Regenerative tourism harnesses the power of sustainable travel to transform places and communities for the better. In this series, we look at Midwestern towns and small cities that have leaned into tourism to help lift local economies and create destinations that travelers want to visit.
On the Mississippi River, just over 140 miles west of Chicago, Clinton has seen many cycles of boom and bust since its settlement after the Louisiana Purchase. In the 19th century, railroads and ferries were drawn to Clinton, located where the river narrows. Then timber companies bought up vast swathes of Wisconsin and Minnesota and floated logs down the river to Clinton sawmills. Wealthy from lumber, the town claimed the most millionaires per capita in the country in the late 1800s before the upper Midwest was logged out.
Agribusiness eventually supplanted them, but in recent years there were significant vacancies and empty lots in the historic downtown, which has 17 buildings listed on the National Historic Register of Places including the Van Allen Building by Louis Sullivan.
“We are an industrial river town. We don’t hide from it. It has its war scars,” said Matt Parbs, the vice president of economic and community development for Grow Clinton, a nonprofit devoted to improving the local quality of life. “We’re finding a way to leverage our stories and our assets in the last five to 10 years.”
The power of outdoor art
Recently, that lever has been art. Through initiatives both grass roots and public, Clinton has seized on the power of outdoor exhibitions to not just attract out of towners but to instill pride in the locals.
Those investments were capped with the spring unveiling of three oversized trolls made of wood and organic refuse by the Dutch artist Thomas Dambo. (Chicagoans may be familiar with Dambo’s endearing trolls from an exhibition of them at the Morton Arboretum that closed in 2020). As Dambo tells it, the three trolls — Warren, Helmut and Marvin — woke up one morning to find the forest gone. They knew the trees had been taken to Clinton and decided to steal them back. Dispersed around the city, the roughly 20-foot-tall trolls are engaged in tree hugging and thievery.
“My trolls carry a message of protecting the forest that are the lungs of our planet,” Dambo told the community in April during a presentation on the permanent installation.
Just a block from the site where Helmut carries a potted tree lie the mural-covered walls of an 8,000-square-foot former auto garage. In 2023, Clinton artists Gabi Torres and Chris Shannon had the idea to turn it into a rotating exhibition for street art, inviting muralists to come each summer and repaint the walls in an annual festival now known as Paint It Back.
“We thought, let us paint on it and cover it in murals and activate it with street art and see what happens,” Torres said. “At least we’ll make it beautiful.”
The August festival, now including events such as a fashion show, a classic car cruise and a painting contest between two artists, has grown from a couple hundred attendees to more than 2,000. This year’s event expanded to a new set of downtown walls.
Torres cut her teeth on the power of public art to transform a city in 2022 when she transformed a neglected pocket park downtown into The Grove (125 4th Ave. S.), which she calls an “art forest” of roughly a dozen framed paintings. It was so successful, the city took over its management.
“It’s changing people’s understanding of how art impacts rural spaces,” Torres said. “Unexpected, exceptional art in rural places like Clinton gets people talking and moves the needle.
Other things to do:
Explore Clinton’s seminal industry at The Sawmill Museum (2231 Grant St.), which maintains a hands-on water table for the kids. Continue your history tour at the Victorian-era mansion built by lumber baron George M. Curtis (420 5th Ave. S.).
Come in summer to catch the Clinton LumberKings, which plays in the collegiate Prospect League. Talented college players, hoping to attract Major League Baseball’s attention, stay with local families throughout the season. “It’s the best outdoor party you’re going to get all summer long,” said Parbs, of Grow Clinton.
The Mississippi remains a mighty attraction. Bike the 12-mile Clinton Discovery Trail along the Mississippi River linking bluff-top Eagle Point Park and downtown’s Riverview Park. Clinton County Conservation offers innovative programming such as sun printing with turmeric, butterfly tagging, tree walks and “herping” outings to look for reptiles and amphibians. It also offers eco cruises on a 24-passenger pontoon when water levels allow (Rock Creek Marina & Campground, 3942 291st St., Camanche).
Stop for wood-fired pizzas, craft beers and views of a detailed Italian mosaic at 7 Hills South brewery located in a restored Gothic church (238 4th Ave. S.).
Where to stay:
A throwback to the lumber boom, the Fisher House B&B hosts four rooms in a remodeled 1880s Queen Anne downtown (407 5th Ave. S.).