Around Des Moines

What a treasure!

It seemed like a good day to visit the State Historical Museum, and was it ever! Not only were the major and smaller exhibits up and running, but the Irish Fest was in full swing in the afternoon.

Thanks to Drake University President David Maxwell I took the bus. As part of a commitment to civic and global responsibility Drake University under Maxwell’s leadership has signed on to help support DART and in doing so to provide access to free rides to all members of the Drake community. The bus ride was not door to door but definitely close enough - a one and a half block walk to the bus stop and at the end of the ride across the street to the museum, definitely closer than I could have parked.

Did you know that the State Historical Museum is free? Take your friends from out out town. Tell them, “My treat.”

Once inside I looked at a couple of antique autos with Iowa connections including a Mason built in Des Moines by Fred and August Duesenberg and financed by Edward Mason. F. L. Maytag later built Mason-Maytags in Waterloo. The Duesenbergs went on to build the Duesenberg (It’s a Doozy.), the Cord, and Auburn. I loved the electric car driven by former Governor George Clarke’s wife Arletta. Patten’s Neighborhood: Memories of the Center Street Community is a fascinating 40-year history of one African-American neighborhood in Des Moines. Take some time, soak it in, and don’t miss it.

I had a nice lunch at Cafe Barrata’s at the top of the museum overlooking the city. (Baratta’s on South Union has always been one of my favorites.)

After lunch came the Irish Fest, a special event at the Historical Museum. And suddenly the Museum got very busy. I listened to the talented Bay area duo named Four Shillings Short as they played flutes and strings and sang their original interpretations of Irish folk music. You can hear them on their website.

One talented local group was the Des Moines branch of the Foy School of Traditional Irish Dance, young people who performed energetic, colorful, and precise Irish dances to the delight of family and friends. The small stage was a perfect setting for them.

The MacKenzie Highlanders played bagpipes and drum in the main hall. Have a listen and you will understand how impressive it is when you are standing just feet away.

And there was a lot more to the Irish Fest, but that is all I saw.

The exhibit Portrait of a Governor: A Life, A Legacy traces the history of Iowa’s Governors from Territorial Governor Robert Lucas to current Governor Chet Culver - lots of pictures, short bios, videos, significant facts about each period in Iowa history. Read what you like and leave the rest. You’ll enjoy it.

That is just the shortest introduction to the State Historical Museum. There is so much to see and do - a coal mine, airplanes, natural history, Ding Darling, education, special events. It is very well done. The docents are plentiful. Everyone feels welcome. Check out the special events calendar.

Waiting at the bus stop for the ride home I struck up a conversation with a worker going home. By the time we got on, we were friends. By the time he got off we knew we were neighbors. It turns out that he lives just a few blocks from me. Ride the bus; meet your neighbors. See ya.

Guest Writer: James G. Lindberg (Jim) is the Purple Wren’s sweetie and is a visiting chemistry professor at Grinnell College and retired from Drake University.

Technorati Tags: Iowa, Des Moines, Central Iowa News, State Historical Museum, Drake University, DART, Irish Fest

Alas, Des Moines is not considered to be among the top cities of the world. At least voters selecting which cities should be on a new edition of Monopoly called Here & Now The World Edition did not include Des Moines. Various votes have been taken online for this updated edition of the Parker Brothers board game and the current vote ends on March 9, 2008. That vote is to select two wild card cities from a list of 20.

Should San Francisco be included? What about Quebec? Maybe you’d like to build a hotel on Cancun. Those are some of the cities on the wildcard list.

Voting started at midnight, Universal Time, on January 22, 2008. A list of 68 cities was offered from which 20 were selected. The two wild card cities will bring the list of cities on the new board to 22. The city that will be the new high-rent Boardwalk will be decided by which city receives the highest number of votes. That portion of the voting has closed. The winning cities will be announced and the new board will be available in stores in August 2008. Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York City, and Washington, DC, are the United States cities that might be included.

In a news release announcing the voting, Hasbro told of some oddities in country-specific contests held for other editions. Paris did not receive enough votes to be on a French board. In the United Kingdom, more votes were received online for the Monopoly choice than were received at polls for local elections held at the same time.

While I was checking the Internet to see if there had been any nomination of Des Moines in the wild card list, I discovered Parker Brothers had a plant in Des Moines. There is a book called, The Game Makers: The Story of Parker Brothers from Tiddlywinks to Trivial Pursuit, published in 2003 and written by Philip E. Orbanes. An excerpt from this book found on a website indicated that a Des Moines plant manager went on to be a vice president in the company after it was bought. There is also a website that looks specifically at the history of Monopoly, including the designs of box covers.

The news release does not mention any updates for the railroads and the utilities, or if the $200 for passing Go will be paid in euros, U.S. dollars, or yuans. Nor was there any hint of new tokens.

Naturally I started thinking of what an Iowa version of Monopoly might be. I’m not sure if I was getting more chuckles for the tokens, the choice of low and high rent locations, or for the utilities and transportation options. Maybe instead of going to jail, where in Polk County players would have to pay $200 just to help build it, players could be sent to a hog confinement. Of course, one of the tokens would have to be a hog.

M.R. Field is editor of Leading Voices: Iowa. 

This year’s Superbowl lived up to the expectation of an entertaining contest. In many years it does not, but everyone looks forward to the ads. This year a few ads were entertaining, many were ho-hum, some were strangely gory and bizarre, and I felt that the two that employed Asian accents for humor were racist. At $2.7 million for 30 seconds I am glad I saved my money for something else.

Find them all on MySpace.

Guest Writer: James G. Lindberg (Jim) is the Purple Wren’s sweetie and is a visiting chemistry professor at Grinnell College and retired from Drake University.

Bobby Fischer, one of the great chess players in history (some say the greatest) has died at 64. His obituary is reported in the New York Times.

Des Moines has its own chess club. The Des Moines Chess Club’s website features a calendar of upcoming events and links to related chess groups. One of the related groups headquartered in New Hope, MN allows you to play chess on the Internet.

Guest Writer: James G. Lindberg (Jim) is the the Purple Wren’s sweetie and is a visiting chemistry professor at Grinnell College and retired from Drake University.

Technorati Tags: Iowa, Des Moines, Central Iowa News, Bobby Fischer, Chess

This is a fun way to end the year - with an “I” list. For all the Iowa bloggers. Several of us have been posting lists of Iowa bloggers during the past year, but Drew McLellan turned it into The I List. What a great idea!

Go ahead, add any Iowa blogger links that are missing, grab the code and post it on your blog.

Here’s the list with my additions.

The I list:

Adam Carroll
Andy Drish
Around Des Moines
Art Dinkin, CFP, CLU, ChFC
Association of Business & Industry
Association for Women in Communications DSM Alliance
Babich, Goldman, Cashatt & Renzo
Barry Pace
BeatCanvas
Bill Grell
Blue Frog Arts
Brett Trout
Bridges Financial
Broom Wizards
C Wenger Group
Carpe Factum
Claire Celsi
Cloud Nine Diamonds
Compass Financial Services
Conference Calls Unlimited
ConverStations
Dave Dreeszen
Des Moines Families
Dickinson, Mackaman, Tyler & Hagen
DMWebLife
Do You Q?
Dr U Fantasy Football
DSM Buzz
Dwebware
Employer Ease
Enroute365
Eric Peterson
Essential Estrogen
Focal Point Multimedia
George Davison
Gift Idea Help
Home Know-it-All
Insight Advertising & Marketing
Iowa Bed & Breakfast Association
Iowa Biz
J. Erik Potter
Jann Freed
Jennifer Jaskolka-Brown
Josh More
Kyle’s Cove
Maiers Educational Services
McKee, Vorhees & Sease
McLellan Marketing Group
NCMIC Insurance
Purple Wren
Radio Iowa
REL Productions
Rental Metrics
Rita Perea Consulting
Roth & Company
RSM McGladrey
Ruby’s Pub
Runners’ Lounge
Rush Nigut
Ryan Rossinick
Simplifive
SmartPestSolutions
Snap! Creative Works
Studio 24 Design
Sullivan & Ward’s Iowa Law Blog
Swing Station
The Members Group
The Mitchell Group
The Simple Dollar
The Yin Blog
This Ain’t No Spin Class
Transition Capital Management
US Rodeo Supply
Victoria Herring
Wade Den Hartog
Wealth With Mortgage
When Words Matter
White Rabbit Group

Additions from readers:

24-Hour Dorman
Bleeding Heartland
Blog for Iowa
Century of the Common Iowan
Chase Martyn On Display
Cyclone Conservatives
FromDC2Iowa
Iowa Geek
Iowa Guy’s Blog
Iowa Progress
Joe Says So
John Deeth
NewsConference
OnTheStreet
Political Fallout
Political Forecast
Popular Progressive
Price of Politics
State 29
The Radloff’s Random Midnight Thoughts
Thoughts From the Oasis Amidst the Corn

Related posts:

Recognizing Outstanding Bloggers
Z-Listers are now Pic Shots
Sharing the Z-List Collage
Z-List goes Interactive and Mobile on Wiffiti
Have you seen the Iowa Blogga Nostra?
Using Photo Flicks to Share Memories

Writer: Sandy Renshaw is a self-employed communications consultant. You will also find her blogging at Purple Wren.

If residential light displays don’t satisfy your desire for Christmas color, it’s time to turn up the wattage!

Since 1995, the most famous central Iowa light show has to be Jolly Holiday Lights at Water Works Park in Des Moines. Popular with the kids, this seasonal sight packs the power of some 75 moving-light displays featuring whimsical holiday characters and scenes. The tour is open nightly from 5:30 - 10 p.m. through Jan. 1. Admission is $9 per car or $45 per bus with proceeds going to the Make a Wish Foundation.

Photo from Flickr

Cutty’s Camping Club at 10500 N.W. 54th Ave. in Grimes is also back with a new and improved light tour. Now bigger and better than ever, the Cutty’s display features with five lighted themes:

• 12 Days of Christmas
• Santa’s Workshop
• Wilderness
• Toys of The Century
• Joy to the World

Hours are dusk - 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and dusk - 10 p.m. Saturday to Friday through Jan. 6. Admission is $13 per car OR $10 per car when you bring three canned food items for Food Bank of Iowa. Special pricing is available for buses.

If you enjoy the sounds of the season as well as the sparkle, consider a visit to Marshalltown. There you’ll find the musical mastery of Eric Rodemeyer, one of the pioneers who brought choreographed carols to holiday light shows in Iowa. This year, as a part of Optimist Holiday Lights, Rodemeyer will have Main Street dancing to tinsel-laden tunes from 5:30 - 10:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 5:30 - 11 p.m. Friday to Sunday through Dec. 31. Enjoy a sneak peek, or head to Marshalltown for this free event.

Guest Writer: Brenda Friedrich is an Iowa-based writer and business communications consultant. You can also find her blogging at Enroute365.

Technorati Tags: Iowa, Des Moines, Des Moines News

Central Iowa has no shortage of light displays this time of year. Several area venues keep carloads – even bus loads – of visitors streaming through and benefit good causes. But the ones that are nearest and dearest to my heart are those that show the warmth and unity of neighborhoods around Des Moines.

These residential light displays aren’t always picture perfect. At least they don’t seem that way to me. Whenever I see an illuminated inflatable snowman, I’m reminded of the StayPuft Marshmallow Man from the move Ghostbusters. And, worse, when the over-sized Frosty is leaning precariously over Baby Jesus – who by-the-way is just inches away from the sculptural reindeer, the lighted candy canes and the animated train scene – well, I just cringe. That is, until I remember that communities are made up of all kinds of people and tastes. While simple luminaries or icicle lights may cast the desired holiday glow for the couple next door, that may not be enough dazzle for the guy across the street. This is local color and it’s part of the charm and character of most neighborhoods.

With that in mind, I’ve begun plotting my holiday light excursion, detailed here. Please let me know if I’ve missed your street and feel free to share your favorite picks and pans.

Ankeny – The home at 2520 NE 97th Place features a light show with synchronized music (an eight minute show). Another residence at 222 N.E. 16th St boasts a Christmas light extravaganza (runs from 6 to 10 p.m., except on Saturdays.) Also experience lights along the 720 block of S.E. Richland in Ankeny.

Beaverdale – Neighborhood display includes the Church of the Open Bible on Beaver, Ashby Dr. and Ovid Ave.

Clive – Area around Country Club neighborhood

Grimes – The home at 200 N. Main St.

Johnston – The Green Meadows neighborhood off of 86th St

Urbandale – West of 86th St off of Meredith

West Des Moines – The Valley Junction business district on Fifth St.

Guest Writer: Brenda Friedrich is an Iowa-based writer and business communications consultant. You can also find her blogging at Enroute365.

Technorati Tags: Iowa, Des Moines, Des Moines News

The City of Des Moines printed a poster in 2007 that looks at the early history of the area. It was prepared with assistance from the University of Iowa and from the Office of the State Archaeologist (OSA). I picked up a copy at the Central Library. There is a logo on the double-sided poster for the Southeast Connector, i.e., the extension of Martin Luther King, Jr. Parkway, more commonly known as MLK, to US 65, and for the State Archaeologist. The poster includes a bibliography and credits. Will Thomson of Armadillo Arts in Iowa City provided the design and original art. Paleotopographic reconstruction and text were provided by the OSA.

Much of the information on the poster came from research that was conducted as a result of new development in the city. An example of these required studies can be found in a January 1993 archaeological survey prepared for the riverfront greenbelt near the Botanical Center. Remains of the former Iowa Tile and Pipe Company, operating from approximately 1881-1957, were found. The survey’s conclusion was that destruction of the plant buildings and bulldozing in the late 1950’s for construction of I-235 left nothing of value in the greenbelt area.

An archaeological timeline for Iowa is available online. This was also created by Will Thomson. Among the highlights is evidence of an early house in Louisa County from 4500 B.C. and cultivation of goosefoot as a food crop long before corn became important.

There are several places to find documentation on historic and prehistoric times in Iowa. The State Historical Museum at 6th and Locust contains a library and displays. The bones of a mammoth found during construction of the downtown Des Moines Allied Insurance building in 2001, near 10th Street, are at the museum. Bones from a mammoth found in Wisconsin in 1994 also are on display. These bones are known as the Hebior mammoth after John Hebior, the farmer who discovered them while digging a drainage ditch. Iowa was home to wooly and to Columbian mammoths.

Oral histories of life in Des Moines, mostly in the early years of the 20th century, can be found in the non-circulating material at the Central Library. The library also has interesting books on the geology of Iowa. I found Fragile Giants: A Natural History of the Loess Hills by Cornelia F. Mutel quite useful when I read it before a photo shoot in western Iowa. For those with older houses, searching the history of the property can be done through the recording of deeds.

According to information on the new poster, the Raccoon River channel was rerouted to its present location in the 1930’s. It used to enter the Des Moines River a block south of what is now MLK. The road passes over the land where Fort Des Moines’ enlisted men’s quarters were in 1843-1846. Farther west, on the bluffs above the Raccoon River, an Indian settlement now identified as the Raccoon River Settlement was established by 1300 A.D.

M.R. Field is editor of Leading Voices: Iowa and has a curiousity the size of a saber-toothed tiger. 

Some work was being done on the Equitable Building in downtown Des Moines on Saturday, December 8th. Sixth Avenue was blocked off north of Walnut as a crane was used to lift panels to construction workers on the upper floors.

Political signs make effective snow catchers as demonstrated by this huge ad for Hillary Clinton on Ingersoll photographed the night of Friday, December 7th. How could Iowans have used the numerous presidential campaigns to help offset property taxes, road construction, or other costs? What about those spots along I-235 that are supposed to be landscaped in 2008? Couldn’t we have sold them as advertising space to campaigns, maybe through a non-profit organization set up for that purpose? Maybe we could have sold naming rights for Nollen Plaza on a daily schedule. Many people think the open-air plaza needs an overhaul so why not have campaigns do a reality-based urban redevelopment competition and create new designs complete with full-scale cardboard models of features? We could hold a youth festival to promote the arts and conduct a straw poll and hold focus groups for the young people to talk about the effectiveness of the campaigns’ logos. I have numerous ideas but I would like to hear ideas from other people, too.

M.R. Field is editor of Leading Voices: Iowa and encourages people to think creatively. 

Here’s an interesting tool. Enter your physical address and the tool calculates “the walkability of an address by locating nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc.” This is a patent-pending system and they welcome your feedback as they continue to improve the algorithm.

My location came in with a score of 51 - which is right on the line between “Not Walkable” and “Some Walkable Locations” - and I totally agree. There is a park and a grocery store nearby, but you really need a car. And, the amount of traffic on the main streets makes it a very unpleasant walk.

How about you? Does the score accurately reflect the walkability of your location?

A tip o’ the hat to dmweblife.com for sharing the link to Walk Score. Many of you know I love to find unique tools and programs. This definitely fits in that category!

Technorati Tags: Iowa, Des Moines, Des Moines News, Walk Score