Isabella Santoro, the Future Owner of the Northside Diner that will be replacing what was once Winga’s Cafe in Washington, along with her uncle Randy Williams partnered in producing the video that was a part of the winning submission for the #IowansUnite CommUNITY Contest. Santoro also wrote an essay describing what made Washington special and how the community supports each other.

Santoro spoke with KCII about what makes Washington so special to someone that has lived in cities like New York, Madrid, Spain, and Florence, Italy. “I get asked that a lot because I could live anywhere, I’m an Italian citizen, and the EU is open to me. There is just something special about this town that you just can’t get in a big city or in any other small town. You can drive, ride your bike, or just walk anywhere in the city and feel safe and I know that anywhere I go I’m going to run into people who genuinely care about how I’m doing. I guess that the true heart of Washington is the people.”

The next step for Washington will be designing a mural with Iowa Artist Ben Schuh that will be placed in either downtown Washington or a prominent shopping district. Schuh, in the past, has created murals for various Iowa Cities, including Des Moines, Knoxville, and Beaverdale. Contact the Washington Chamber of Commerce for more information about the mural design process.