On an early weekday morning in downtown Mason City, the community is buzzing with activity.

It's installation day for River City sculptures on Parade, a 1.7 mile loop that encourages visitors and residents to take a self-guided tour to appreciate public art.

Oh, gee.

Oh, cool.

How cool.

Is that?

It's cool.

The benefit of public art is not a new concept.

Multiple studies have shown that it drives economic development, strengthens engagement and can bring a sense of pride to residents.

Public art displays have exploded in popularity in a number of Iowa communities, including Mason City.

I think the fact that Condé Nast Traveler has twice named Mason City, one of the world's best cities for architecture, that put Mason City alongside Dubai and Miami and Paris and Istanbul.

And, you know, really the big boys.

And I think it started a sense of pride in our community that, hey, we've got something here.

River City Sculptures on Parade was founded in 2012.

They're a member of a program called Sculpture One Partner Network, a group of communities that include Mankato, Minnesota, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

We really wanted more public art in our downtown.

We have a growing reputation as an arts and culture community, so it seemed to make sense.

70 sculptures are installed along the route ranging in materials.

These were old pipe caps on.

A stainless steel handrail.

Sizes.

So what that does is it intensifies the reflective quality to it.

That's why it's so brilliant.

And subject matter.

It's a dancer, dancer pointing and inviting people to come and be part of whatever she's pointing at in this case, it's Mason City.

Artists from all over the country submit their work to be a part of the tour.

Once the artwork is selected, it will go on display for up to four years, rotating annually among the partner communities.

So for the artists, they don't have those shipping costs.

They don't have transportation costs.

Hopefully in that span of time, their piece will sell.

Be nice to have it here for a year.

Once we select the sculptures, then we have to decide where they're going to go and if they will fit.

Can we move it to here?

You want it back that way?

But it's really like a huge puzzle.

You know, it requires heavy equipment.

I mean, we've had to use cranes, we've had to use forklifts, especially the bronze pieces are really, really heavy.

And without the cooperation of the city of Mason City, we simply couldn't do it.

Now they take so much pride of ownership.

And we love that, you know, because this is really everybody's program.

The majority of residents in Mason City appreciate what the Artwalk brings to the community.

It encourages people to be more physically active.

It financially supports artists and it strengthens the town's artistic identity.

I think it's contributed to the cultural fabric of our community.

It's also helped artists to sell their work and become more well known.

So it's really nice to have my artwork showing in the cities.

It's fantastic.

It's a nice consistency and it's a lot of sculpture for us.

No, not a big city.

I mean, this it's hard work to get sculpture in.

Mason City is such a fantastic art town that it's really a thrill, really a compliment to me to be in the art walk here.

There's such a wonderful future here in Mason City, and I'm tickled to be part of it.