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‘We have local acts that deserve to be on a stage of that size’: 100-year-old Hoyt Sherman Place theater to host GDP music festival on April 15

Gross Domestic Product sticks to the mission — but that’s about it. Since the all-local music festival first popped up in 2006, GDP has bounced between Des Moines neighborhoods to celebrate the various corners of both the city and the […]

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Des Moines’ historic Varsity Cinema reopening after four-year, $5 million renovation project

The Varsity Cinema near Drake University is reopening its doors to the community after being closed for four years. The historic Des Moines theater features “a variety of programming including prestige new releases, the best of art house & international, […]

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The Jordan House Museum is home to art, opera, Shakespeare and Iowa history

As we celebrate the arts in this issue, it’s only appropriate to recognize a growing trend in this region. The power of unity can be used in the arts as it is in other facets of positive community growth. As […]

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Forty years after the Johnny Gosch disappearance, fear continues to fuel conspiracy theories in Iowa and beyond

Listen an audio version of this article here, or using the player at the bottom of the page. On Sept. 20, 1984, President Ronald Reagan gave a speech in Cedar Rapids as part of his reelection campaign. In it, he […]

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‘It’s just the most Iowan thing’: A day at the Iowa State Fair with fair mega-fans, the Stumps

Since his freshman year of high school in 1969, Gary Stump has not missed an Iowa State Fair. “I had a girlfriend whose father worked at the fair and he got free tickets for everything,” Stump recalls. “And then when […]

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Deep in a Des Moines golf course sits a haunted observatory with a far-out history

The Drake Municipal Observatory is probably the only scientific facility of its kind more familiar to local golfers than local school kids. Since 1921, it’s sat between the green on the 17th hole of Waveland Golf Course and the tee […]

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Before I-235, Des Moines’ Center Street district was a bastion of Black commerce and culture

By the time its final section opened to traffic in late 1968, I-235 was already part of the fabric of Des Moines. Cutting across the city and running just north of downtown, it’s the most traveled roadway in Iowa. But […]

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Photos: Monuments to women’s history in Des Moines

This Women’s History Month, Little Village explored some of the DSM spots dedicated to celebrating the achievements of women in the city. Photos by Britt Fowler Evelyn K. Davis Center For Working Families Evelyn Davis (1921-2001) supported working families in […]

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Remembering Varnum v. Brien, the case that brought marriage equality to Iowa

How a divorce helped kick-start marriage equality in Iowa By Paul Brennan The path to marriage equality in Iowa started with a divorce. Kimberly Brown and Jennifer Perez traveled from their home in western Iowa to Vermont in 2002 to […]

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