Posted April 01, 2026in Collections & Hobbies
Iowa isn’t quite the land of 1,000 lakes like our neighbors to the north, but it’s still home to plenty of navigable waterways. Lakes, rivers, creeks and ponds alike are found all over the state. If those are a little too slow for you, the U.S. has it in high
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Posted March 04, 2026in Collections & Hobbies
The pickleball craze is no secret. It has been the fastest-growing sport in the country for the past four years, according to the 2025 Sports and Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) Participation Report. It makes sense that the craze has hit the Des Moines metro. After all, gyms and parks alike
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Posted February 04, 2026in Collections & Hobbies
When some people have a passion, it is something they can never get away from. And, quite often, it is something they have no desire to run away from. They run toward it, because, for them, it is comfortable. Marvin Freund’s passion for painting has survived several decades. Now in
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Posted December 31, 2025in Collections & Hobbies
The most well-known examples of stained glass are found in churches that draw eyes inside and outside of the building. As it turns out, it is easier than one might think to make stained glass creations, as David Johnston found out in his retirement. Johnston says it’s as easy as
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Posted December 03, 2025in Collections & Hobbies
Whether from inside a box in your basement, in your child’s collection of toys, or perhaps sitting on your shelf, you likely have held a Hot Wheel in your hands before. After all, the first Hot Wheels were introduced in 1968 by Mattel, and the total number produced is in
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Posted November 05, 2025in Collections & Hobbies
For most people, curling is a sport they tune into during the Olympics when one of the other major ones is not on screen. For others, it is their hobby. For Jacob Pitzenberger, it is one of several hobbies Pitzenberger grew up in Mason City and graduated from Iowa State
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Posted October 01, 2025in Collections & Hobbies
Geocaching is a hobby that can be enjoyed by people of all ages and skill levels. It is a real-life treasure hunt that can be played across the globe. Using GPS or a smartphone, participants search for geocaches in various locations. You could find the cache in a tree, behind
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Posted September 03, 2025in Collections & Hobbies
Brian Hogan is the owner and a barber at Franklin Barbershop in Beaverdale. After a day of cutting hair, he returns home to his video bunker — a space filled from head to toe with movies, posters and more. Before we could talk about that collection, Hogan mentioned some puppets
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Posted August 06, 2025in Collections & Hobbies
What do most people do with old wood? Toss it into the wood chipper? Take it to the dump? Burn it? Or leave it in a pile for someone else to deal with? When Ryan François encounters scrap wood, particularly old-growth wood, he sees an opportunity. François grew up on
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Posted July 02, 2025in Collections & Hobbies
Trading card games take a variety of forms. Some of you may have seen or opened a pack of Pokémon cards. Others may have seen a few seconds of Yu-Gi-Oh on TV while channel surfing. Jeffrey Darus’ affinity for card games has allowed him to give back to his local
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