City Of Johnston: Johnston Town Center Grand Opening

Press release from the City of Johnston:

August 24, 2021

The Johnston Town Center Grand Opening will be on Saturday, August 28! There will be family fun activities, food trucks, beverages, and live entertainment. Below is a list of activities that will take place during the grand opening.

3:00 – 9:30 p.m. | Food Trucks and Concession Stand

Food truck vendors, including Flame, MJays Asian A La Carte, Macubana Food Cart, Totally Rolled Ice Cream and The Eggroll Ladies, will be on-site throughout the day. The permanent concession stand building on the Johnston Town Center site will offer pre-packaged snacks like chips and candy, along with bottled water and soda.

3:00 – 5:00 p.m. | City Hall Tours

Tours will allow residents and visitors to see the new space and how the trees were reclaimed from the site and put back to features within the building.

3:00 – 5:30 p.m. | Splash Pad – Inflatables – Lawn Games

Enjoy the recently opened splash pad, inflatable obstacle course, and lawn games.

3:00 – 5:30 p.m. | Johnston Arts Council Tent

The Johnston Arts Council will provide family-friendly art activities, including lantern creation, finger painting, watercolor, chalk art, and an eco-print demonstration. Open to children of all ages (and children at heart)! Lisa Cooper, Johnston Arts Council President, states, “We are extremely excited to interact with our community members in an interpersonal setting and bring our love of arts and culture to The Yard at the Johnston Town Center.” The Johnston Arts Council is proud of our collaboration with the City of Johnston in commissioning Reinaldo Correa and Jimmy Navarro to create the iconic art installations for the town center.

3:00 – 6:00 p.m. | Fine Artists on The Yard

Four plein air artists will be scattered throughout The Yard, creating paintings of what they see within The Yard space. “En plein air,” is the French expression for “in the open air.” The practice of plein air painting allows artistic freedom and involves leaving the studio behind and experiencing painting within the environment the artists are creating on canvas.

3:15 – 5:00 p.m. | Dance Performances

3:15 – 3:45 p.m. | Kid’s Co’Motion, will perform “Bubbles,” which considers the relationship bubbles experienced during COVID-19, thought bubbles, the physics of bubbles, and the fun of bubbles.
4:30 – 5:00 p.m. | Dance Vision will showcase Johnston area dancers as they perform one of their award-winning routines.
3:30 – 5:30 p.m. | Paint with Jimmy
Jimmy Navarro, the artist behind the “Tree of Life mural in The Yard and known throughout the metro for his iconic murals, will be publically painting an additional canvas piece to auction off to support the Johnston Arts Council.
4:00 p.m. | Ripples Ribbon Cutting with Mayor Remarks
Ripples is a larger-than-life sculpture that was designed by Ames-based artist, Reinaldo Correa. This 4,000 pound fish is over 130 feet long. Mayor Dierenfeld and Reinaldo Correa will provide remarks on the importance of artwork within the Johnston community and how the design was chosen among many of those that were submitted.
5:15 – 5:45 p.m. | Story Time with the Johnston Public Library
The Johnston Public Library will host story time with Megan.

7:00 – 8:00 p.m. | Jason Walsmith (ticket required)
8:00 – 10:00 p.m. | Lantern Display
Created from small pop bottles, the lanterns for this display will be created from 3:00 – 5:30 p.m. at the Johnston Arts Council tent. These lanterns will be hung from the trees in The Yard, with the display beginning at 8:00 p.m.
8:30 – 10:00 p.m. | Maddie Poppe (ticket reservation required)

A ticket will be required for the following events: (No coolers or alcoholic beverages allowed. If you wish to purchase alcohol, you will be required to stay inside the fenced-in area.)

• Opening performance by Jason Walsmith (The Nadas): 7 p.m.
• Paper lantern parade: 8 p.m.
• Headliner performance by Maddie Poppe: 8:30 p.m.
• Fireworks display: 10 p.m.

This press release was produced by the City of Johnston. The views expressed here are the author’s own.