Keeping downtown beautiful just part of Rodriguez's job

BELOIT — Under Beloit’s councilor-city manager form of government, Beloit doesn’t have an official mayor, but Julia Rodriguez sometimes feels like an “unofficial mayor.”

“People honk and wave at me all the time. I do feel like the mayor,” Rodriguez said as she paused from her work at the corner of State Street and East Grand Avenue. “A lot of people, they’ll stop and talk to me. Sometimes their flowers aren’t doing so good, and I’ll give them suggestions.”

If you are up early enough, you’ve likely seen Rodriguez, a 1990 Beloit Memorial High School graduate, in her signature sun hat and sunglasses, tending to the various flower pots, hanging baskets and plantings that adorn Beloit for the Downtown Beloit Association.

Her route takes much of the day, but her goal is to be in and out of the State Street/East Grand Avenue area before 10 a.m. because the cart 
she drives to her various stops is fairly loud.

“I want to be out of the way by the time the businesses are setting up for lunch,” Rodriguez said.

If you haven’t noticed her working on the various plants, perhaps you’ve seen her at a baseball game at ABC Supply Stadium. She actually holds three jobs during the year. She keeps Beloit’s plants healthy, works for the Beloit Sky Carp, and when those jobs wind down at the end of the summer, she just ramps up her hours as a driver for a non-emergency transport company in Janesville.

It’s a lot to juggle, but Rodriguez says they all work together in a way. She’ll meet people from out of town at a Sky Carp games then see them on the street and give them suggestions on what else to see while they are in town.

“I’ve met people from California, New York, everywhere,” Rodriguez said. “I try to tell them about things to see besides just downtown, kind of like a tour guide.”

Her job as a driver for the Janesville company takes her all over the state and she’s always looking for ideas on how the Downtown Beloit Association can improve the city’s look even more.

“I’m always taking pictures and sending them to (Downtown Beloit Association Executive Director Shauna El-Amin) and saying ‘hey, they’re doing this over here or they are having this activity over there,’” Rodriguez said.

She said she enjoys all of the jobs, but her main love is tending to the flowers daily — a job she’s had since 2018.

“I’m one of the lucky ones because I love to wake up every day and go to work,” she said. “It’s chill, you get to enjoy the beautiful day and meet people.”

ABOUT THIS SERIES

This summer, the Beloit Daily News is going to feature several “behind the scenes” professionals who help make the Stateline Area a great place to live.