Justin Roberts Concert
Saturday, July 4 at 12:30 p.m.

Award-winning children’s performer Justin Roberts and the Not Ready for Naptime Players will perform during our Independence Weekend celebration. The concert is included with the museum admission price, but preferred seating is available for purchase by calling 515-278-5286.
This presentation is supported by the Performing Arts Fund, a program of Arts Midwest funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art, with additional contributions from the Iowa Arts Council, General Mills Foundation and Land O’Lakes Foundation.

Behind the Barn: Metro Arts Jazz in July
Thursday, July 16, 5:30-9:00 pm

FREE and Family Friendly Enjoy two great concerts on our large outdoor stage. First, Old School presents Giants of Jazz: The Music of Wes Montgomery. Next up is bella soul featuring Tina Hasse Findlay. Tina has been a fixture of the Des Moines music scene for over 25 years and makes her musical mark in the fields of jazz, blues, rock, soul, and gospel. Family friendly concessions are available with grilled burgers and hot dogs, watermelon, ice cream and other snacks. Lawn games for all and kid’s crafts jazz up the evening. Don’t forget to bring a blanket or lawn chairs.

History Snapshot: Circuit Court Hearing
Saturday, July 18 from 1-4 pm

Join the citizens of Walnut Hill at the C.H. Taylor Law Offices for an afternoon of law and order. Lawyers, witnesses, judge and court clerks, re-created by costumed interpreters, will present real court cases from 1870s Iowa courts. Museum guests will sit on the jury and find out if their verdicts match those of their 19th century predecessors! Cases last approximately 25 minutes.

Urbandale Farmer's Market at Living History Farms
Mondays, June 1 - October 12, from 4-7 pm

Gather on the Living History Farms front lawn and browse the booths at the Urbandale Farmer’s Market. Purchase fresh produce and baked goods or a handcrafted item. Relax in the beer and wine garden, enjoy live entertainment, and watch historical demonstrations.
June Entertainment Schedule
With two staging areas, there's plenty of room to enjoy our live entertainment.
June 22 - Bonnie Finkin and Darren Raleigh
June 29 - The Honeybees and Big Joe Kinser

Travel Through 300 Years of Iowa’s Agricultural Heritage

At Living History Farms, visitors experience first-hand what it was like to live on an Ioway Indian farm, on a pioneer farmstead, in an early Iowa town, on a farm from 100 years ago and what farming is like today!

Discover America’s agricultural heritage as you walk through three working farms, each with authentic crops and livestock. Learn how Native Americans grew crops in Iowa at the 1700 Farm. See how early farmers opened the prairie with oxen at the 1850 Farm. Find out how horse-power and cast-iron machines revolutionized agriculture at the 1900 Farm. Then, reconnect with today’s agriculture in the Wallace Exhibit Center where you can see the many ways two-percent of the people in the United States (farmers) feed, clothe - and even fuel - the other 98 percent.

In the 1875 town of Walnut Hill, join in the excitement of a bustling Iowa town with 14 homes, shops and businesses including a general store, blacksmith shop, print shop, drug store, implement warehouse and two Victorian homes.

Historical interpreters work at each of the farms, homes and shops and are ready to show you the whats, whens, hows and whys of everyday life in the past. The sights, sounds, smells and sensations at the sites will immerse you in history.

During June, July and August, you can really “More Than You Remember! at Living History Farms.” Just grab your FREE pair of work gloves and try something new every day with hands-on activities for the entire family.

Celebrate Iowa with Lee Kline

Veteran farm broadcaster Lee Kline has compiled his favorite interviews into a five volume collection now available on CD and cassette. The "Lee Kline’s Iowa Notebooks" show both the serious and humorous sides of Iowa. All proceeds from the CD and tape sales go to Living History Farms. Lee Kline entertained and informed generations of Iowa radio listeners with the sounds and stories of rural life for more than 40 years on WHO Radio, Des Moines. Raised in Conrad, Iowa, Lee began his daily "Iowa Notebook" features when he joined WHO in 1954. He continues to file occasional broadcasts recounting interesting stories gathered from recent travel in Iowa and around the globe.

To get your copy of Lee's tapes or CDs visit our MarketPlace on your next visit!

Living History Farms is open daily, May 1 to September 7, 9 am to 5 pm Monday - Saturday and Noon to 5 pm Sundays and September 9 to October 15, Wednesday - Saturday 9 am to 5 pm, Sundays Noon to 5 pm. Admission is: Adults, $11.50; Child (4-12) $7.00; Senior Citizen (60+), $10.50. For a special events update, call (515) 278-2400. Living History Farms is located at 2600 111th Street (exit #125 from the combined interstates 35/80), Urbandale, Iowa.

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