Siouxland Families

Could the best peanut butter in the world be from just up the road in South Dakota?? I love trying and sharing about brands based in the three states that make up Siouxland, so when I heard about Nerdy Nuts, a gourmet peanut butter company based in Rapid City, South Dakota, I knew I had to try their peanut butter out! I ordered some (spoiler alert: delicious!!) Here's what you should know about Nerdy Nuts: Nerdy Nuts is a gourmet peanut butter company started by a pair of South Dakotans, Erika and Craig who wanted fresh-ground peanut butter. Their peanut butter was so good that first friends and family started buying, then customers at a farmer's market, and now, the wider world via their website. Their products exude creativity and fun, and they've gone viral on tiktok with their imaginative flavors. Basically, they make really delicious peanut butter from scratch in classic flavors like honey roasted peanut and white chocolate, plus a gazillion fun seasonal an

You might have noticed the cute little coffee cup in the righthand corner when you visited my page today. In case you're wondering what that is, it's a "Buy Me a Coffee" button!  Basically, "Buy Me a Coffee" is a way to let people support their favorite content creators. I know everyone has a different budget for entertainment, and it's important to me to keep this site free so that everyone has access to the info I share about family friendly activities, events, and attractions in Siouxland and the Midwest. I am definitely NOT making any plans to change that. But it's actually not free to create. Besides research taking time and energy, there are also webhosting costs, gas to drive these fun places, admission fees, food and activity costs, and it's been pretty hard on my computer, which is now badly cracked and has several keys are not working. And that's okay. But I wanted to offer the option, basically. If you love this site and this info,

In Sauk Centre, Minnesota, I found a super coffee shop that checks a lot of boxes for things I love: delicious coffee and drinks, scratch made baked goods, a tie to literary history, and even a kids menu. I stopped by on my way home from a northwoods vacation to check it out (delicious research is my fave!), and did some additional research as well so I could share all about this spectacular coffee shop and cafe. Here's why Jitters Java Cafe needs to be on your central Minnesota bucket list. (PS: Looking for Jitters Donuts in downtown Sioux City, Iowa? Read my full guide to Sioux City's Jitters Donuts . Honestly, this is another reason I wanted to stop here--I thought it was funny that it has almost the same name as our beloved donut shop here in Sioux City!) Where is Jitters Java Cafe? Jitters Java Cafe is located at 403 Main Street South in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. This is the main street of Sinclair Lewis' iconic (and Nobel Prize winning) 1920 book

(affiliate links ahead!) Amazon Prime Day is July Sixteenth and Seventeenth, 2024 and to celebrate, I'm putting my new book, Surprising I29   on sale in eBook format for just 99 cents! If you have any digital rewards from choosing slower shipping on past purchases, this would be such a fun way to spend them. I'm honestly going to do that myself because I don't even have the eBook version yet myself!  One exciting feature of the eBook is that almost every attraction or venue should have a helpful hyperlink straight to it. I was especially happy when I figured out how to make the text not have to be the URL, so for example for the Little House on Prairie Street in Liberty, Missouri, the eBook says "listed on airbnb" but the link actually takes you specifically to their individual property listing! So I hope that is something that adds a lot of value to you as a reader next time you are traveling along I29 or researching a future I29 trip.  If you get a chance to rev

It felt like Christmas in July when I opened my email to a press release from the Oak View Group (they run the Sioux City Orpheum and Tyson Events Center) announcing that the spectacular Motown Christmas tour will be coming to the Sioux City Orpheum Theatre on November 10th, 2024! graphic courtesy of Oak View Group A Motown Christmas stars The Motortown All Stars which will include performers from three legendary Motown bands: The Temptations, the Miracles, and the Contours. Even if you don't immediately recognize the band names, I bet you've heard their songs! They seriously have more than 100 hits that have made the Billboard charts between them, and some of them are truly iconic, like Do You Love Me? , Love Machine , Papa Was a Rollin Stone  and My Girl . And in this new show, they'll be performing Christmas favorites with Motown flavor.  They'll bring their harmonies, their choreography, their fun retro style, and their serious star power all to the stage at Sioux C

One of the highlights of every July for Siouxland families is the annual Rivercade Festival! Since the Sixties, this festival has been celebrating the river and our local community, and it's still going strong. Here's what local families and visitors to Siouxland should know about Sioux City's Rivercade Festival: What is River-Cade River-Cade is a local festival that started in 1964. Since then, the annual fun has included a wide variety of events and activities including a parade, concerts, pageantry, and much more. Some of the traditions have changed or disappeared over the years, but many continue strong to this day, and occasionally new fun is added to the festival. Whatever each year holds, it is sure to be a lot of fun! The River-Cade festivities are organized by the Port of Sioux City River-Cade Association and supported by many local businesses and individuals.  Rivercade Parade The Rivercade Parade is one of Sioux City's best, and the 2024 parade will be held o

From the funnel cake and pork tenderloins to adorable live animals, sack races, monster truck races, talent shows, and professional live music, to the glory and defeat from entering competitions, county fairs are one of the best parts of late summer around Siouxland! *Now updated for 2024, but please note that flood recovery and other unforeseen events could lead to further changes to this schedule. Please keep an eye on social media for the latest info*  If you live in Sioux City, our county fair, the Woodbury County will be July 31st through 4th, 2024 in Moville, Iowa. You can find more info in my Woodbury County Fair post.  But there are tons of great fairs in the area, and while some restrict competition entries to residents of their own county, all of them are fun to attend no matter where you live! Here's the scoop on as many other nearby county fairs as I could find details for, divided by state and then put in alphabetical order. This post will be updated frequently