Alex Gary June 12, 2025
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.