On May 23, government officials from the Republic of the Marshall Islands traveled 6,000 miles to commemorate their country’s Constitution Day in Dubuque. The Iowa city has gathered to mark the Marshallese holiday since 2005. “Today is more than a national celebration,” Isaac Zackhras, Vice Speaker of the Marshall Islands’ parliament told the crowd in […]
Iowa history
Posted inFood & Drink
How a Des Moines inventor made the modern American hot dog possible
A little over 100 years ago, hot dogs were just cheap sausages stuffed into buns and sold for a few cents on street corners, at fairs and sporting events. By the 1970s, hot dogs, still cheap sausages stuffed into buns, were such an iconically American food that a leading car company invoked them to give its […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Former Little Village publishers and editors reflect on 25 ‘wild, beautiful and sometimes scandalous’ years in print
Comments from Little Village publishers and editors, former and current, were compiled by editor-in-chief Emma McClatchey and edited for length and clarity. 2001 Icon publishes its last issue on Jan. 25. Five months later, former staffer Todd Kimm begins publishing Little Village along with Icon alumni Beth Oxler, Andria Green and Steve Horowitz. Todd Kimm: […]
Posted inCommunity/News
The 2026 Quad Cities Juneteenth Festival celebrated a long-running local tradition in a new location
The sun was shining on Saturday as people gathered on 2nd Street in downtown Davenport for the Quad Cities’ annual Juneteenth Festival. The location was different this year — it’s traditionally been held in LeClaire Park, closer to the river — but the celebration was the same as always, with music, dance, speeches, food and […]
Posted inCommunity/News
An Ioway map drawn in 1837 offers a treasure trove of historical insight
The Báxoje (Ioway) leaders Na’je Nine (No Heart of Fear) and Ñiyu Mañi (Moving Rain) arrived in Washington D.C. at the end of September 1837 with two sheets of paper, stitched together by hand — careful work with needle and thread meant to create a canvas large enough to hold a world. The leaders, accompanied […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Club Basix has brought gaiety to Cedar Rapids since 1997, from dime draws and darts league to drag shows and derecho aid
Since late 1997, you can drive down 1st Ave and and pick out Cedar Rapids’ only gay bar with ease. Club Basix has been out and proud from the start. The first day it was open, original owner David Thompson mounted Pride flags around the entire roof. “I boarded up that middle window in the […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
A free festival for punks of all ages, Chroma63 returns to Waterloo with a local lineup, pop-up skate park and 40 years of Iowa show flyers on display
On the website for the Waterloo Center for the Arts, you’ll find a list of perennial outdoor festivals hosted in the museum’s RiverLoop Amphitheatre. You may notice one of the events is not like the others. Nestled amongst the likes of Cedar Valley Stem & Stein and the Holiday Arts Festival is the Chroma63 Arts […]
Posted inCommunity/News
The Blazing Saddle is home to leather daddies, lesbians, cowboys, queens and queer elders who can remember a Des Moines before Pride
The Blazing Saddle is open 365 days a year, but a Thursday afternoon at the bar is very different from a Friday or Saturday night. The doors open at 2 p.m., and the bar quickly fills with men, most at retirement age or approaching it. They’ll drink a few beers, or a cup of coffee, […]
Posted inCommunity/News
In July 1933, Bonnie and Clyde’s gang hid out at an Iowa amusement park — and were nearly killed in a shootout with police
Americans have always had a soft spot for flamboyant, devil-may-care criminals and the tales of their escapades and fast living. Add in a doomed love affair, and you’ve really got an enduring hit. The infamous Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were together just a few short years, meeting in January 1930 and dying in a […]
Posted inCommunity/News
How bald eagles came back from the brink to dominate Iowa’s skies
Ask anyone how long the bald eagle has been the official bird of the United States, and the answer is likely to be 200 years or more. In reality, the bald eagle has been the official bird for less than two years. In December 2024, President Joe Biden signed into law a bill designating the […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
A new burlesque festival honors Davenport’s history as ‘the wickedest city in America’
Local burlesque performers hope to throw the biggest burlesque festival the Quad Cities has ever seen with their Wickedest City Burlesque and Variety Festival, happening April 16-20 across various venues in the Q.C. area. Highlights include The Wickedest Performer competition at the Adler Theatre, a Fandom Showcase at the Circa ’21 Speakeasy and the Grand […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Athlete and lawyer Paul Robeson was a renowned singer of spirituals, Broadway hits and patriotic tunes. By 1950, the U.S. government flagged him as a radical.
On the evening of Feb. 4, 1932, an eager crowd gathered at the Hoyt Sherman Place auditorium for a recital of spirituals by a man whose bass-baritone voice was already legendary. Paul Robeson was an all-American football player, Columbia-educated lawyer, and star of both a hit musical and a West End Shakespeare production. A Des […]
