A fun share here about the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park from one of our fellow business journals down in Springfield, Mo. The publication’s editor, Eric Olson, along with editors and publishers from all over the country, visited Des Moines this past summer for our industry’s annual conference. Eric was impressed with the city, and specifically with the sculpture park and the way the area around the park has blossomed and attracted corporate offices. He wrote about it in a recent column urging Springfield business leaders to try to think bigger and bolder and replicate Des Moines (and other cities) with its own effort to infuse art in the community. He wrote: “The sculpture park in Des Moines is a place you jog through and are invigorated by the sights or where you spend a good part of an hour strolling, mesmerized. … And you come away talking about what you saw or refreshed with new ideas.” You can read his full column here: http://bit.ly/2dHyNQ7. His column jogged my memory of one of the first articles I ever wrote for the Business Record back in 2009 after an interview with Des Moines Art Center director Jeff Fleming just prior to the sculpture park’s opening. It explored what happened in other cities when sculpture parks were infused in a downtown. In it Fleming talked a bit about what he hoped it would contribute to the community: “It is the intangibles such as changing the aura of a community, changing the atmosphere of the community, that is so significant,” he said. “I think the possibilities are endless for what this can do for the city.” I think Kyle Krause and the future employees at the stylish new Kum & Go headquarters would agree. Here’s my 2009 article: http://bit.ly/2dFARt5