Every August, a little magic happens in downtown IC. The taste of IC is a chance for local spots to…read moreshowcase their culinary prowess to the masses. Tickets for food are purchased from a number of booths set up around downtown and are $1 each. Samples from approximately 40 restaurants in the area run between 1-4 tickets each and give all comers a great chance to sample a few or many of the offerings around town. In 2012, Molly's cupcakes, Mesa Pizza, Moonrakers, Basta and Masala were our favorite spots, but it's seriously hard to go wrong when you can walk around on a nice evening for 3 hours and go costco sample style for $20. A great event for a city that's doing a good job at expanding their culinary offerings downtown. Well worth a stop by when it's going on, you won't be disasppointed and you might even find your favorite new restaurant!

Downtown Iowa City is becoming a foodie's paradise. Places like Pullman, Iowa Chop House, Atlas,…read moreBasta, Forbidden Planet, Formosa, Devotay, and Masala are a few of my favorites (yes, only a few from my favorites). There are several tents stationed around the downtown area where you can buy tickets and pick up a map. $1 gets you 1 ticket (sold in bundles of 5). All the participating restaurants then have tables set up outside their storefronts where they're serving sample-sized versions of items on their menu and sampling these items requires anywhere from one to three tickets. My personal favorite of everything I tried this year was Pullman - their cinnamon roll with ice cream on the side melts in the mouth but the pulled pork sandwich was incredible. Let me say that again... incredible. I also really enjoyed the samples from Formosa, Iowa Chop House, and Pop's Old-N-New BBQ. Oh my word, I can hardly wait until my next dine-in experience at any of these restaurants! I love this event since it's an opportunity to sample new dishes and new restaurants without the commitment of ordering the full dish. The Taste of Iowa City seems to be growing in popularity and in offerings, with live bands and performances, plus a giant blow-up Herky on the Ped Mall, all upping the ante and making this a fun chance to slow down and enjoy the atmosphere of Downtown Iowa City.

A yearly wonderful celebration of all things Art in the Iowa City and surrounding area. It takes…read moreplace throughout downtown with whole streets lined with shops showcasing just about any art medium you can think of. We saw some great blown glass, plenty of paintings and lot in between. Everyone here is obviously proud of what they're doing and it shows in the pricing. Worth you time if you're looking for something out of the ordinary. The food row is the same stuff that often shows up downtown and ranges from Gyros, to chicken to Korean tacos and bubble tea. It's good stuff and an increasing number of them are taking credit cards, which makes things a lot easier. There's plenty for kiddos and a parade of Friday evening. Well worth checking out, with or without the kids.

Very nice art festival held typically the first week of June in downtown Iowa City. You can expect…read morea lot of different art vendors, live music, and fresh prepared food trucks. They do a good job of kicking summer off right. I've been a few times and have always enjoyed it.

What a great way to celebrate the 4th of July! You can't beat live outdoor music, fried food, and…read moreone of the best firework displays I've seen-Right up there with The Taste of Minnesota's fireworks In downtown St. Paul.

We love coming up to the Tannenbaum forest each December and this year was no exception. It's held…read morein the festival barn and is generally open for around 5 weeks a year. The tree offerings are from local merchants and are always a delight! The giant windmill tree is a constant and a kid favorite. The number of trees has increased steadily over the last six years, with this year having 25 + trees present. Santa, reindeer and other Christmas pleasantries are often seen and give you a good reason to go check things out - do check the times however as the aforementioned pleasantries are not always present. All in all, this is a great place to kill a little bit of time during the holidays, a great way to check out a few local businesses and see how they support the community, and a good chance to donate a little bit of money to the Children's Hospital, who tends to be the recipient of most of the donations. It doesn't take a long time to get through, but it's always worth going to.

Beautiful trees set up my local businesses and organizations. Great photo ops set up as well. Easy…read moreparking right outside.

In my gut I know it is biased to give Kinnick a 5-star rating due to the glaring infrastructural…read moreissues with this stadium, but I just can't help myself. I can't overlook how magical it is to be an Iowa-native and walk into this roaring stadium on a Saturdays. The last time I came to a game was against Michigan State during Iowa's 2025-2026 campaign. Our guys should have stomped the yard against them and ended up winning on a field goal as time expired. Classic. Epic seats for that one as well. I'll be back again... and again... and again for years to come!

It was so fun the Savannah Bananas were in town 4th of July weekend; "Back in Yellow". They came…read moreout of the tunnel like the Hawkeyes do and it was a spectacular show. So many fun song choices, games, and fun. It was such a fun event and I highly recommend checking out a Bananas show so you can enjoy the show too!

We came to see Anastasia this weekend with my in-laws. What a delightful show at a pretty…read morereasonable price. Overall this performing arts theater is wonderful to have in Coralville. Parking is a non issue. The facilities are great-- though I can't say there's a lot of handicapped options for seating and the bathroom situation on the main level is absurd, with two stalls. My bigger knock on this venue is just that it doesn't seem to have a ton of shows. That being said, when we come-- we have a great time. Check it out!

A great addition to the Coralville area! The 500 seat auditorium brings another dimension to the…read morecity and will showcase plenty of shows - both music and theater. The first few months have everything from hairspray to rocky horror picture show as well as Christmas favorites. Great to check out in the coming months and will be exciting to see what shows come in the near future.

We randomly came upon Plum Grove while on a bike ride and it's quite the fun little spot to stop in…read moreat. They're open from 1-5 Wed-Sun and we learned from the sign that the National Society of The Colonial Dames helps out here! Kind of a fun little 20 minute excursion where you can explore a house that was effectively a mansion in the 1840's and today is on the small side of anywhere. The grounds have plenty of reader boards w/ fun facts about what used to go on here and there was even a community garden that is apparently usable. Good place to go explore for a bit and learn a little about how things used to be!

We came and did a little tour here, it's a fun little hidden gem in the middle of Iowa City. It's a…read morecool old house, grounds and gardens that are in surprisingly good shape. The tour is free, and because not many people come it's basically a private tour every time. The tour guides are knowledgeable, friendly, and fun. Ours was very good with my daughter who was just learning how to walk and wanted to get into everything. The grounds are also quite beautiful, with an herb garden, a flower garden, and a vegetable garden, as well as huge old trees. There is plenty of space to picnic there, and it's very peaceful. I really enjoyed spending an hour here and would recommend it!

Oh my stars, what a hidden treasure!…read more I still can't believe how cheap it was to participate in this wonderful event. For $5 I sampled long-lost recipes from the late 1800s, made from produce grown on the Plum Grove property's gardens which are maintained by local Master Gardeners. The event had that farm-to-table vibe with long rows of picnic tables set up in the lawn, centerpieces cut from the property's gardens, a brassy live band, and of course... the food. Tomato & Corn Relish Salad, Intensely Tomato Roasted Pepper soup (served gazpacho-style), Rhubarb Bread, Sauerkraut Apple Cake for dessert, and Patriot's Punch lemonade were some of my favorite dishes. After wandering the grounds and talking to Master Gardeners about their techniques for raising their beautiful heirloom plants organically (many of their varieties were sourced from Seed Savers in Decorah, IA), I went home a very happy camper with a $.50 recipe book of all the things I'd sampled in tow.