Planting trees at Chautauqua Park
 / KTVO's Tess Hedrick
FAIRIELD, IOWA -- Dirt was being slung every which way at Chautauqua Park on Saturday as people of all ages came together to plant more than 150 fruit and nut trees.
This was all part of the kickoff event for the Hometown Rewards Program, a two year energy efficiency campaign put on by Alliant Energy with the city of Fairfield.
“Our goal is to reduce the city's energy use by 5,059,000 kilowatt hours in the next two years. So we've got programming that's happening; we've got all sorts of incredible things,” said Scott Timm, sustainability coordinator of Fairfield.
If the goal is met, Alliant Energy will provide the funding for installing solar panels on one of the city’s buildings.
“We’re doing all sorts of cool things in Fairfield in the next two years. This is just a great incentive for our city,” said Timm.
Mayor of Fairfield Ed Malloy and Alliant Energy Vice-President of Regulatory and Financial Planning Joel Schmidt spoke to the more than 250 volunteers thanking them for all their hard work.
Volunteers were treated to dinner catered by Hy-Vee and live music afterwards.