Dreaming of summer? If you’re in Iowa City, hold your horseplay: City Park pool is getting a revamp, leaving townies without an outdoor pool for the first time since the Truman administration. In this issue, LV explores why access to public pools is a safety issue in any community, from IC to Des Moines’ North Side. With the historic Birdland Pool on the city’s chopping block again, North Siders are petitioning to save the beloved third space and prove their neighborhood isn’t a “path of least resistance” for budget cuts.
Also in this issue: Sepak Takraw is the coolest sport you’ve never likely never played, even though some of the nation’s best players live in Iowa; How cornhole/bags came to be the official sport of backyards and parking lots; The juiciest rock doc of the ’90s gets an extended re-release; and the City Nature Challenge expands in Johnson County, giving outdoorsy folks every reason to take a stroll. Plus: A simple way to start a garden, two poems en español, inside a rural art studio, four local album reviews and much more to dive into.
Cover photo by Karla Monroe, featuring Natalie Lawrence and Lexi Wells, fashion coordinator at the Wright House of Fashion.
