Whether you’re enjoying the last days of the state fair or hanging around in town, there are plenty of opportunities for you to learn, listen, laugh and play! Top pick of the weekend? Catch comedian and interviewer extraordinaire Marc Maron in what he’s calling his “This May Be the Last Time” tour. Die-hard fans who want a second last time can follow the popular podcaster from his Friday show in Des Moines to his Saturday night gig in Iowa City!
Iowa State Fairgrounds
Iowa State Fair
Aug 11 – Aug 21 – 8:00am
Find Your Fun at the 2022 Iowa State Fair, happening this year from August 11-21
Help us improve our water quality, diversify our woodlands, and UPCYCLE our invasives into food and fun for Blank Park Zoo’s birds, reptiles, primates, and mammals.
Don’t miss Music in the Garden, the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden summer concert series presented by EMC Insurance Companies. Concerts will be held live and in person in the outdoor Koehn Garden
The LGBTQ Older Adults Conference brings experts from the medical, social service, and advocacy fields together to discuss the issues facing LGBTQ older adults.
Bob Dorr and his guitar playing sidekick Jeff Petersen have been playing music together for 40+ years. This year they present another cavalcade of music stars from around the state at the Fair.
‘It’s just the most Iowan thing’: A day at the Iowa State Fair with fair mega-fans, the Stumps
by Lily DeTaeye, Aug 15
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 I was in college, a friend of mine worked there and he was able to get me into some of the stuff. And of course, they had musical acts back then that I liked. I mean, they had Elton John, Chicago, The Beach Boys, The Jackson Five. They had some really big acts. They still do.”
Tama metal band Rehtek is back with a growling, howling new sound
by Kembrew McLeod, Aug 11
Abomination, the new album from Iowa metal outfit Rehtek, contains all the ingredients for a pummeling musical feast. Chunky guitar riffage — check. Gut-rumbling bass — check. Double-time kick drums at speed-metal velocities — check. Growling, howling vocals — double-check.
Album Review: Jarret Purdy & Dan Padley — ‘Ecotones’
by Kent Williams, Aug 11
When Dan Padley played at the Iowa City Farmer’s Market a few weeks ago, I was impressed (as always) by the liquid elegance of his playing on the jazz standard “All the things you are.”
Book Review: ‘A Map for the Missing’ by Belinda Huijuan Tang
by Lily DeTaeye, Aug 15
After the dedications page of her debut novel, University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop graduate Belinda Huijuan Tang quotes Homer’s The Odyssey, a fitting harbinger for the journey she will take us on. Although A Map for the Missing (Penguin Press) is not the lighthearted summer read you might be looking for right now, it’s one you’re gonna want to read regardless.
Five questions with: Bestselling crime author Karin Slaughter
by Lily DeTaeye, Aug 16
To promote her new book, Girl, Forgotten, the aptly named Karin Slaughter will be visiting Des Moines on Wednesday, Aug. 24 as a part of the Des Moines Public Library’s Authors Visiting in Des Moines series (AViD). The Georgia native and Save the Libraries founder’s newest novel is the sequel to Pieces of Her, a 2018 release that was adapted into a Netflix series starring Toni Collette.
