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 […]
Trumpet Blossom Café
Posted inArts & Entertainment
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.
Posted inCommunity/News
In memoriam: Chris Wiersema, curator of the weird and wonderful
An obituary by Andre Perry Christopher (Chris) Wiersema of Iowa City died on Wednesday, March 13, unexpectedly, but peacefully in his sleep. A public memorial will take place on Sunday, April 7 at the Englert Theatre from 2-5 p.m. The Englert is located at 221 E Washington St in downtown Iowa City. Chris was born […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
‘I don’t want my kid to grow up in a culture that admires and rewards white supremacy’: Adeem the Artist set to play Iowa City on Friday
Adeem the Artist has declared this to be their “weird summer of chaos.” During a phone interview with Little Village, Adeem the Artist spoke quickly and eloquently, a gentle type of proselytizing that led them at one point to say, “I’m grateful for the opportunity to get to sing my songs and tell my story […]
Posted inBread & Butter Dining Guide
COVID-19 changed Iowa’s dining industry. Will restaurants (and customers) continue to remain flexible?
In 2019, the restaurant industry in Iowa was flying high. According to the Iowa Restaurant Association, there were close to 6,500 restaurants and bars across the state. Nearly 155,000 people worked in the restaurant and bar industry that year. Just over 100,000 were working in restaurants in Iowa in 2014. “The food world was king,” […]
Posted inBread & Butter Dining Guide
Restaurateurs look to local creatives to elevate their exterior
Even if you’re in it for the food and drink, a good view never hurts. At restaurants across the CRANDIC, that view is enhanced by artists. The confluence of art and food is visible in everything from grab-and-go items eaten on brightly painted picnic benches dotting Iowa City’s downtown, to an intentional sit-down meal (with […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
‘Make art. Shoot a video. Play in a band.’ Gen X rockers reunite in Iowa City to encourage the next generation
“At the Old Threshers Reunion this summer, you’re going to come across some old pumps, tractors and hay balers, and there’ll be too-cute nanny goats and freckled girls in pigtails,” said musician David Murray, summing up the annual festival in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa that celebrates the state’s agricultural heritage. “If you go to the Old […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Best of the CRANDIC Spotlight: Chef Katy Meyer (and her Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake Tart recipe)
“I look forward to autumn every year, one of the many reasons being it’s pumpkin season and pumpkins are a favorite food of mine,” the Best Chef in the CRANDIC, Trumpet Blossom’s Katy Meyer, said in an email. “Not only are pumpkins beautiful, interesting, and technically considered a fruit, they provide a delicious base for […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Trumpet Blossom transforms its menu to cater to the pandemic food economy
Strong communities are built on inclusiveness. They provide spaces where members can explore new ideas, new art and new food, and that cater to a wide variety of needs and preferences. For almost a decade, Trumpet Blossom Cafe has done exactly that for Iowa City. As a restaurant, Trumpet Blossom offers high quality, locally sourced […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Five questions with: Singer-songwriter Hannah Frey
There’s nothing like discovering new-to-me music to keep the dead of winter from burying me. So when I saw the artist behind one of my favorite albums of 2018 (Young Charles) on a bill supporting a debut release from Hannah Frey, I knew I needed to get to know her. Her first single, “Ghost,” came out in late October, and it has me incredibly
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Heart Hunters brings social justice lyrics and world music influences to the Trumpet Blossom
On Saturday, June 15 at 9 p.m., the Atlanta band Heart Hunters will be returning to Iowa City for the third time to perform an intimate, acoustic set at Trumpet Blossom Café. Tickets are $7.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Psychedelia spirals into the Trumpet Blossom
The term kosmiche expands from the modular, to the jazzy, to screaming, astral-effected guitars and to automaton pastiche. It is this expansive realm where Chicago’s Spiral Galaxy have found their garden to play in.
