If you live in Urbandale, you already know the rhythm of an August Saturday here. Storytime in the parks, a lap around Lakeview, a concert at Charles Gabus Memorial Tree Park, and dinner somewhere along 86th or Douglas. What is easy to miss, until you look at the actual calendars side by side, is how much of that rhythm depends on a summer-only schedule that quietly ends in the last week of August.
This is not a roundup of everything happening in town. It is a case for treating the next two weekends as the last of a specific kind, and a plan for using them well before the civic programming thins out for fall.
The thesis: your late-summer weekend runs on borrowed hours
Three of the things that make an Urbandale weekend feel full in July run on a compressed summer clock.
Living History Farms is open for general touring May 1 through October 14th, but the daily-open version of that season is shorter than most residents remember. Its summer schedule runs May 1 through late August with the museum open Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday noon to 4 p.m., then shifts in late August to a Wednesday through Sunday fall schedule. That is not a small change. A Monday or Tuesday family visit is a summer option only.
The Urbandale Public Library and Parks and Rec partnership on Storytime in the Parks runs every Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM and Thursday evening at 6:30 PM at different Urbandale parks each week from June 9 through August 6. If you are reading this in early August, that program has just ended or is ending this week.
The Summer Concert Series at Charles Gabus Memorial Tree Park, presented by the City of Urbandale and AO Wealth Advisory, is a similar story. It is free, it is easy, and it runs on a defined stretch of the calendar rather than year-round.
The practical read: the last two or three weekends of August are the last time this year that all three schedules overlap. Plan them like you would plan a short trip.
The Living History Farms move you probably keep putting off
Most Urbandale residents drive past the 11121 Hickman Road entrance dozens of times a summer and go once every few years. The thing worth interpreting here is what the late-August window actually gets you.
Three hundred years of agricultural history are represented, including a 1700 Ioway Indian Farm, an 1850 Pioneer Farm, a 1900 Horse-Powered Farm, and an 1875 town. Tours are self guided and historic interpreters at each farm site are dressed in clothing from each era. At the 1900 Horse-Powered Farm, Percheron draft horses pull machinery to plant, cultivate, and harvest the farm's three main crops of corn, oats, and hay. Late August is a working part of that cycle, not the shoulder season. If you have not seen the field work at the 1900 farm, this is the window.
A logistical note that matters more than it sounds: the last tractor cart to the farms leaves at 2:30. That is why the "we'll swing by after lunch" plan so often turns into a walk through the visitor center and back to the car. Arriving by noon is the difference between a real visit and a lobby tour.
If you would rather commit to a fall date, the Living History Farms Race is a five-mile off-road run on Saturday, November 7 at 9 a.m., with registration opening August 1. The course splashes through streams and plows through fields, with post-race treats from the Machine Shed, and starts and ends in the 1876 town of Walnut Hill running through the three historic farm sites. The registration window is now.
The concert series, and where to actually sit
The concert format is straightforward. Free concerts at Charles Gabus Memorial Tree Park bring a rotating lineup, each evening offers something a little different, you can bring a lawn chair or blanket, pack a cooler, and all ages are welcome. The park is at 3400 86th Street, and if you are new to the series, three details are worth knowing before you pack the car.
| What to know | Detail |
|---|---|
| The rain venue | Giovannetti Community Shelter at 8900 Douglas Avenue, used indoors when weather forces the move |
| The cooler rule | Coolers are permitted, so pack your favorites and make a night of it |
| The sponsor | The series is made possible through the support of AO Wealth and the City of Urbandale |
The reason to mention Giovannetti at 8900 Douglas is that residents on the west side of town sometimes assume a rained-out concert is a canceled one. It is not, and the indoor room is smaller and better for the flute-and-harp style evenings than for the full band nights.
Shorter loops if you only have Sunday afternoon
Not every August weekend has room for a five-hour outing. The stronger use of a short window is a park you can walk in under an hour, then a real dinner. Three that Urbandale residents underuse in that order:
- Lakeview Park. Art on the Trail at Lakeview Park is where locals paint themed 2 by 2 foot boards displayed around the pond, one of Urbandale's most popular walking and biking trails. The changing panels are the point. A loop you did in June is a different loop in late August.
- Walker-Johnston Park. A local favorite with a mix of outdoor activities and family-friendly spaces, including tennis and pickleball courts, four separate kids' play areas, an observation deck, a storywalk around a small pond, and a skatepark with two escalated quarter pipes and rails. Four play areas is the detail parents with kids at different ages should notice. You can split up and meet at the observation deck.
- Walnut Creek Regional Park. A sprawling green space offering scenic trails, sports fields, picnic areas, and a playground. The scale here is different from Lakeview. It is where you go when you actually want distance underfoot, not a lap.
If you are angling for produce on the way home, Iowa Orchard is a family-owned orchard offering fresh produce and is one of the few working orchards inside the metro rather than an hour out.
Where to eat before or after, by what your evening actually looks like
The generic Urbandale food list is easy to find. What is harder to find is a short list matched to the kind of evening you are already having.
Concert night, casual, kids in tow. 5 Borough Bagels for award-winning cream cheese and kettle-boiled bagels from New York born owners who know a thing or two about bagels and coffee. A bagel and iced coffee in the cooler beats concession-stand food, and the shop is close enough to the park for a same-day run.
Concert night, no kids, want a real dinner first. Range Restaurant & Cocktail Bar, where you can pair dinner with tee time on six PGA-endorsed golf simulators and fuel up with elevated fare like bison steak tacos and lobster rolls. The simulators are the reason to arrive early.
Weekend brunch after Storytime or a park loop. Roots95, The Happy Egg, Cooper's on 5th, and Istanbul Grill Cafe & Bakery all cover different corners of the brunch map. The Happy Egg is the safe family choice. Istanbul is the one guests from out of town remember.
A stop that anchors a lazy Saturday. The Machine Shed is a local institution, serving farm-to-table dishes including their famous cinnamon rolls and hash brown casserole. Pair it with the Living History Farms visit above and you have a full morning without any driving between stops.
Dessert with a story. Coaches Kolaches, Texas-style Czech pastries from former Iowa State football player Brent Curvey, in flavors ranging from strawberry, cherry, and cream cheese to smoked brisket and jalapeno sausage. The savory kolaches are the ones to bring to a concert.
A weeknight you want to remember. Tito's Lounge is an underrated local spot with an interesting mix of Mediterranean and American cuisine, whether you're in the mood for gyros and cevapi or pizza and smash burgers. It shows up on the current best-restaurants-in-Urbandale list for a reason.
If you want the room that reads least like the rest of the metro, MingalaBar Burmese Kitchen is the answer. It is the kind of place a resident brings a guest to prove that the city has more range than the chains along Douglas suggest.
The one thing to actually change on your calendar
Most guides to a suburb end with a menu. The more useful move for someone who already lives here is to change one habit before Labor Day.
Pick a Tuesday or a Monday in the next two weeks and use it at Living History Farms. That is the day of the week the fall schedule takes off the table, and it is the visit almost no resident makes because they assume it is a weekend outing. Arrive before 12:30 to make the 2:30 tractor cart. Grab a Machine Shed cinnamon roll on the way in. Add the November 7 race to your calendar on the walk back to the parking lot if you are running-inclined.
Then, on either Friday or Saturday of the same week, take the concert at Charles Gabus Memorial Tree Park as the default rather than the fallback. Coolers are allowed. The next round of programming that fills that slot on the calendar does not arrive until spring.
That is the whole plan. Two decisions, one week, before the city's summer clock resets.
If you are thinking further ahead, and a change in where you spend those weekends is part of the picture, the Mauro Team knows the streets, the school boundaries, and the block-by-block differences that separate one Urbandale neighborhood from the next. Schedule your free consultation when you are ready to talk.
