Dixon applying for grant to enhance its new pedestrian bridge, July 4 celebrations

The city of Dixon is working with the Dixon Park District to apply for a federal grant honoring the 250th anniversary of America’s independence.

The Celebrate America! grant program through the National Endowment for the Humanities is awarding 250 grants up to $25,000 each for projects that celebrate the semiquincentennial anniversary. If awarded to Dixon, officials plan to use the grant funds to market the annual Petunia Festival and enhance the new pedestrian bridge across the Rock River that is expected to be complete in June 2026.

[ Construction of Dixon’s $12M pedestrian bridge, Project Rock, kicks off with celebration ]

During a meeting Monday, the Dixon City Council approved a grant-required agreement with the park district that details how the funds will be spent and how the agencies will work together on the project.

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Construction on the Dixon pedestrian bridge continues Thursday, August 7, 2025, in Page Park. The city and park district are applying for a grant to enhance the bridge and market Petunia Fest. (Alex T. Paschal)

The agreement now goes to the park district board for approval. The board’s next meeting is at 6 p.m. Aug. 20 at 1312 Washington Ave. in Dixon.

The grant would bring in $22,000 from the federal agency and requires a city-funded match of about $22,000.

The federal money would be spent on marketing for the 2026 Petunia Festival and other Independence Day celebrations in Dixon.

The money from the city would be used to purchase materials to decorate the city and the pedestrian bridge, known as Project Rock. That includes a large 30-foot-by-60-foot American flag to be hung on the pedestrian bridge during the 2026 Petunia Festival. It also would be used to buy many smaller banners and pull-down flags to be hung around the bridge and Dixon’s major buildings, Dixon council member Chris Bishop said.

The total cost for those items is $5,888, according to the project budget in the agreement.

Also included is a landscaped garden featuring a 25-foot-by-25-foot retaining wall at a total cost of $5,500, according to the budget.

The wall would be built with the original limestone that was used for the old railroad bridge that the pedestrian bridge is being built on and would include a variety of plants and mulch, Bishop said.

“You might have noticed, if you’ve been walking around that area” near the bandshell off Page Drive toward the end of the bridge, that “there’s a lot of rock that’s lying in there. That’s actually some of the original rock that was used for that bridge,” Bishop said.

The last thing that the city’s portion covers is the purchase of a SeeCoast Binocular Viewer, which is similar to those at the bottom of Lowell Park in Dixon and costs $10,613, according to the budget.

“That’s our portion that we’re looking to do. Our city match would create all those things for us,” Bishop said.

For the federal funds, the city and park district will work with Discover Dixon’s marketing team to come up with an exact plan, but the idea is to spend those funds on social media, radio, Google and print advertising, as well as video production and banners, Bishop said.

Dixon’s city grant writer, Greg Gates, is writing the application and hoping to submit it by the end of August “to enhance the likelihood of success,” Dixon City Attorney Rob LeSage said.

“I talked to [Gates] today,” Bishop said at Monday’s meeting. “We’re in good shape. I think he’s pretty much ready to go.”