Iowa musician was on the road 235 nights last year. Chad Elliott is an old-fashioned troubadour. He lives in Lamoni but spends two thirds of his nights each year on the road. His songs are often personal stories, and he sings them with an enthusiasm that builds audiences. He reminds
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Posted March 04, 2020in Lunch With...
Alice Meyer is the owner of Beaverdale Books, the only remaining independent new book dealer in the metro. We asked her to lunch recently, and she chose Grounds for Celebration in Beaverdale. I couldn’t help smiling at the choice. In the 1998 movie “You’ve Got Mail,” Meg Ryan plays a
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Posted February 05, 2020in Lunch With...
Discussions of flowers, Valentine’s Day and the changes the flower industry has undergone in his six decades in the business. Tom Boesen is part of a third-generation Des Moines family floral business. In fact, the Ingersoll Boesen’s store opened the day Tom came home from the hospital with his mother.
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Posted January 01, 2020in Lunch With...
A planned trip to Noah’s sidelined by weather Dave Beveridge owns Miller’s Hardware, a much-loved Drake area business that hangs on proudly in the era of Home Depot, Lowes, Menards and other national behemoths. After the closing of Fairgrounds Hardware in 2017, Miller’s and Hiland Park Hardware Company are the
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Posted December 04, 2019in Lunch With...
“Gardens are never the same twice; they always go off on new riffs.” Kelly Norris is the Director of Horticulture and Education for the Greater Des Moines Botanical Gardens (GDMBG). We asked him to lunch recently, and he chose Trellis, Lisa LaValle’s gem of a café in the GDMBG. To
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Posted November 06, 2019in Lunch With...
Grand View University president explains its growth over lunch at Tursi’s Latin King. Kent Henning is a month away from closing out 20 years of leadership at Grand View University. That Lutheran school on the eastside of town has gone through several transformations since its founding in 1896. The most
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Posted October 02, 2019in Lunch With...
Advertising agency executive shares her views on the future of digital. Kristen Sabin is the chief operating officer of full-service digital agency Happy Medium, running day-to-day operations across sales, processes and policies, and human resources, as well as working closely with the CFO on budgeting and financial planning. In other
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Posted September 04, 2019in Lunch With...
The image of a used car salesman has changed. Mark Anderson is a manager at IA Motors, a used vehicle lot on East 14th. We asked him to lunch recently, and he chose Rancho Alegre, a Latino café on Indianola Avenue that serves Cuban fried beef, Venezuelan pabellon, patacon and
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Posted July 31, 2019in Lunch With...
Just love food. Brooks Reynolds is a founder and the major force behind bacon festivals in Des Moines, Japan, Colorado and Iceland. Scott Toland is the CEO and President of ICS (International Chili Society), which owns the World Championship Chili Cookoff and 123 other regional events in 41 states plus
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Posted July 03, 2019in Lunch With...
Cowgirl and marksman is one of several women who dominate upscale catering in Des Moines. Cyd Koehn owns Catering by Cyd. She has catered in Des Moines now for 25 years. We asked her to lunch recently, and she chose Wasabi. Wasabi is one of five restaurants that former New
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