We had my mom's 80th birthday party at the 1850 Homestead and it was perfect! Michelle was easy to…read morework with and so helpful. If you are looking for a place to have a birthday party, a reunion, a work party, a celebration of life celebration or any type of event this is the perfect place. The refurbished barn is beautiful. The outside setting is beautiful. They also have an air bnb on site which looks awesome. I can not say enough great things about the 1850 Homestead. It is AMAZING!

Opens in August, looks like it will be a nice place to hold events great stand of corn next to it…read morefor a backdrop... Classic barn interior housed in a modern shell to maintain climate control year round. We have an event booked for mid August.

Dinner on Tuesday nights. Cheeseburger and fries for $3.75. Indeed. The bar is respectable…read more Agreeing with Jeremiah, definitely don't come here if you're a hippie vegan.

Great bar. Great old guys. Cheap beer…read more Don't go if you are a stereotypical Grinnell hippie vegan. We don't need your kind in here. Stay on campus or at least on your side of West St. However, if you are a college student that loves living right and being free, welcome. This is where the heroes congregate.

Looks very nice but the sound is soo bad. It's like a loud gymnasium. If the music/sound is…read moreimportant to you on your wedding day then I wouldn't rent this place.

My husband and I had our wedding at Emerald Hills in May 2019. From the beginning of the whole…read morewedding planning process in the fall of 2018, Abby, Travis, and the Emerald Hills team were so kind, helpful, and accommodating. They paid very close attention to the details of our vision for our wedding day, were eager to lend super helpful advice, and truly advocated for us when communicating with different vendors throughout the 8 months of planning. Their booking package comes with so many inclusions; there's no need to track down rental tables, table linens, bartenders, recommended vendors, or a bunch of extra hands to help out on wedding day - they had all of these taken care of AND MORE! The beauty and accommodations of the venue & land surrounding the venue were just a cherry on top of the incredible service they provided to us. We heard all night long that it was the most beautiful venue our guests had ever been to, and got just as many compliments on the quality of the staff. They're wonderful and show a ton of integrity. (For example, one of our guests left their watch at the venue. Instead of making anyone drive to the venue to get it, they offered to ship it directly to us, no questions asked.) If you want a wedding planning experience that is smooth, thorough, and SO fun, absolutely book your wedding day with Emerald Hills Events!

Whether you are planning your wedding, reception, reunion, graduation, corporate event or any other…read moregatherings. Knotty Pine Venue possesses the perfect mixture of country, all while offering you a private and modern accommodations! The owners were able to recommend a variety of vendors - catering, DJ, Desserts and security. Nice size venue for the wedding/reception we attended. Large round tables were provided and easily fit the 200 guest of the wedding. They also provided banquet tables.

I was a day of coordinator for a wedding here in April. The venue was beautiful and set up…read moreperfectly with lots of space for the head table, guests, DJ, food, dance, cake table, snack table, gift table, and bar. There were spacious lounge rooms for groom groomsmen and bride and bridal parties with lots of mirrors and private bathrooms!! Perfect for everyone to get ready in all at once and leave all there stuff safely throughout the day. I did not stop hearing comments from the guests all day about how cute the bathrooms were. There was full changing tables, very family friendly. The lighting was the best I have seen at a venue. There was tons of natural light, the photographer thanks you! When it got dark the lights were beautiful but also actually lit the place up so we weren't sitting in a cave! It was beautiful inside and out, lots of places outside to do pictures. The parking lot is massive and there is easy pull up drop off access for limo or grandparent drop offs. The kitchen is spotless and practical with its own entrance. The owner Dorisa, her husband, and all of the staff were impeccable. I did not meet them until the big day during our first crisis (non existent keg) and they went above and beyond to help. The owners and staff were always present, never difficult to find, and ready to do whatever it took to make the day go off without a hitch. Throughout the whole day I was constantly seeing Dorisa, her husband, and all the staff go above and beyond expectations helping where it was needed, not just required. Overall I was incredibly impressed. It felt like we were being hosted by a family in their gigantic beautiful venue home than renting a space from a business. I don't think it can get much better than that! I strongly recommend this venue to anyone and everyone! Thank you!!!

We recently had our reception here, they delivered exactly what I envisioned. The set up was…read moreabsolutely stunning, the food was off the charts (we got so many compliments) from the rehearsal dinner to the food for the day of, it was all delicious. We had a math error for our cupcake count and their baker made herself available as to provide additional cupcakes the day before our wedding (which we also got a ton of compliments for). Gatherings also provided us a small cake to cut for the reception, not only was it stunning, but it tasted as good as it looked. I don't think I have a single thing to complain about, seriously, I couldn't have asked for it to be more perfect. I highly recommend them.

Great place to have a wedding reception. The Hickory Park food is the bomb and the price is right…read more People can sit up in the upper levels and watch the dancing queens on the dance floor shake their money maker. Friendly service.

The Octagon Center of the Arts has since moved down the block a few spots. I recently wandered into…read morethe shop and the adjacent gallery that was featuring a sign history of Ames. Great Stuff.

I really love this place! Cool art store/gallery/space to rent!…read more I have enjoyed concerts, classes, and art shows here! The rooms are beautiful and big enough for a nice crew to be in, but not huge enough to make things not feel intimate! The store is full of hand made, art stuff! Like Prints, one of a kind things, local art, jewelry, kitchen items, books, dvd's, cd's you name it! If it's art they probably have it! Perfect store for gift shopping for the unique someone who has everything...

The rustic Fairview Lodge is run by Story City and is nicely situated and overlooking the park and…read moreright next to the historical Carousel. This is primarily a meeting venue and a convenient place to "wash up".

The front desk lady. Don't complain about housekeeping or she might take it personally and almost…read morekick you out. The manager is bad too bad attitude. Negative energy is in that nice looking hotel.

I can't believe I forgot to review this place after our stay in late August. In my defense, we were…read morein the process of moving cross country. Originally we were going to stay in a Motel 6 in Des Moines due to pets and a tight budget. However, after arriving to possible drug deals in progress, we moved on to a Holiday Inn Express, which was booked but arranged for us to stay at another Holiday Inn Express in a neighboring town. The cost was reasonable for the quality of accommodations, and we were relieved they allowed our small travelling circus to stay when most non-Motel 6s have a 1 or 2 dog limit. We had a good night's rest in a safe, clean room and awoke to a decent continental breakfast. The only dark spot was when a bunch of drunken men went screaming down the hallway at some odd hour in the morning and upset our dogs, but it wasn't an ongoing problem so I can't hold that against the hotel. If you're travelling across country or intentionally visiting the area, this is a safe, clean pet friendly place to stay. As far as I can tell, once you're past Nebraska, Motel 6 is no longer a viable option.