dsmWeekly: March 15, 2023

Festive fusion: Why not celebrate St. Pat with a Cucumber Jalapeno Margarita at Coa Cantina? Photo: Coa Cantina.

Shamrock Shake It Up: Raise a Glass to St. Patrick

Writer: Karla Walsh

A glass of Guinness might be your usual drink for St. Patrick’s Day, coming up on Friday, but why not try your luck and mix it up this year? Instead of a green stout or ale, try a cool green drink from one of these hot spots in Central Iowa:

Lifestyle Juices: Kick off your day with a dose of fruits and veggies in a Start Me Up Smoothie with kale, apple, kiwi and pear at this Drake neighborhood juice bar. And if you really want to go green, chase it with a fresh shot of wheatgrass.

Savor the Rise: Channel your inner Elphaba by visiting this Indianola bakery for an Emerald Queen Smoothie. Tropical, a hint creamy and just sweet enough, this blend features pineapple, mango, coconut cream, ginger, spinach and enough fresh-squeezed orange juice to help you defy gravity.

Ocha Bubble Tea & Dessert Cafe: For an afternoon pick-me-up, try a Matcha Milk Tea with Honey Boba from this colorful bubble tea shop with outposts in Windsor Heights and Ankeny.

Pots & Shots: Surround yourself with greenery at this Waukee plant shop and cocktail lounge, and order a Mama Monastera. It’s a glass of Revelton Distillery honey vodka and Triple Sec, shaken with coconut milk, honey, lime, matcha and egg white.

Coa Cantina: The Cucumber Jalapeno Margarita at this East Village cantina proves that a little spice is nice. Jalapeno-infused blanco tequila, cucumber puree and fresh lime juice mix it up in a glass lined with a Tajin rim.

Panka Peruvian Restaurant: You can’t go wrong with a refreshing Piscojito at this Ingersoll restaurant. In this mojito-meets-pisco-sour cocktail, pisco teams up with lime juice, simple syrup and fresh mint. Feliz Dia de San Patricio!

Elizabeth A. Davis, Patrena Miller and Kristin Lloyd perform in "1776," which runs through Sunday at the Des Moines Civic Center. Photo: Joan Marcus.

PLAN YOUR WEEKEND

We Declare: '1776' Offers a New Take on History

The revolution won’t be televised, but it will be onstage: "1776" runs through Sunday at the Des Moines Civic Center. So you still have a chance to reimagine how the founding fathers – played here by a multiracial female, transgender and nonbinary cast – drafted, debated and ultimately signed the Declaration of Independence almost 250 years ago.

The musical premiered on Broadway in 1969, smack-dab in the middle of the Vietnam War, so it’s not quite the flag-waving spectacle its basic premise might suggest. The somber second-act number "Momma, Look Sharp," for example, comes from a young Revolutionary soldier – someone who felt the Declaration’s consequences differently than the bigwigs in Philadelphia.

The new revival expands the story’s scope even further. It starts with an Indigenous cast member’s acknowledgment that the Civic Center stands on land that once belonged to the Ioway, Sac, Fox and other nations that were here long before any European ships landed on the East Coast.

Later, the song "Molasses to Rum" explains how white New Englanders profited from slavery just as much as their Southern counterparts, a fact that added a haunting irony to the Declaration’s final wording – and the country it created. Arguments about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness land differently when they come from a multiracial, multigender cast.

Tickets start at $40 for shows at 7:30 p.m. today through Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday.

PLAN YOUR WEEKEND

Hoops and Hops (10 a.m. Thursday-Saturday): The city’s sixth annual March Madness block party returns to Cowles Commons. Watch the NCAA Tournament on several large TVs while enjoying beverages from the Iowa Craft Beer Tent and snacks from various food trucks. We can’t guarantee your teams will win, but hey, admission is free.

St. Patrick’s Day downtown (all day Friday): Lucky us! St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Friday this year, so there are plenty of ways to kick-start the weekend. Start with pancakes and a pre-parade celebration from 7 to 11 a.m. at The Shop DSM, in the former Des Moines Social Club at 901 Cherry St. Then head to the Pappajohn Sculpture Park to scout your spot for the annual parade, which marches down Grand Avenue at noon. Afterward, the party continues all over town, with live music at Annie’s Irish Pub’s block party and a beer garden back at The Shop DSM.

"Kinky Boots" (7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday): Kick up your heels and catch the opening of the Des Moines Playhouse musical that features more than six dozen pairs of footwear, including a pair of rainbow thigh-high boots – size 17. The show runs (and sashays) through April 2. Tickets start at $29.

Leah Hawkins (4 p.m. Sunday): The scene-stealing soprano who played Serena last summer in the Des Moines Metro Opera’s staging of "Porgy and Bess" gets the spotlight all to herself in an afternoon concert at Plymouth Church, at 4126 Ingersoll Ave. Tickets are $25 and free for students.

The Des Moines Symphony will return to Water Works Park for two concerts in September. Photo: Des Moines Symphony.

ARTS AND CULTURE
A Rising Tide of Events at Water Works Park

This year, the steady stream of events at Water Works Park may swell into a full-on river. The park’s foundation and the party-planning gurus with In Any Event announced this week that the park will host a leisurely new sporting event called the Nice Tri, as well as the annual Oktoberfest, which is moving to the park after 18 years downtown.

Both events will take advantage of the newish Lauridsen Amphitheater, which opened in 2019 but got off to a slow start due to a soggy first summer and then the pandemic. But this year the park will be hoppin’. Here are the highlights:

May through October: Last fall’s pop-up Des Moines Biergarten is expanding to offer craft brews and German-style food 2-9 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Bonus: Local bands perform every Sunday afternoon. Check dsmbeergarden.com for updates.

Starting May 5: The new Field Daze music series features a half-dozen concerts through July 20, including Styx on July 14.

June 3: The Iowa Craft Brew Festival showcases breweries from across the state.

July 4: The Nice Tri involves an unhurried lap around the lawn (bonus points for folks in flip-flops), a float across the pond and a bike ride as far as anyone cares to pedal.

July 9 and 16: The Des Moines Metro Concert Band and Big Band bring their Music Under the Stars series to the Lauridsen Amphitheater. (They play their first four concerts, as usual, on the west steps of the state Capitol.)

July 26: The spandexed RAGBRAI hordes invade for concerts, camping and carbohydrates.

Sept. 2-3: The Des Moines Symphony returns for two pops concerts.

Sept. 24-26: Oktoberfest overflows with beer, brats and the heart-thumping call of the polka. And you, dear reader, are willkommen!