The first anomalous thing people living in Manson noticed was the water. Iowa’s groundwater typically has a fairly high dissolved mineral content, mostly calcium and magnesium, absorbed as the water passes over and through the limestone formations underlying the state. It’s considered “hard water.” But water coming from wells in the small western Iowa town, […]
Peak Iowa
Posted inCommunity/News
Inspired by a dream, Council Bluffs’ Black Angel statue was quickly tarnished by tragedy and scandal
Content warning: Suicide Ruth stands alone on a rocky shore, surrounded by a hazy sea. In the distance, a shape appears through the mist. A boat approaches, and at the bow stands a woman so beautiful she must be an angel. Right hand outstretched, left hand clutching a basin of water, the angel beckons softly, […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Dubbed the ‘gadget guy’ of jazz, Herbie Hancock used tech to change music forever. He honed his skills in Grinnell
In his last performance in Iowa City, jazz great Herbie Hancock mentioned how he felt “at home in Iowa” because of his years at Grinnell College. For most artists, a nod to their alma mater might sound like simple gratitude. In Hancock’s case, it was an understatement. His time at Grinnell did not just influence […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
‘You’re My Waterloo’: How a very 1982 tourism song became a Cedar Valley sensation
In 1982, the inaugural My Waterloo Days Festival was held as a celebration of the beginning of the summer. Replete with a parade, laser light shows and hot air balloons, it was a special event seeking to foster community bonding amid economic strife. John Deere was seeing mass layoffs, the Rath Packing Company was on […]
Posted inCommunity/News
This Iowan is the voice of competitive marble racing
The number-one marble racing entity on the internet is Jelle’s Marble Runs. The Netherlands-based YouTube channel has 1.5 million subs, nearly 800 videos, dozens of “teams” and race “venues,” surprisingly elaborate lore, and a sheen of professional quality rivaling any ESPN sportscast. Part of that quality comes from the stellar commentary of Iowan Greg Woods.
Posted inFood & Drink
An Iowa State grad co-invented the Rice Krispie Treat (then never made them again)
Marshmallows, Rice Krispies, a little butter and your mom’s best 9”-by-13” Pyrex baking dish — the only ingredients needed for that ubiquitous, always-welcome fixture of the Midwestern potluck, the Rice Krispie Treat. The alchemist who helped turn Rice Krispies from a mediocre, snap-crackle-popping milk-sponge cereal into a dessert icon was Iowa State University grad Mildred […]
Posted inPrint Edition
Little Village issue 347: Peak Iowa 2025
Competitive marbles and border collies. A video game on I-80. The songwriter behind “Fly Me to the Moon.” A legendary Batman artist. Antifacist firebrands. A bell heist. A hidden crater. An Epstein anecdote. A rock star’s kidnapped kid. Stories of icons, oddities and infamy fill the fifth Peak Iowa issue — an annual bacchanalia of […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa Odyssey: Play LV’s board game and read the stories behind the spaces
Pick up a copy of the November issue and turn to page 40 (the centerfold). You can also download a PDF of the Iowa Odyssey game board, or play the game virtually with friends. Game design by Rodney Arthur. Space concepts by Little Village staff. Visual design by Kellan Doolittle. Play-tested by Nolan Petersen and […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Peak Iowa: Taco pizza, Davenport’s endlessly imitated invention
Crust, beans, taco sauce, cheese, ground beef, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, perhaps some peppers, sour cream and black olives, all topped with crushed taco chips. Taco pizza, a culinary innovation that bemuses taco traditionalists and infuriates pizza purists, is much loved in Iowa. That’s fitting, since Iowa is where taco pizza was born. Probably. It can […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Peak Iowa: When Jumbo the geyser put Belle Plaine on the map
At the corner of 8th Avenue and 8th Street in Belle Plaine, there’s a boulder with a bronze plaque put there in 1954 to commemorate “Jumbo,” a well-turned-geyser that briefly made the Benton County city famous almost 70 years earlier. By the time the well that became Jumbo was dug, the Belle Plaine area already […]
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Peak Iowa: 100 years ago, central Iowans embraced gender-nonconforming immigrant and fortune teller Heroda Kaiji
Heroda Kaiji, when he sensed that he was dying, asked his friends to take him from his rooming house apartment in Stuart to a shady hill beside the South Raccoon River near Dexter. He wanted to spend his final moments looking out across Dexfield Park, the amusement park where he had performed as a palmist […]
Posted inRecreation
Peak Iowa: A brief history of cornhole
A slanted board with a hole cut in it. A small beanbag. An underhand toss. Almost everyone knows the game from that basic description. But what’s its true name? Cornhole? Bags? Whatever you call it, it’s been a staple of tailgating, backyard cookouts and beach parties for generations. Tossing a beanbag through a hole on […]
