Principal Financial Group Inc. and the city of Des Moines will host a grand opening ceremony for the Center Street bridge on Monday, June 28, at 7:45 p.m. The ceremony will be followed by a free concert by the Tony Valdez Band at 8 p.m. and a bridge lighting and fireworks show scheduled at 9:15 p.m. The pedestrian bridge is among the last pieces of the Principal Riverwalk project. To enter a drawing to be among the first to cross the bridge, click here..

The Iowa Smart Planning Task Force will hold its inaugural meeting tomorrow morning in Des Moines. The 33-member task force was created by the Legislature earlier this year with the goal of improving community response following the record natural disasters of 2008. It must submit a report to the governor and Legislature by Nov. 15 containing recommendations for establishing an effective planning and coordination structure and a framework for regional comprehensive planning and collaboration. The meeting will be from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Iowa Department for the Blind, 524 Fourth St.

Simpson College will host a groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of the Blank Performing Arts Center at its Indianola campus on Saturday, June 26, at 1:30 p.m. Simpson College President John Byrd, Fred Hubbell, chairman of the Simpson College Board of Trustees; Steve McLean, professor of theater at Simpson; and Robert Montana, managing director of Des Moines Metro Opera, will all speak during the ceremony, which is open to the public. The 17,000-square-foot expansion of the center, which is home to Des Moines Metro Opera, will add an elevator, expanded and accessible restrooms and increased handicapped seating as well as additional teaching and faculty space to the facility. Click here for related story.

Meredith Video Studios, the in-house entertainment and video production unit of Meredith Corp., announced that it has partnered with Graco Children’s Products Inc. to launch “My First Baby,” a series of “webisodes” for first-time parents. Hosted by television personality and first-time mother Jill Cordes and starring real-life moms, My First Baby launched yesterday and will run through February 2011 at www.myfirstbaby.com. Each of the 36 three-to-four minute webisodes will be syndicated to numerous parenting websites and broadcast on Meredith’s nationally syndicated daytime TV show Better and Parents TV, a video on demand channel.

Registrations are now being accepted for the workshop “Sustainable Planning – The Concept and Experience in Iowa,” scheduled for June 29 at the Holiday Inn – Downtown-Mercy Campus in Des Moines. The one-day workshop will include lectures and discussions on sustainable development in the morning, followed by a walking audit of downtown’s Sixth Avenue corridor in the afternoon Dan Burden, CEO and founder of Walkable Communities Inc., will be the keynote speaker. The cost is $85 per person and the registration deadline is June 24. Registration may be completed at www.1000friendsofiowa.org.