What's Happening in Des Moines

Des Moines has live events every weekend across music, food, arts, sports and family activities. The Downtown Farmers' Market runs Saturday mornings May through October in the Historic Court District, touring Broadway shows play the Des Moines Civic Center, concerts run at Wells Fargo Arena and smaller venues like xBk Live, and the East Village and Historic Valley Junction host regular gallery and shopping events. See our full this-weekend listing for what is confirmed for the coming Saturday and Sunday, updated daily.

• Events this weekend

Several of the best-known attractions in Des Moines are free year-round: the Des Moines Art Center, the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park, the State Historical Museum of Iowa in the East Village, the Iowa State Capitol grounds, and Lauridsen Skatepark, which at 88,000 square feet was billed as the largest skatepark in the United States when it opened in 2021. Free splash pads open across the metro in summer, and Saylorville Lake and the Neal Smith Trail are open for hiking and biking at no cost.

• Free events

Our today listing shows events confirmed for the current date in Central Time across Des Moines and the surrounding suburbs, grouped by time of day: what is on now, this afternoon and tonight. It is rebuilt daily from event sources across the metro rather than depending on venues submitting their listings to us.

• Events today

Des Moines dining spans fine dining, chef-driven small plates and long-standing local institutions. Well-known names include Harbinger, Alba in the East Village, 801 Chophouse and Proudfoot & Bird downtown, Splash Seafood Bar and Grill, and Latin King, where you can order Steak de Burgo, the dish most associated with the city. Our restaurant directory covers the metro with cuisine, price range, city and current open/closed status, and the neighborhood guides group places area by area.

• Neighborhood guides

Our open-now listing checks current hours against the time in Central Time and shows only what is serving at this moment, including late at night. Hours can lag behind the venue, so each listing links to the restaurant's own page; if the two disagree, believe the venue.

• Restaurants open now

The metro has strong family options, many of them free. Blank Park Zoo, the Science Center of Iowa and Adventureland in Altoona are the main paid attractions; the Des Moines Art Center, the State Historical Museum and the Pappajohn Sculpture Park are free and work well with children. We also map playgrounds across the metro with age suitability and accessibility details, and maintain a kids and family events listing.

• Playgrounds
• Kids and family events

Des Moines and the suburbs around it: events and restaurants are listed across the metro. These areas have their own guide page: East Village, West Des Moines, Ankeny, Urbandale, Johnston, Clive, Waukee and Altoona.

• Neighborhood guides

The Iowa State Fair runs for 11 days each August at the Iowa State Fairgrounds on the east side of Des Moines. It is the largest single event in the state and draws over a million visitors. Our Iowa State Fair guide covers dates, the grandstand concert lineup, parking, admission and food.

• Iowa State Fair guide

New events are collected daily from venue and organizer calendars. All times are Central Time, and each list shows when it was last updated.

Listing an event or a restaurant is free. We sell two things: banner ad slots, and sponsored listings. A sponsored listing can appear first on the events, restaurants and attractions pages, at most two per list, and each one carries a Sponsored label. Nothing else is reordered for money.

• Advertising options