The Campustown business district has been in the news a lot in recent months. Our Campustown Renaissance has officially started, and between the new construction projects under way and exciting upcoming renovations made possible by the Campustown Façade Grant Program by the city of Ames, our business district will be vibrant and vital to Ames for another 100 years and more. 

Last week, Campustown was again in the news, and it wasn’t because a new business is opening soon. 

The immature and outrageous actions of a few have affected thousands of students, faculty, alumni, staff and Ames and Central Iowa residents. And the Campustown Action Association [CAA] supports the decision made by President Leath and his cabinet to suspend the rest of the official Veishea activities. The unofficial Veishea activities did continue, and many, many people worked long and late hours to make sure that the rest of the week stayed safe but fun in the neighborhoods surrounding our district and in the district itself. 

CAA would like to thank the Ames Police Department and the Iowa State University Police Department for the way they handled the situation on Tuesday evening [April 8] as well as the very long hours they put in the rest of the week. We would like to thank the Iowa State Patrol and the Story County Sheriff’s Office for their extra efforts last week. We thank the Ames Fire Department and especially the staff at Fire Station 2 for hosting everyone. 

We would also like to thank the staff of the city of Ames. Staff from the city manager’s office walked the neighborhoods and the district Wednesday through Saturday nights, engaging with our students and the number of out of town guests that arrived on Friday and Saturday. Also, thank you to staff from the Department of Public Works who very quickly got Campustown cleaned up early Wednesday morning and had our new light posts installed by noon that day. They also were already planning on doing sidewalk and street cleanings Thursday through Sunday morning and we appreciate their extra efforts. 

We would like to thank the over 50 ISU staff and members of the Government of the Student Body who were out Wednesday through Saturday nights, also engaging with our students and guests. Both the city and the university had these patrols already planned for Friday and Saturday nights of Veishea, so another thank you to everyone for changing their plans and starting two days earlier than we had planned. 

We would like to thank the Veishea Central Committee and the ISU staff that worked for a year to plan a fantastic and amazing Veishea celebration on Central Campus. Over 100 students are involved in the planning and executing of Veishea each year.

We would like to thank the Ames City Council members who came out and participated in walking through the neighborhoods and business district Wednesday through Saturday night. 

We would like to thank Haven Protection for their assistance in securing student housing and keeping the district safe.

We would like to thank the many ISU students and student groups who reached out to our office and the offices of the city of Ames this past week asking what they could do, how they could be involved in paying for the damages caused, how they could help with clean up, and what they could do to be of service. CAA would especially like to thank members of the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity and Delta Chi fraternity who arrived in Campustown at 7:30 a.m. Sunday morning for our April Make Campustown Shine to clean the district of litter and bottles.

We would like to thank the business owners of Campustown. Campustown is comprised of over 85 retail shops, restaurants, salons, professional offices, churches and nightlife. Veishea weekend is the busiest weekend of the year for our businesses as so many alumni and out of town guests arrive to celebrate. 

Thank you all. Campustown is proud to be a part of the Ames community and the Ames experience and we will continue our work to make it a great destination for people of all ages.

Thank you all for your tireless efforts.