Iowa City is the county seat and largest city of Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time of the 2020 census the population was 74,828, making it the state's fifth-most populous city. The metropolitan area, which encompasses Johnson and Washington counties, has a population of over 171,000. The Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is also a part of a Combined Statistical Area (CSA) with the Cedar Rapids MSA. This CSA plus two additional counties are known as the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids region which collectively has a population of nearly 500,000.
Cedar Rapids is the second-most populous city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, 20 miles (32 km) north of Iowa City and 100 miles (160 km) northeast of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city. It is a part of the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City region of Eastern Iowa, which includes Linn, Benton, Cedar, Iowa, Jones, Johnson, and Washington counties.
Marion is a city in Linn County, Iowa, United States. The population was 26,294 at the 2000 census and was 41,535 in 2020, an increase of 58%. The city is located next to Cedar Rapids and part of the Cedar Rapids Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Olathe is the county seat of Johnson County, Kansas, United States. It is the fourth-most populous city in both the Kansas City metropolitan area and the state of Kansas, with a 2020 population of 141,290.
The music of Iowa includes such notable musicians as Rock and Roll Hall of Famers The Everly Brothers, Bix Beiderbecke, Art Farmer, Peggy Gilbert, Patty Waters, Mortimer Wilson, Thurlow Lieurance, Charlie Haden, Arthur Russell, Greg Brown, William Elliott Whitmore, Clarence Whitehill, Andy Williams, Meredith Willson, composer of The Music Man, and Alice Ettinger who was renowned enough to perform in Europe in the 1890s. Famed swing era musician and band leader Glenn Miller was born in Clarinda. Rock and metal bands from Iowa include For Today, Euforquestra, The Envy Corps, In Loving Memory, The Cassandra Disease, Hawks, Slipknot, Stone Sour, Radio Moscow, Modern Life Is War, and Unknown Component. The city of Walnut is home to the National Traditional Country Music Association (NTCMA), which produces programs for local radio and television in Iowa. NTCMA also operates the Walnut Country Opera House, which is a theatre and home to several halls of fame and museums. The town of Clear Lake is known as the place the Big Bopper, Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens took off from on the day they died; their last performance was at the Surf Ballroom. The Escorts are one of the first bands to be inducted into the Iowa Rock N Roll Music Association's Hall of Fame. Sioux City brought to the National scene The Velaires, and rocker Tommy Bolin. Also from Iowa is Black Iowegian heavy blues artist John-Paul Jones Group.
Ronald Joseph Livingston is an American actor. He is best known for playing Peter Gibbons in the 1999 film Office Space and Captain Lewis Nixon III in the 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers. Livingston's other roles include the films Swingers (1996), Adaptation (2002), The Conjuring (2013); and the television series Loudermilk, and Boardwalk Empire, on which he appeared in the fourth season.
Riley Smith is an American actor. He is known for his roles on television, such as recurring roles in the series 24, Joan of Arcadia, 90210, True Blood and The Messengers, and starring roles on the television series Drive, Frequency, and Nancy Drew.
Michael Emerson is an American actor who is best known for his roles as Benjamin Linus on Lost (2006–2010) and as Harold Finch in the CBS series Person of Interest (2011–2016). Other prominent roles include Zep Hindle in the horror film Saw (2004) and the recurring role of Cayden James on Arrow (2017–2018). He currently stars as Dr. Leland Townsend in the Paramount+ thriller series Evil (2019–present).
Alliant Energy PowerHouse is a multi-purpose arena located in the downtown area of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was financed by the approval of a voter referendum to allocate special municipal capital improvement bond monies, after several prior bond referendums to build a civic center failed between 1965 and 1977. The initial construction cost was approximately $7 million for the arena and facilities. The city approved an additional $1 million to build an adjacent multi-level parking facility connected to the center by a skywalk. The center is adjoined by a 16-story DoubleTree hotel facility built directly above the arena.
Kennedy High School is a public high school located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Kennedy was founded in 1967. The building was dedicated by Senator Edward M. Kennedy, younger brother of the school's namesake President John F. Kennedy. The school's athletic teams are known as the Cougars. It is a part of the Cedar Rapids Community School District.
The Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival was founded in 2001 to provide a venue for Iowa-connected filmmakers to screen their work for peers and general audiences. The organization's primary goals are to encourage independent filmmakers with Iowa ties to continue improving their craft, to provide a place to specifically showcase Iowa-connected films, present a unique cultural event to the community, and to offer networking opportunities for the purpose of strengthening Iowa connections in the film industry everywhere. It is held the first full non-Easter weekend in April, at the Collins Road Theatres in Marion, Iowa, a town adjacent to Cedar Rapids.
John Livingston is an actor and the brother of actor Ron Livingston. He is best known for playing Rand in the 2003 Sundance-winning movie Dopamine, Matt 'Bunz' Bernstein in The Sterling Chase (1999), and Walter, a love interest for Ellen DeGeneres in her 1996 movie Mr. Wrong, along with a wide variety of TV roles and other movie roles.
Joshua Coyne is an American musician and composer.
The Veteran's Memorial Building is located on May's Island in the middle of the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. It is a contributing property to the May's Island Historic District that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The building served as the Cedar Rapids City Hall until it was damaged in the Flood of 2008. The Building underwent a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark its official re-opening April 15, 2014.
Donald J. Canney was an American politician and civil engineer who served as the mayor of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for twenty-two years from 1969 to 1992. Canney is Cedar Rapids' longest-serving mayor to date.
Peninsula Pacific Entertainment (P2E) is a casino gaming company based in Los Angeles. It began operations in 1999, doing business through a subsidiary, Peninsula Gaming. Its holdings grew to five properties, until 2012, when Peninsula Gaming was sold to Boyd Gaming for $1.45 billion. Afterward, P2E continued to acquire and develop gaming properties. In 2022, it sold the bulk of its assets to Churchill Downs, Inc. for $2.8 billion.
Theatre Cedar Rapids (TCR) is a community theatre in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The theatre performs several stage shows every year, and offers acting classes. Each year TCR is seen by more than 50,000 patrons, who view the work of over 35,000 volunteer hours.
Jessica Swale is a British playwright, theatre director and screenwriter. Her first play, Blue Stockings, premiered at Shakespeare's Globe in 2013. It is widely performed by UK amateur companies and is also studied on the Drama GCSE syllabus. In 2016, her play Nell Gwynn won the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, after it transferred from the Globe to the West End, starring Gemma Arterton as the eponymous heroine. She also wrote and directed the feature film Summerland (2020).
Robert Byron Tabor (1882–1972) was an American painter. He began his painting career when he was 51 years old. His artwork has been featured in the Museum of Modern Art, the Joslyn Art Museum, the White House, and other places. Tabor's first major artwork was Vendue in 1934 and his last major one was Discovery in 1962.
