Horseshoes & Hand Grenades play the Iowa Arts Festival in downtown Iowa City -- August 13 through 15.
Friday, August 13, through Sunday, August 15
Downtown Iowa City IA
A 39-year tradition that has attracted more than 25,000 people each summer to downtown Iowa City, the Iowa Arts Festival, from August 13 to 15, will host more than 90 visual artists, include an Emerging Artist Area geared toward elevating student work, and feature a beverage garden, a variety of culinary delights, children’s activities, and thrilling live-music performances on the Main and Ped Mall Stages.
On Friday, the fun begins with a 6pm carnival celebration featuring the Pandelerium Steel Drum Band on the Main Stage, while Aaron Kamm & the One Drops hit the stage at 7 p.m., bringing blues and roots reggae to the fest. Then at 9 p.m., the evening will be closed out by headliners The Jayhawks, who signed with American Recordings in 1991 and, over the next decade, released five groundbreaking albums and toured the world to widespread acclaim. After a hiatus in the mid-2000s, the classic 1994 lineup reunited for another new studio album in 2011, and last July, the band released their 11th studio album XOXO.
On Saturday the 14th, the Main Stage is back up and running at 11:30 a.m. with Iowa City’s own Dodge Street Duo. Jordan Sellergren follows at 1 p.m., featuring music from her second full-length album, while the Recliners play next in a performance that will be filled with a wide variety of musical genres. Wyatt Waddell performs at 5 p.m., kicking off the evening with a mix of indie, R&B, pop, and funk music. Minnesota-based folk singer Chastity Brown takes the stage at 7 p.m., and then the night is rounded out with Horseshoes & Hand Grenades. A Wisconsin-based, high-energy string band that performs folk and bluegrass roots, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades have played together for 10 years and have released five albums, including the recent Miles in Blue.
Sunday the 15th features more local favorites with One Foot on the Ground kicking things off at 11:30 a.m., followed by local folk band Flash in a Pan, while Miles Over Mountains closes the festival with their high-energy bluegrass tunes at 2:45 p.m. Additional music acts playing the Iowa Arts Festival's Ped Mal Stage over the weekend include Duke Otherwise, Nielo Gaglio, Ace Jones, Balke Shaw & Jim Buennig, Brody Buster's One-Man Band, Womanish Girl, Ingrid Streitz, Abbie Callahan, and the Silver Swing Band. And other scheduled events over the festival's three days include poetry readings, silk aerialist Mimi Ke, and dance performances with the Infinity Dance Co. and Quad Cities Ballet Folklorico.
Admission to the 2021 Iowa Arts Festival on August 13 through 15 is free, and more information and a full schedule of events is available by visiting SummerOfTheArts.org.
