CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Survivors of Iowa’s devastating derecho windstorm on Aug. 10, 2020, can join together to mark recovery efforts during a community-wide event in Cedar Rapids.
The nonprofit Together We Achieve is hosting a Derecho Anniversary Festival from 4-7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021, at Greene Square in downtown Cedar Rapids.
See photos of the aftermath of the derecho
Live music, yard games, inflatables, face painting, balloon art, food and drinks will be featured at the free event.
“Together, we as a community, have come together during an extremely devastating time compounded by a pandemic to help our neighbors recover,” the Facebook event page for the Derecho Anniversary Festival notes. “Now is the time to celebrate what it means to be a Cedar Rapidian.”
The hurricane-strength windstorm uprooted thousands of trees, damaged cars and homes and tragically, killed three Iowans.
Winds of up to 140 mph also left hundreds of thousands of businesses and homes without power, some for a week or more, flattened an estimated 10 million acres of the state’s corn and soybean crops and upended cemeteries.
Iowa faced months of recovery in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and some residents are still struggling. Festival organizers hope the festival will bring the community together to commemorate recovery efforts that followed the devastating storm.
Related: Derecho victim forced to remove garden
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