Day Party is a brand-spanking-new arts festival launching April 25 on the south side of downtown Iowa City. Spring in town has long been associated with Mission Creek, which in 2025 celebrated its 12th (and final) year as a multi-day festival. The first thing that strikes one about Day Party is that it packs an […]
Mission Creek Festival
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Andre Perry hopes Stop/Time celebrates the ‘spirit of innovation’ Iowa City artists and festival-goers embrace
I first met Perry standing in front of the bar at The Mill (R.I.P.). He was memorable for his manner: he pays attention, asks probing questions, looks you in the eye and seems to actually care about what you say. At the time he had a band, The LonelyHearts, and was working on an MFA in […]
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Mission Creek Festival and Brink announce lineup for Day Party, a new, one-day festival of music, arts and food
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.
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Review: Younger previews upcoming album ‘Y3K’ in propulsive Mission Creek set
Iowa City band Younger closed their Friday set for Mission Creek Festival with a pitch-perfect cover of Le Tigre’s “Deceptacon.” The sound, energy and song choice were on point. Immediately after, an audience member threw up his hands and said what I suspect others in the crowd were also thinking. “From now on, I’ll think […]
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Review: Iowa musicians were weird, angry and confident as ever on Day 3 of Mission Creek Festival
Saturday, April 5 was a packed final day of Mission Creek. As the dust settles on the 2025 fest, let’s take a look back at some of the local music acts who made Day 3 memorable. Sam Locke Ward Early afternoon isn’t the usual time for watching Sam Locke Ward. I’ve seen him in the […]
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Back at Mission Creek as an author, Neko Case discussed going down the rabbit holes of her own origin story
Case, a Grammy-nominated singer, was in conversation about her recent memoir The Harder I Fight The More I Love You with best-selling author Melissa Febos, a Professor at UI’s Creative Nonfiction Program.
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Rap mafioso Raekwon proves Wu-Tang is still for the children at Mission Creek Festival
Legendary Wu-Tang emcee Raekwon rocked a multigenerational crowd at the Englert during the final night of Mission Creek Festival 2025, where he performed his classic 1995 solo debut Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… The Englert is no stranger to members of the Wu gracing its stage, having welcomed fellow clansmen GZA last year (and in 2009’s […]
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UI grad Torrey Peters reads from new book ‘Stag Dance,’ discusses writing for a trans audience at Prairie Lights
On Saturday, April 5, Peters stood in front of a packed room at Prairie Lights Book Store and read excerpts from her Stag Dance. One of the many literary guests at the Mission Creek Festival, Peters spoke with UI’s Creative Nonfiction grad student Jenny Singer about the genesis of her book, what’s she’s learned about self-publishing and how it has helped her career as a novelist.
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Review: Mission Creek’s Lit Walk is a sensory, choose-your-own adventure experience
While an author reads, she cannot know that three people are filming her: husband, daughter and granddaughter. It’s a moment to remember. That was the level of intimacy felt on Friday, April 4 during Mission Creek Festival’s Lit Walk. As much a part of the mythos of the Festival as the long list of past music headliners, the Lit Walk, as the MCF website states, gives festival-goers an opportunity to “…hear an unexpected variety of work from a mix of talented local and out-of-town writers.”
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Review: From rapt silence to cathartic screams, Mission Creek’s Day 2 performers crowd-surfed the line between rage and joy
Night two of Mission Creek, in contrast with the first night’s containment at Hancher, encompassed many venues around the downtown area, a return to previous years’ mad dash of “Creekers” around Iowa City looking for the show that will change their lives, whether that be a new-to-you music act or a local literary hero at the […]
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Author Rachel Kushner describes writing ‘an ideas novel that’s not boring’ in conversation with Kim Gordon
The American woman watches people standing in line and waiting to pay at the cash register. It’s a highway travel center in France and the woman observes customers walk in and out. She’s at the same time bored and fascinated. People buy dried truffles or lavender oil or glass jars of something resembling cat food. […]
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Review: Mission Creek 2025 kicks off with the glorious Kim Gordon, Rachel Kushner and LA LOM
Opening night of Mission Creek! At Hancher! My last Mission Creek was 2019, officially the Before Times of Iowa City public culture. Venues have closed, or been torn down. Hancher was buzzing with people with their lanyards and wristbands, anticipating a deep dive into live music and culture. There is a Mission Creek feeling, shared […]
