In 1970, after seven years of moving from state to state, the U.S. National Hot Air Balloon Championship was held in Indianola, Iowa for the first time. Indianola’s wide open spaces made it desirable for ballooning, and the championship would return to town every year for the next 18 years. In 1989, the tournament went […]
Central Iowa Arts & Entertainment
Posted inCentral Iowa
Swirling guardrails accent Altoona’s new 1st Avenue roundabout as a four-year public art project wraps up
Much like Charles Bradley and Ozzy Osbourne, Altoona is going through changes. This year, the city released an amendment to their 2014 Comprehensive Plan that would put in infrastructure to “recognize the potential growth of the community and propose key concepts to be followed as community growth and change occur.” Among many other measures, the […]
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Album Review: FlyLife — ‘A Different View’
FlyLife · A Different View “Cause who the fuck gon’ save your family if it isn’t you?” raps FlyLife on the title track from his recently released album. “I know it’s usually guns and drugs but this a different view.” The song serves as the culmination of a broader idea, each prior track helping to […]
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Jane Smiley’s Iowa-set classic ‘A Thousand Acres’ is adapted to the stage for Des Moines Metro Opera’s 50th
When an arts organization celebrates 50 years of sharing wonderful work with enraptured audiences, the time is right to do something exceptional. The question, of course, is what that something should be. For the Des Moines Metro Opera, the answer in part turned out to be adapting Iowa Writers’ Workshop alum Jane Smiley’s Pulitzer Prize […]
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Waukee’s Arts Festival is back for its seventh year
Waukee’s seventh-annual Arts Festival starts at 5 p.m. on Friday in Centennial Park, featuring homegrown music, over 100 artists selling original handmade work, a beer garden and food. The festival will feature Bulgogi from Sooks, wood oven-cooked pizza from Ferinheit Pizza, street tacos from Roadside Tacos, fresh hand-rolled Thai-inspired ice cream from Totally Rolled, and […]
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Review: The return of 80/35 this weekend was just what the doctor ordered
If Des Moines seemed to be asleep these past few years, it certainly woke back up this past weekend as 80/35 Music Festival returned for the first time since 2019. Maybe it was the large variety of food vendors or the diverse lineup. Maybe it was the tie-dyed Kum and Go bucket hats or the […]
Posted inCentral Iowa
An Indianola farm girl finds her way with animal pottery
Folk ceramic creator Caroline Freese found her love for animals and art starting at a young age on a farm in Indianola, Iowa. Art has been a driving force for her since then, into college and now owning a studio with orders coming in quicker than she can create. Freese is returning to Art Fest […]
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Five questions with: Basket maker Ibechaobi Leishangthem
Ibechaobi Leishangthem (Ibe to her friends) moved into her house in Grimes with her family in October of 2020. In the middle of the pandemic, the Manipur, India native was looking for something to do that would also make their new house feel a little more like home. So she turned to basket-making. Not long […]
Posted inCentral Iowa
Art was Robert Moore’s ‘saving grace.’ Now his work graces T-shirts, walls and buildings in Iowa and beyond
A boy with a hidden talent fell into the wrong group of people, leading him down a scary path. His job in corporate IT and project management left him feeling empty. It took Robert Moore going to the hospital in 2019 after a night of too much drinking for him to turn his life around […]
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‘We never do anything remarkable just for ourselves’: ‘Buffalo Women’ opens on Juneteenth
Three minutes to curtain on June 19, 2022, the Kate Goldman Theatre at the Des Moines Playhouse was mostly full. The blackbox was decked in a sparse yet effective smattering of western themed set pieces and there was an excited hum emanating from the audience about what was to come. Buffalo Women, which was produced […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Central Iowa, Central Iowa Arts & Entertainment
‘Buffalo Women’ offers a new conversation on Black female camaraderie, set against a Juneteenth backdrop
Buffalo Women, which opens this Sunday, Juneteenth, is a new play by Omaha-based playwright Beaufield Berry. Subtitled “A Black Cowgirl Musical Dramedy,” the play tells the story of how five Black women, including interpretations of historical figures, find solidarity with one another and use the strength of sisterhood to overcome adversities of motherhood, racism, new-found […]
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Jo Allen celebrates being both Black and queer with Pride and Soul skate night
Pride and Juneteenth have so many intersections to navigate. Jo Allen has challenged Des Moines to take those roads and realize that every marginalized community in the city are fighting for the same rights against the same people. “I was just recognizing that there wasn’t anybody that was doing something that focused on the intersections […]
