Mission Creek Festival and Brink announce lineup for Day Party, a new, one-day festival of music, arts and food

Younger performs during Mission Creek Festival 2025. — Dawn Frary/Little Village

Saturday, April 25 will mark the first Day Party, a one-day mini-festival in downtown Iowa City co-directed by Mission Creek Festival and Brink, a literary nonprofit supporting hybrid writing. Tickets went on sale Friday morning. (Editor’s note: Little Village is involved with Day Party as a sponsor and as a participating venue.)

Concerts, readings and other festivities will take place in various venues on the southside of downtown Iowa City, including Plated Table, Trumpet Blossom Cafe, the Public Space One Close House and the Little Village office.

“Day Party embodies the magic of finding new art, friends, and community during the daylight hours of a late-spring weekend in Iowa City,” says festival co-founder and director Andre Perry. “We are embracing Iowan and Midwestern creativity: our musicians, artists, and chefs.”

“We want to draw attention to the culture that is already here,” adds co-director Nina Lohman. “Bringing together friends and community around good food and bold art feels like an Iowa City tradition.”

Lohman is the founder of Brink, a nonprofit supporting hybrid writing through a literary journal, a book imprint, and an ongoing series of multidisciplinary events. Lohman has also been Mission Creek’s literary director for the past few years.

“Day Party represents the next chapter of the Mission Creek Festival,” said Perry. Last year marked MCF’s 20th anniversary and final festival in collaboration with the Englert Theatre.

“Iowa City was so different in 2006. We didn’t have FilmScene, Public Space One, or multiple festivals celebrating independent arts,” Perry explained. “With all those cultural foundations now in place, we want to re-center our efforts on where we can offer something fresh and, hopefully, inspiring for our local arts scene.”

Readers at the Mission Creek Fest 2025 Lit Walk. — Dawn Frary/Little Village

“These next steps for Mission Creek align perfectly with Brink’s continued expansion both on and off the page,” Lohman said. “We believe stories require multiple forms and types of expression. Our goal is to carve out space where writers and artists can tell stories across various modes, such as film, sound, and installation. And, like so many others, we believe Iowa City is such a vibrant home for creativity. Embedding in the southside cultural geography made sense to us. They are homes for artists, thinkers, and the community at-large. Plus: food. Always food.”

The program includes bands, chefs, multidisciplinary artists and writers. Most participants are from Iowa with a few visiting artists like Chicagoans Sima Cunningham (of Finom) and Sam Prekop. Cunningham, who released the album High Roller in 2024, will perform with her full band while Prekop offers a solo set of synthesizer and electronic works.

The bands include indie rockers Dearborn, jazz-experimental ensemble Freegrass featuring singer Alyx Rush, rock duo KL!NG, ambient musician Glab II, experimental composers Dayvyd Lunch and Gabi Vanek, and art-rockers Younger who will be releasing their new album at Day Party.

Alyx Rush of Sun Centauri performs at the Lost Woods Festival 2025. — photo by Elliot Tensen courtesy of Lost Woods Festival

Food, which plays a central role in Day Party, will be catered by a range of chefs, including pioneering vegan chef Katy Meyer of Trumpet Blossom Cafe, chef Alex Smith of Plated Table, Sandy and Vivian Pei of Snacky Mini Mart, Dolly Sperry of Mazee’s Food Truck, and Pete Kerns of Lamb’s Quarter Livestock.

Sandy Pei finishes preparing an order of japchae with a shake of sesame seeds. — Karla Monroe/Little Village

Writers and other artists include poet/artist Annelyse Gelman in collaboration with musician Ramin Roshandel, author/screenwriters Rachel Yoder and Laura Conway in conversation, literary/visual/performing artists Johanna Winters and Sarah Minor presenting new work, installation artist Jason J. Snell, and filmmaker Auden Lincoln-Vogel debuting an Iowa City-based work-in-progress film, and writer/artist Kate E. Hinshaw in conversation with Sima Cunningham.

For more info, visit the Mission Creek Festival website.