Indiana Members Credit Union Contributes $10,000 to Strides for Sarcoma for Cancer Awareness Card4/16/2026  Pictured left to right: Sophie Schneider, Board Member, Strides for Sarcoma, Lexy Mercury, Secretary, Strides for Sarcoma, Gabriella Conjelko, Co-Founder, Strides for Sarcoma, Amber Coryell, Senior Business Development Officer, Indiana Members Credit Union, and Julie Conjelko, Executive Director, Strides for Sarcoma. On behalf of Indiana Members Credit Union (IMCU) members, IMCU recently presented a check for $10,000 to Strides for Sarcoma as part of its exclusive Cancer Awareness Debit Card Program. IMCU members nominate a different local cancer-related organization to be the beneficiary each year. Strides for Sarcoma was the selected beneficiary for the past year, receiving a contribution for each signature based transaction made with this card from March 2025 - February 2026.
IMCU presented the check to board members of Strides for Sarcoma on Saturday, February 28, 2026.
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The City of Bloomington is launching a new set of Detailed Access Guides, developed in partnership with Bloomington-based AccessAbleUSA, to provide comprehensive accessibility information for 20 local destinations, including small independent businesses, cultural institutions, and essential community services.
Supported by the City’s Economic and Sustainable Development Department (ESD), this initiative marks a significant step toward closing the persistent information gap around accessibility. AccessAbleUSA’s research shows that 96 percent of people with disabilities look for accessibility information before visiting a location—but in most cases, that information is unavailable or incomplete. This initiative helps close that gap by making detailed, reliable accessibility information publicly available. The guides offer objective, detailed descriptions of accessibility features, enabling residents and visitors with disabilities of all types to make informed decisions and access Bloomington’s businesses and public spaces with dignity and independence. The City of Bloomington has completed the statistically valid sample for its 2026 Community Survey and is now opening the survey to all residents for broader community participation through May 15, 2026.
The initial phase of the survey focused on gathering responses from a randomized, representative sample of households to ensure statistically reliable results. With that threshold now met, the survey enters its second phase, allowing any resident to share feedback on City services, priorities, and quality of life. The survey is being conducted in partnership with aQity Research & Insights Inc., an independent research firm. All responses remain confidential, and results will be reported in aggregate form only. Residents can access the open participation survey at arisurvey.com/s3/Bloom26. While open participation responses are not included in the scientific sample, they provide valuable additional insight and context to help the City better understand community experiences and priorities. Results will be compiled into a final report and presented publicly following the close of data collection. The City encourages all residents to participate and share their perspectives. For additional information, please contact [email protected]. The City of Bloomington continues to expand and strengthen its urban tree canopy through strategic investments in planting, maintenance, and storm resilience. Bond funding and grants support the planting of native trees, care of existing trees, and proactive efforts to reduce storm-related damage.
Bloomington’s urban forestry program, housed within the Parks and Recreation Department, manages more than 24,000 publicly owned trees along streets, rights-of-way, and in City parks. In November 2023, the City received a $100,000 Inflation Reduction Act grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry Program, administered through American Forests’ Catalyst Fund. The grant, distributed in $25,000 annual installments over four years, doubled the City’s budget for proactive “storm resilience” pruning. This work focuses on removing weak or hazardous limbs before they fail during severe weather.  Join Us to Support Local Kids!
Duck Race Festival Saturday, May 2nd, 2026, 11am – 4pm The Foundation of Monroe County Community Schools and the Kiwanis Club of South-Central Indiana are teaming up to race ducks for a great cause! This free family-friendly event will feature: ✅ Fun Activities for All Ages 🎶 Live Music from Student Groups, Kiwanis Idols, All Abilities Choir, and Colonel Angus 📚 500-Minute Reading Challenge 🍔 Delicious Food 🚙 Exciting JEEP Show 🦆 Thrilling Duck Heats and Final Race The grand-prize winning duck receives $2,500 and every duck has a chance to win $50,000 Visit mccsfoundation.org/duckrace for more information and to adopt your ducks! Join us for a fun day while supporting local kids!  YOUR NAME MEANS DREAM
by José Rivera Obie Award-winning playwright May 7, 9, 14 and 16 at 7:30 pm May 17 at 3:00 pm Waldron Rose Firebay 122 S Walnut Street, Bloomington AI is hauntingly current and a topic that urges us to examine its impact. Will AI robots soon replace human caregivers for the elderly? With emotionally-charged narrative and poetic dialogue, José Rivera examines how we live and form our sense of self in a world that’s increasingly saturated with technology. It challenges all people, all identities and all faiths. How do we apply morals, values and ethics when we introduce machine over human? Applications are open for this fast-track program designed to help local residents start information technology careers
The City of Bloomington is hosting its fourth annual Earth Day celebration on Saturday, April 18, 2026, from noon to 3:30 p.m. at Switchyard Park, 1601 S Rogers Street. The event is free, family-friendly, and open to the public.
Busman’s Holiday and Peyton Womock will perform live music on the outdoor main stage. Attendees are invited to contribute to a sand mandala, a community art project led by members of Artists for Climate Awareness. The City’s Parks and Recreation Department will distribute free native tree seedlings on a first-come, first-served basis. BinaryHeart, a local group of Indiana University students, will be present to accept donations of computers, laptops, and tablets for refurbishment and redistribution to schools and underserved communities. Art for Earth Bloomington, a project of the Center for Sustainable Living, will sell donated art to raise funding for environmental nonprofit organizations. The event will also include food trucks, lawn games constructed from upcycled materials, an electric vehicle display, face painting, various freebies, and booths hosted by local environmental and sustainability organizations. Winners of the Environmental Commission’s 14th annual Linda P. Thompson Eco-Heroes Art Contest will be recognized on the main stage at 1:15 p.m between music sets. Submitted artwork will be on display inside the pavilion. Additional event details are available on the Earth Day 2026 event website bloomington.in.gov/sustainability/earthday.  AI search tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews are changing how people find local businesses. A new file called llms.txt gives you a simple, low-effort way to help those tools understand your website — and describe your business accurately.
This post explains what it is, why it matters, and gives you a free fill-in template to get started. If you want to skip ahead to the template, jump to the bottom. The 2026 Downtown Activation Program is an ongoing City of Bloomington partnership, led by Downtown Bloomington Inc., that brings together outdoor dining, pop-ups, and seasonal events to support downtown activity. Outdoor dining, which begins today—Thursday, April 9, 2026—and runs through November 9, is the first seasonal activation to launch under the program. Kirkwood Avenue will continue to operate as a shared-street model, as called for in the Transportation Plan, allowing pedestrians, cyclists, transit users, and motorists to share access.
As part of the outdoor dining component, participating restaurants may install parklets. Parklets are small outdoor seating areas created from on-street parking spaces, expanding dining options while contributing to an active, welcoming streetscape. Participating parklet restaurants this year include:
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