About Des Moines Insider

Who runs this site

Des Moines Insider is run from Des Moines, Iowa. Articles are published under the Des Moines Insider name rather than an individual byline.

You can reach the people behind it at [email protected] or through the contact page.

What we cover

Des Moines proper and the surrounding metro: West Des Moines, Ankeny, Urbandale, Clive, Johnston, Waukee, Windsor Heights and Altoona. Times are shown in Central Time.

How listings are chosen

• Events are collected every morning from the public Catch Des Moines events calendar, so a venue does not have to send us anything to be listed. Event pages link to the original listing where one exists, and past events are archived automatically.
• Submitted events come in through the submission form and a person reviews each one, usually within 48 hours, before it appears.
• Restaurants, including the hours behind open-now status, are reviewed weekly. Attractions are reviewed monthly.
• Sponsored listings are labeled Sponsored. At most two are moved to the top of a list; everything else keeps its normal order. Affiliate links are covered in the affiliate disclosure.

How articles are written

Some articles are drafted with the help of an AI model and reviewed by a person before they are published. Those carry an “AI-assisted” label at the top. Every article shows the date it was published and, when it has been revised since, the date it was updated.