Success (7)

Fairfield Thinks Inclusively

It's midday on a Wednesday, and you may have to circle the town square twice to find a parking spot. Men in business suits and 20-somethings with computers crowd sidewalk tables outside restaurants and coffee shops. Yes, there's the old Gimble's jewelry store. Yes, there's the familiar brick courthouse. But present also are the Ayurvedic cuisine, the aromatherapy, and the Jingui Golden Shield Qi Gong. Fairfield offers an unusual-for-Iowa blend of traditional and new cultures.

Maharishi University has put Fairfield on many people's maps, but community-wide changes in the last decade have been a force for transformation in this southeast Iowa town of 9,464. Jefferson County's county seat today boasts a diversified business economy that emphasizes entrepreneurship, the arts, and sustainability.

You can still drive from one edge to the other in about five minutes; however, Fairfield doesn't feel rural. As in Elkader and Adams County, it's attitude, not population numbers, that drives success.

“We believe that all things are possible through a community working in harmony,” says Ed Malloy, who came to Fairfield from Long Island in 1980 and has been mayor since 2001. “We're fortunate to have a diverse community. We value the resources of our diversity and welcome their participation.”

The new ideas generated by all the new immigrants— from across the United States and around the world — created challenges for traditional Fairfield. Malloy acknowledges that Fairfield was once viewed as a split community. “That image is 85 percent gone,” he says. Getting everyone to the table helped.

(Read more about Success in Rural Iowa)

Fairfield, with less than 9,500 residents, doesn't feel rural. Diversity, culture, and sustainability permeate the town, where Revelations Cafe (above) attracts a steady crowd for vegan pizza and organic espresso.

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