred-year-old grandmas because there's something for everybody whether it's food, drink, atmosphere or just the nostalgia for some of these folks to come in and just relive this that have been in this church before.

We left everything in here as is as we could as much as possible.

You never know how people are going to take to certain things, especially a church becoming a brewery.

That was a stumbling block and I think still is for some folks.

They don't like the fact that there's beer going on in the church.

But most people they are extremely thankful that we didn't let it get demolished and we were able to bring it back to life and give it a whole other purpose for hopefully another 50 years.

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