Your Ames Voice

Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025

October 16, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Welcome to your weekly dose of what's happening in Ames!

This edition is packed with community highlights, starting with an incredible turnout at Ames Pridefest, where over 2,000 people gathered for a day of music, drag performances and celebration.

In today’s Voice, you'll find a photo gallery from the event, along with coverage of a contentious Ames City Council vote regarding deer hunting in the city. We also have community images from Reiman Gardens' "Spirits in the Gardens" event and a listing of upcoming events to keep your calendar full, from panels on homelessness to a performance of The Addams Family musical.

Also, don't forget to RSVP for our Launch Party next Thursday at ISU Research Park! There will be food and drinks.


Co-Editors: Anthony Capps & Amber Mohmand
[email protected]

Second Reminder!

Independent electronic-pop-rock musician Bonne Finken performs at Ames Pridefest on Saturday. The annual LGBTQ+ festival brought in more than 2,000 guests this year. | Photo by Deni Chamberlin

Thousands turn out for Ames Pridefest

by Deni Chamberlin, August Anderson and Julianna Chiappetta
Published on Oct. 8, 2025

More than 2,000 people gathered in downtown Ames on Saturday for the city’s Pridefest.

The annual celebration hosted businesses, live music performances, and LGBTQ+ pride-related activities for Ames locals to celebrate pride on the corner of Fifth Street and Douglas Avenue.

The day included magician Mikayla Oz, drag storytime and performances, electronic-pop-rock musician Bonne Finken, happy hour and bingo, among other events between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. This year, there were 69 vendors.

For more photos, visit the Iowa State Daily and Ames Tribune.

 

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News

Ames City Council overrides commission, allows deer hunting in city

by Bill Monroe | Staff Reporter

The Ames City Council was faced with a difficult decision regarding the hunting of deer in the city when it met on Tuesday.

 

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Arts & Entertainment

Photo Gallery: 

Community gets into fall Spirits

by Anna Graf, Roberto Ibarra III, Olivia Moody and Kale Overton

A team of 1,931 volunteers spent time last week stenciling, gutting and carving 1,400 pumpkins in preparation for the Spirits in the Gardens event held at Reiman Gardens during the weekend.

 

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In Other Community News

Story County: Story County Conservation receives $100,000 Impact Grant

Upcoming Events and Activities

Thursday, Oct. 16

👨‍🏫 Panel: Homelessness in Ames
7 p.m. | Ames Public Library
Moderated by Anne Kinzel, this panel on homelessness will include Dave Carter, an Ames resident; Megan Klein-Hewett, adult services manager at Ames Public Library; Kathy Pinkerton, service center administrator at the Salvation Army; and Josh Oren, housing stability case manager/liaison for Story County.

Friday, Oct. 17

🕺 iLuminate
6:30 p.m. | Stephens Auditorium
Dancers perform to energetic music — including top pop and rock hits from the '70s, '80s, and '90s, a little jazz, a little Latin, a little hip hop and more — outfitted with customized LED suits to create extraordinary lighting effects with each of the choreographed dance moves.
$28+

Saturday, Oct. 18

🏟️ A Glimpse Inside
10 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Downtown Ames
This event showcases historic and architectural resources at 10 locations in Ames' Old Town and Main Street historic districts, both listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Each location — including the Ames History Museum, Ames Post Office, Ames Tribune Building, KHOI Community Radio and Ames United Church of Christ — will provide information about the property, stories about how people connected to the locations helped to shape Ames and how the structures have been preserved.
Free

 

🎤 Live @ The Railyard with Luke Fox
6 to 9 p.m. | Cornbred
Des Moines folk-country-rock musician Luke Fox performs in the penultimate Live @ The Railyard concert for 2025.

 

🎶 Sean Chen
7:30 p.m. | Martha-Ellen Tye Recital Hall, Music Hall
Pianist Sean Chen, a winner of both the Van Cliburn Competition Bronze Medal and the American Piano Award, performs pieces by Franz Liszt, Jean-Philippe Rameau, György Ligeti and Paul Dukas. Chen is also a composer, arranger and transcriber.
$35, free for students

Sunday, Oct. 19

🎭 The Addams Family
7:30 p.m. | Stephens Auditorium
Based on the bizarre and beloved characters by legendary cartoonist Charles Addams, this musical comedy centers on a grown-up Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, who's fallen in love with a “normal” man. Her father, Gomez, must keep the secret, too, from her mother, Morticia, something he’s never done before.
$38+

Upcoming events on our radar

👨‍🏫 Oct. 23: Lecture: Democracy According to Jazz, Sun Room, ISU Memorial Union
🏈 Oct. 25: Homecoming: Iowa State vs. BYU, Jack Trice Stadium
🎭 Nov. 7-9: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Wayne 'Hank' Hansen Performing Arts Center
🎭 Nov. 6-16: Next to Normal, ACTORS-Ames Community Theater
🎭 Nov. 6-9: Urinetown: The Musical, Fisher Theater
⛳ Nov. 7: Campustown Fall Classic, Campustown
🎤 Nov. 15: Chicago the Band, Stephens Auditorium