The arts & eats in Marshalltown Iowa are sure to make a vacation you won’t forget. This small town community is filled with big town flavors and an even bigger town art scene! With a population just under 27,000, Marshalltown gives you a great taste of local community, art, culture, and so much more.
Eats in Marshalltown Iowa
Start your day off with breakfast from Tremont Grille. We stayed at the Tremont Inn which is located above the restaurant and owned by the same people so this was a quick and easy walk to breakfast each morning. They have a variety of breakfast favorites such as omelets, classic breakfast plates, and a unique(at least to me) way of serving breakfast potatoes! These thinly sliced fried potatoes were salty and crispy and were the perfect addition to every meal.
Head across the street for an amazing lunch at Smokin’ G’s. I think this was easily my favorite restaurant in Marshalltown Iowa. I tried the two meat platter with pulled pork and pulled chicken and I can honestly say it was some of the best I have had. The mac and cheese was creamy and cheesy and the sweet cornbread muffin was mouthwatering. I seriously considered ordering a few of those cornbread muffins to take home with me. Don’t skip out on this gem when you are in Marshalltown!
Finish off the night was apps and wine from Tannin. I’ve been to my fair share of wine bars and they always have incredible food options but this one might be the best in the midwest. While I would have loved ordering one of everything on the menu, I settled on the crostini sampler so I could at try a few flavors at once. These were the best crostinis I’ve ever had and I loved that they used local honey and jams!
Arts in Marshalltown Iowa
The amount of public art, live music, and incredible architecture in Marshalltown literally blew me away. While I am not from a big city by any means, the amount of art available in Marshalltown is significantly more prominent then from my community of 60,000 people. Everywhere you go you can find some form of public or performing arts to enjoy and most of it is free.
Catch some live music at Tannin. Plan a trip to Tannin on one of their live music nights. We were fortunate to see David G Smith live when we visited and the place was absolutely packed. David put on an incredible show and he is just one of the artists they have come in. Tannin offers live music each week that you won’t want to miss!
Take a walk through the Gallery Garden and experience the creativity and talent of artists and the community. A fire destroyed the original building in this location in 2012 but some community members donated the land to help establish a downtown green space. There is seating available, art in pretty much every corner, and a rain harvesting fountain that helps support the local stormwater management. This is such a staple in the community and it seems hard to believe that a building stood there just 10 years ago.
Walk around downtown and take in all the murals in Marshalltown. This should really be called the city of murals because it seemed like everywhere you went there was an incredible mural. There are small flower pot paintings, painted sidewalks, and a large postcard piece. They even have a gorgeous selfie wall to capture your visit which is a must for your Instagram!
