ia: The best of Iowa arts and culture

Carrot cakes are just a few of the goodies you can get at Brad's Breads & Bakery in Orange City. Photo: Rachel Mummy.

Orange City Offers Decadent Sweets and Other Treats

If you’re dreaming of Euro-inspired croissants, cruffins, palmiers or babkas, you don’t need to fly across the pond. Just hit the road for Brad’s Breads & Bakery in Orange City.

The bakery near Woudstra Meat Market in the Dutch-style downtown sells pastries, hand pies and cakes (including gluten-free options), as well as breads. Their specialties, like the raspberry babka and sourdough bread with olives and thyme, might be worth the drive all on their own.

For a sit-down, order a chai or cold-brew coffee to complement sweet crepes, with strawberries and cream, or savory options with artichokes, spinach, pesto, red onion and feta. Otherwise, you can’t go wrong with the croissant sandwiches and quiche.

The bakery is open 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. And mark your calendar: the Orange City Tulip Festival is May 18-20.

Two visitors at the Buffalo Bill Museum in LeClaire pose for a photo with its namesake and Annie Oakley.
Photo: Visit LeClaire.

Celebrate Buffalo Bill’s Birthday in LeClaire

Buffalo Bill packed his famous Wild West shows with plenty of creative stunts. But even a showman like him might not have imagined that his hometown would one day celebrate his Feb. 26 birthday with live music and a competitive buffalo-chip toss.

The Buffalo Bill Museum in LeClaire, in the Cody Road Cultural and Entertainment District over in Iowa’s wild, wild East, cordially invites you to honor the city’s favorite son, William Cody (1846-1917), by flinging a few buffalo chips as far as they can fly — outdoors or inside, depending on the weather.

“Sometimes we’ve done it in the boat building, but it’s not too bad,” museum staffer Bob Schiffke said, noting the projectiles aren’t as messy as you might think. “They’re reusable. I’m sure they’re not real.”

But the music by the Chord Busters and Acoustic Friends will be, along with refreshments and artifacts in several new museum exhibits. One of the newer additions is the so-called Cody Stone from its namesake’s historic mine in Arizona. While you’re there, be sure to tour the Lone Star steamboat, which plied the mighty Mississippi River from 1890 into the 1960s.

Old Bill’s party is set for noon to 4 p.m. this Sunday, Feb. 26, and admission is free.

Sara Routh, pictured, and J. Jeffrey Messerole will perform next week in Ames. Photo: Stephens Auditorium.

Head to Ames for Homegrown Tunes

Two Iowa singer/songwriters, J. Jeffrey Messerole and Sara Routh, will perform at 7 p.m. Feb. 28 at Stephens Auditorium in Ames as part of the Iowa Songwriters Showcase series.

Messerole, with his folksy, bluesy country vibe, sings about his Iowa roots in six albums and two EPs to date. Last February he released a 4-track EP called “The Strangebird Tapes.”

Routh is a Des Moines native with a jazz-folk sound. She’s traveled all over Iowa and beyond to perform and educate young musicians. Her latest album, “Heavy Love,” was written during the pandemic and recorded in Des Moines.

Their concert will take place in the cozy Goldfinch Room, which seats just about 80 people. Reserve tickets for a four-top table for $40 or a single seat for $15.

Annnd action! The schedule for this year's Oneota Film Festival includes a block of films, including "Roadside," that were submitted by area high school students. Photo: Jakob Owens.

Film Fans Flock to a Festival in Decorah

Catch foreign dramas, documentaries, animated shorts and other indie flicks at this year’s Oneota Film Festival, March 2-5 in Decorah. Besides screenings, the four-day festival includes filmmaker Q-and-As, panel discussions and even some crafts, all hosted by six venues in the city’s historic downtown. All of the events are free.

The Filmmaker’s Reception on March 4 is your best chance to mix and mingle with various film folks — casts, crews and other fans. Join the party at 7 p.m. at T-Bocks, a popular bar on Water Street, after a screening of “The Invisible Extinction.”

See the full list of films, check the schedule or sign up to volunteer on the Oneota Film Festival website. Meantime, mark your calendar for more than a dozen other film festivals across the entire state.

There's plenty to see inside and out at the Sioux City Art Center. Photo: Sioux City Art Center.

New Shows at the Sioux City Art Center

The Sioux City Art Center, a contemporary museum right downtown, continues to impress with its current and upcoming exhibits. Plan on a few hours to explore the free museum’s sculpture park and galleries, where Grant Wood’s Corn Room Mural is a definite highlight.

Nancy Friedemann-Sánchez: Turn of the Sea
Large paintings and installations by Colombian-American artist Nancy Friedemann-Sánchez of Lincoln, Nebraska, are on display for the first time together through March 5.

Youth Art Month Exhibition: Middle School Students
Multimedia artwork by some of Siouxland’s youngest artists are up through April 9.

Heavy
Seven sculptures made from bronze, galvanized or stainless steel are on display through April 23.

Briar Cliff Review Exhibition
This annual exhibition features artwork by local, regional and national artists that was chosen for the 2023 edition of Briar Cliff University’s award-winning journal, the Briar Cliff Review. The show opens April 20 and runs through Sept. 3.

Whether you like a beer as cold as an Iowan February or a perfectly room-temp. glass of red, there's something for everybody at the Dubuque on Ice Brewfest. Photo: Potosi Brewing Company.

Sip and Sample Midwest Specialties in Dubuque

February can feel long, even for die-hard Iowans. To help you through, the Dubuque on Ice Brewfest will showcase more than 60 food and beverage vendors from Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois in a celebration this Saturday.

Guests can sample regionally produced craft beer, liquor, wine, coffee, cheese, sausage and chocolate 1-4 p.m. at the Grand River Center. (VIP ticket holders get in an hour early, at noon.) Tickets are still on sale online, and all proceeds support the Potosi Foundation, Camp Albrecht Acres, and Research For The Kids nonprofits.

Donating prepackaged meals and snacks to community fridges helps keep excess food from ending up in a landfill.
Photo: Emily Kestel.

Easy Ways to Reduce Food Waste at Home

Each year, 40% of the food produced in the United States is thrown away. Excessive food waste is expensive and harmful to the environment, but it’s preventable with a few of these tips.

Make a shopping list. Before you head to the grocery store, take a quick peek into your pantry and refrigerator to see what’s in stock and what you’re running low on.

Store food properly. Think of foods as having their own personalities. Some prefer to live in the fridge, some thrive in a bowl on your counter, and others don’t get along with others. Potatoes, for example, should be kept separate from ethylene-producing foods like onions and bananas.

Download food rescue apps. There are several smartphone apps available for food rescue. The ChowBank app, Food Rescue Hero app and Eat Greater Des Moines app all connect users who have food to donate with organizations that need it and make it easy for donors, recipients and volunteers to engage with food rescue.

Find four more tips to reduce your food waste in our 2022 edition of Iowa Stops Hunger, an ongoing Business Publications Corp. initiative to raise awareness about food insecurity in Iowa and inspire action to combat it.