ia Magazine

04/01/2024

The 21st annual Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival is back from April 5-7 in Marion. Since 2001, the festival has showcased films with Iowa connections, both real and fictional. It spotted the talent of Scott Beck and Bryan Woods long before they produced “The Final Season.”

This year’s lineup features 57 Iowa-connected movies, including a short film about a botched heist, a rom-com with a coffeeshop meet-cute, and a student documentary about Minnesota’s dairy princesses.
https://iapublication.com/lights-camera-action-in-cedar-rapids/

03/30/2024

Iowa City’s three-day Mission Creek Festival is a citywide extravaganza of music and literature, showcasing talent from Iowa and beyond. From April 4 through 6, you’ll find performances popping up all across town in traditional and nontraditional alike, including boutiques, bowling alleys, bookstores and breweries. This year’s lineup boasts a mix of local talent like Single File and The Blake Shaw Big(ish) Band, alongside nationally recognized acts such as singer-songwriter Indigo de Souza and acclaimed poet Hanif Abdurraqib.
https://iapublication.com/mission-creek-festival-takes-over-iowa-city/

03/28/2024

Heads-up: the state fair isn’t the only event where you can savor Iowa’s delights. The state’s top chefs, cookbook authors, artisans and other food and beverage experts will offer new products, kitchen wisdom and, yes, taste tests, at the second annual Iowa Eats Food & Drink Festival April 6 at the Waterloo Convention Center.

Guests will be able to eat, drink and enjoy their way through various tastings, product demonstrations and live entertainment. Festival visitors will have a chance to attend classes led by foodie experts like Thyron Mathews, T & T BBQ and Catering owner and season-two winner of Netflix’s “Barbecue Showdown.” Other workshops include pasta making, bread baking, wine pairings and whiskey tasting.

Thyron Mathews, guest chef at the Iowa Eats Festival, owns T & T BBQ in Oelwein. (Photo: Iowa Eats Festival) ...

02/19/2024

It's our favorite time of the month - NAWBO Iowa Member Spotlight! Give some love to Melissa Young Szalay, who is a physician and the owner of Timeless Youth MD, a medical spa in West Des Moines that specializes in facial aesthetics and injections. ❤️

Read her whole story here: https://ow.ly/Ol2L50QyPog

02/12/2024

Get ready for a winter wonderland at the Winter Arts Snow Sculpting Festival, Feb. 15-18, outside the Dubuque Museum of Art. Participating artists from across the state plan to carve massive blocks of snow during the city’s annual competition:

Snow sculptors show off their handiwork each year in Dubuque. Photo: Travel Dubuque Get ready for a winter wonderland at ...

02/09/2024

If you ever find yourself hungry in Davenport, make your way to East Second Street, where you’ll find the contemporary American restaurant The Half Nelson:

No half about it: We fully recommend The Half Nelson in Davenport. Photo: The Half Nelson If you ever find ...

02/08/2024

The 26th annual festival of African American culture, I’ll Make Me a World in Iowa, takes place this weekend at the Horizon Events Center in Clive. Friday’s lineup focuses on education before Saturday’s celebration with visits from actor, writer and producer Christian Keyes, leadership coach Joel Tudman and the Zuzu African Acrobats from Tanzania.

Gospel choirs will be competing at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in a contest called “So Your Choir Can Sang?” Throughout the day, visitors can visit the health and wellness expo, stop by the kids’ carnival, learn about Black history, feast on soul food — and much more.

The Zuzu African Acrobats from Tanzania perform Saturday in Clive. Photo: Zuzu African Acrobats\ The 26th annual festival of African ...

02/08/2024

The Jordanian singer Farah Siraj has performed for the United Nations, at Lincoln Center in New York and the Kennedy Center in Washington, and on MTV.

This week, she’ll add Oskaloosa to the list. She is leading music workshops with local students, preparing them to sing a few songs in English and Arabic at a concert at 7 p.m. Saturday at the George Daily Community Auditorium. Siraj will perform, too, with her band – on guitar, percussion and oud, a pear-shaped, lute-like instrument from the Middle East:

Farah Siraj has traveled the world. Her next stop? Oskaloosa. Photo: Yasmina Barber The Jordanian singer Farah Siraj has performed ...

01/26/2024

Winter is a great time to hike trails, watch wildlife and go ice fishing in Iowa’s state parks. It’s even better when the chilly adventure ends in a cozy cabin

Choose from more than 90 rental cabins across 20 state parks.

Pine Lake State Park in Hardin County rents out stone and timber cabins with wood-burning fireplaces. Photo: Iowa DNR. Winter ...

01/24/2024

Every year on the last weekend of January, the fabled University of Okoboji hosts its Winter Games:

Warmth is temporary. Glory is forever at the University of Okoboji Winter Games. Photo: University of Okoboji Every year on ...