What happens when a nondescript city block transforms into a pop-up park in downtown Urbandale? It turns into a three-hour party with food, music, games and 700+ people who suddenly feel like neighbors.
“It also serves as a preview of good things to come,” said Clint Dudley, owner of Shade Tree Auto in downtown Urbandale. “The pop-up block party last October was a lot of fun and showed how lively this area can be. It was great to see Downtown come to life that afternoon.”
Dudley opened Shade Tree Auto in downtown Urbandale in 2022 and has been invested in the community ever since. In 2024, he joined the Downtown Urbandale Stakeholders Group. The group of nearly 30 local business and property owners, as well as residents, volunteered to provide guidance for city leaders as they developed the Urbandale Downtown Master Plan. The Group met every other month at various locations in Urbandale in 2024-25 to give feedback from the community to City staff.
“It has been very clear that people are passionate about downtown Urbandale and want to see it revitalized,” Dudley said. “In the stakeholder meetings, the city listened to people’s concerns and ideas about making downtown more of a destination, not just an area to pass-through,”…