Come Be Our Guest

From crooked streets and giant strawberries to hot air balloons and bicycles, Iowa invites you to be her guest.

Nestled between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, Iowa has a landscape of rolling hills and drift plains that are fit for farming. Catch a glimpse from above at the National Balloon Classic or experience the state’s farming heritage at the Iowa State Fair.

Find out more about Iowa at DiscoverAmerica.com

Capital: Des Moines

Population: Around 3 million people live in Iowa.

Geography: This U.S. Midwestern state is bordered by Minnesota to the north, Wisconsin and Illinois to the east, Missouri to the south, and South Dakota and Nebraska to the west.

Higher Education: Located in Iowa City, the University of Iowa is the state’s largest university by enrollment. Founded in 1847, this public school offers academic programming in more than 100 fields, though it is most renowned for its creative writing program. The Iowa Writers’ Workshop has 25 Pulitzer Prize winners associated with it. The university’s nursing and medical programs are also highly regarded. Founded in 1881, Drake University is the state’s premier private option. Located in Des Moines, Drake offers more than 70 undergraduate programs and 20 graduate-level degrees. The school is best known for its law, journalism and communication and pharmaceutical science programs.

Major Industries: Manufacturing, agriculture and services comprise Iowa’s economy. The Hawkeye State’s major manufacturing outputs include food processing such as meatpacking and canning, heavy machinery and chemicals such as fertilizer. Iowa’s agricultural products include corn for grain, hogs, soybeans, cattle and dairy. Iowa is the largest producer of ethanol and corn in the United States.

Famous Iowans: Actors Ashton Kutcher, John Wayne and Elijah Wood; comedian Johnny Carson; athletes Shawn Johnson and Kurt Warner; frontiersman William “Buffalo Bill” Cody; painter Grant Wood; Internet entrepreneur Marc Andreessen; Congresswoman Michele Bachmann; and U.S. President Herbert Hoover were all born in the Hawkeye State.

Pop Culture: The 1989 baseball classic Field of Dreams, starring Kevin Costner; the 1993 drama What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, starring Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio; the 1995 romantic drama The Bridges of Madison County, starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep; and the 2011 comedy Cedar Rapids, starring Ed Helms, were all set in Iowa.

Culinary Specialties: From Cap’n Crunch to Eskimo pie, famous foods are made in Iowa every day. But the culinary treat that’s all Iowa is the loose meat sandwich — ground beef sautéed with onions and mixed with mustard, vinegar and a little bit of sugar served over a steamed hamburger bun and garnished with dill pickles and another dose of mustard.

International Connection: Des Moines, Iowa, is a sister city to Kofu, Japan; Naucalpan, Mexico; Saint-Étienne, France; Shijiazhuang, China; Stavropol, Russia; and Catanzaro, Italy.

Fun Facts:

•Burlington's Snake Alley in Iowa was once recognized as the “Crookedest Street in the World” by Ripley’s Believe It or Not.

•Iowa is home to the world’s largest strawberry and the world’s largest bullhead fish. Both are statues.

•The largest Danish population in the United States lives in Elk Horn, Iowa.

Adventure Idea: Grab some wheels and hit the pavement! Iowa hosts a seven-day bicycle ride through the Hawkeye State’s rolling hills every year. The Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, or RAGBRAI for short, is the oldest, largest and longest bicycling event in the world.