Summer’s here, but it’s never too late to plan your 2024 travel bucket list. Forget over-crowded destinations, exhausting city breaks, and pricey resorts. This year, get away from it all in one of Iowa’s beautiful small towns where the most stressful activity is picking the perfect backdrop for your vacation snapshots. Here in the heartland of America, you will see the country at its best. Welcoming communities, historic architecture, scenic backcountry roads, and midwestern charm. Visit the Hawkeye State in 2024, and you will find yourself coming back year after year.

Dyersville

Named one of America’s best small towns by the Smithsonian, Dyersville was founded by English entrepreneur James Dyers, who arrived in the area in 1847 and decided to turn the small Bavarian farming settlement into a thriving town. Modern-day Dyersville is a testament to Dyer’s vision with a thriving downtown, unique attractions, and beautiful scenery. It’s also a familiar pilgrimage for fans of the iconic 1989 movie, Field of Dreams, which was filmed in town. The site is open to the public and baseball fans can also get their fix at the nearby Baseball Hall of Dreams.

Dyersville is also home to one of Iowa’s two basilicas. Open daily and offering group tours, the imposing Basilica of St Francis Xavier is a gorgeous example of medieval Gothic architecture. To enjoy the best of Dyersville’s natural attractions, take the 26-mile Heritage Trail, which follows the old railroad into the deep valley of Dubuque County, meandering through old mining and mill towns.

Pella

Pella is a one-of-a-kind community in central Iowa that owes a lot to its original inhabitants. Founded by immigrants from the Netherlands, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d been miraculously transported over the Atlantic to Europe. Home to North America’s largest working windmill, this beautiful town is heavily influenced by its Dutch heritage, which is on full display at the Pella Historical Village and Vermeer Mill, a cute recreation of a miniature Holland village.

Get more Dutch flavor on Main Street, you will find the Pella Klokkenspel, a traditional clock framed in an old-world courtyard. Mechanical figures appear and perform a spirited dance when the clock chimes. Stroll around the Molengracht Plaza, a replica of a Dutch canal, for more photo-worthy scenes and finish up with a bite from the Jaarsma Bakery, family-owned and operated since 1898 and home of the best Dutch pastries in Iowa (probably).

Winterset

Don’t be fooled by the name, Winterset is a beautiful destination all year-round. This small midwest town is famous for its stunning covered bridges and was the inspiration for the film, The Bridges of Madison County. You can see the bridges for yourself with a short self-guided tour on the Covered Bridges Scenic Byway. But Winterset is more than pretty bridges. It’s also the birthplace of America’s favorite cowboy, John Wayne. Learn about the actor’s life on and off screen at the John Wayne Birthplace and Museum downtown. Also downtown, you’ll find the Madison County Historical Complex, a historic village consisting of the 1856 Bevington Mansion, blacksmith shop, log post office, school, and other 1800s structures.

Eldora

Founded in 1853, Eldora’s beautiful downtown is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Check out the Hardin County Historical House for a stunning example of Victorian architecture. This family home was built in 1891 and includes a carriage house and historical library. You’ll also want to see the 1913 Grand Theatre, which has been restored since its heyday and still has the original canopy and marquee. Located on the Iowa River, Eldora also has plenty of scenic riverside trails and pathways to tempt nature-loving visitors. Visit the Sac and Fox Wildlife just outside town for incredible views over the Iowa River Valley.

Okoboji

Explore Iowa’s Great Lakes from the beautiful town of Okoboji on West Lake Okoboji’s eastern shore. Enjoy these stunning glacially-carved lakes from Okoboji’s busy waterfront, where you can pick up the Iowa Great Lakes Trail that winds over 40 miles around the lakes, past sandy beaches, green city parks, blooming wildlife preserves, and tranquil creeks. Also, on the water, you’ll find the world’s largest ice fishing house, the Fish House. This floating restaurant takes weekly cruises around the lake in the summer and is a great spot to enjoy a sundowner on the water.

For a glimpse into Okoboji’s long history as a lakeside settlement, visit the Westport Schoolhouse. Built in 1896 and used until 1952, this tiny museum is located in the sprawling 70-acre Kenue Park, where you’ll also find the Dickinson County Nature Center.

Bentonsport

The entire village of Bentonsport is designated a National Historic District, making it a must-see on any Iowa itinerary. Located on the Des Moines River, Bentonsport was once a steamboat town. Now, it’s a small community with a quaint downtown full of antique shops, craft boutiques, and perfectly preserved historic buildings from the mid-1800s. You’ll get a great shot for your vacation scrapbook at the old truss bridge, restored and opened to the public as a pedestrian walkway with beautiful views over the river. Bentonsport’s former locks are now a blooming rose garden.

From there, it’s a short stroll to the Indian Artifacts Museum, which houses over 5,000 Native American artifacts. For a truly unique shopping experience, visit the Iron and Lace Shop. This fascinating pottery and blacksmith shop was built using 100-year-old posts and beams salvaged from old barns. Browse the store’s collection of ironwork, hand-woven rugs, and pottery to pick up a one-of-a-kind gift.

Clear Lake

If relaxing on the shores of a spring-fed lake, toes in the sand sounds like the perfect vacation, head to Clear Lake, Iowa. This beautiful small town is made for long summer breaks with perfect fishing, water-skiing, and boating. Keen anglers can catch Walleye, Yellow Bass, or Catfish in the 3,684-acre natural lake. Or you can take it easy with a lazy ride on the Lady of the Lake, an authentic paddle wheel excursion boat that offers regular cruises and narrated tours. It’s not just the water that draws tourists to Clear Lake. The town has a more somber claim to fame — it’s the site of the 1959 plane crash that killed legendary musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson. Today the crash site is memorialized with a poignant glasses marker.

Idyllic Iowa

Don’t underestimate Iowa. This isn’t a flyover state, it’s a stop-and-stay-a-while state where beautiful small towns nestle against sprawling glacier-carved lakes, amid rolling farmland, and in lush river valleys. Historic mill towns, European-inspired settlements, steamboat ports — you never know quite what to expect from an Iowa vacation. Visit in summer to enjoy stunning hikes, fun on the water, and sunny strolls downtown. Plan a winter break to try snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, and cozy holiday markets. Iowa is idyllic all year round!

EATS serves the interests of industrial livestock operations. As local people push back against corporate ag, we need more control over what happens in our communities, not less.

When the House Agriculture Committee marked up its draft farm bill in late May, representatives included a provision that’s a big gift for the corporate livestock industry. Dubbed the EATS Act (Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression), the measure would strip state and local governments of their ability to enact policies that protect our air, land and water from problems caused by factory farms.

Most of the attention, including a recent guest column in the Register by former Iowa Pork Producers Association President Trish Cook, has focused on how EATS would challenge California’s Proposition 12.  Using corporate ag talking points, Cook and others are trying to portray factory farms as the victim. That’s just not true.

The reality is that Prop 12 was passed in 2018 by a huge majority of voters (63% to 37%). It requires hog factories in California to allow more space and freedom of movement for confined animals (sows, in particular). It also says California retailers can’t sell meat in their state if it doesn’t comply with this standard.

Prop 12 incensed the industrial livestock lobby, particularly in Iowa. All of Iowa’s U.S. senators and representatives have joined the EATS bandwagon. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, and Reps. Ashley Hinson, Randy Feenstra, Zach Nunn, and Mariannette Miller-Meeks are all co-sponsors of the EATS Act. Gov. Kim Reynolds also supports EATS. Our delegation wants to shield the factory farm industry from local control and other state and local measures that protect people and our environment.

More: Farm bill must expand American food security and the farm safety net

Thousands of everyday Iowans have worked for years to strengthen environmental standards, assure local government authority to restrict factory farms, and mandate serious fines and penalties for polluters. We want our state and county governments to do more to protect our water, air and land from factory farm pollution. Industrial livestock operations should be regulated like any other industry that produces high levels of pollution and public health risks.

Factory farm rules, as minimal as they are in Iowa these days, are deeply personal to me. Back in 2002, a developer from 60 miles away wanted to build a 7,000-head sow confinement just 1,975-feet from our house in rural Adair County. Every year, 10 million gallons of liquid manure would be hauled up and down the gravel roads in our community and applied on various fields. Our neighbors joined with us and Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (Iowa CCI) to fight back against this invasion. We worked with our local Board of Supervisors to voice our concerns. And because of our state laws (and grassroots organizing), we were able to stop that factory farm from being built.

Those of us challenging factory farms are not taking this corporate power grab lightly. Over 120 grassroots organizations across the U.S., including Iowa CCI, will keep organizing and talking with our neighbors throughout the farm bill debate to make sure EATS is removed from the final legislative package. The Senate draft is coming soon, and it doesn’t include EATS. Thirty senators and 172 representatives have signed letters opposing EATS in the farm bill. Those numbers are far more than the handful of co-sponsors captured by the factory farm lobby.

Let’s be clear: EATS serves the interests of industrial livestock operations. As local people push back against corporate ag, we need more control over what happens in our communities, not less. And we don’t need our elected officials working against us.

Barb Kalbach is a fourth-generation family farmer in Adair County and board president of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. Contact: barbnealkalbach@gmail.com.

More: Farm bill needs to be radical, demand more from farmers on conservation

Amari Thigpen was 14 when he received his first job serving food, busing tables, greeting customers, mopping floors and cleaning bathrooms at Sugapeach Chicken & Fish Fry in North Liberty.

It was willing to work around his schedule as a student-athlete. After school, he would practice with the football team until about 6 p.m. Then he would head to the fast-casual southern cuisine restaurant, where he’d work for an hour or more, sometimes past 7 p.m.

“It was just to make a little extra money after practice,” Amari, now 19 and a student at Western Illinois University, told The Gazette. “But it also made me accountable and responsible, and taught me teamwork (as well as) how to manage my time and the importance of having a strong work ethic.”

He would bring his homework to the restaurant, where owners Carol Cater-Simmons and Chad Simmons would help tutor when needed.

The restaurant felt like a second home. He worked alongside some of his teammates, and was treated like family.

“It also made me grow, having a connection with Mr. Chad and Mrs. Carol and helping me with school or a problem I had,” Amari said. “They were right there to support me. … They always showed positivity and love to us.”

The restaurant’s owners, however, now face roughly $65,000 in fines for letting teens like Amari work longer hours than permitted under federal law. It’s an amount they say will put them out of business.

“It felt like we were being hit by a truck,” owner Chad Simmons said.

Restaurants hit with fines of up to $180,000

Iowa Restaurant Association President and Chief Executive Officer Jessica Dunker said several Iowa restaurant owners are facing steep fines ranging from $50,000 to $180,000 for following a new state law loosening work requirements for teens that conflicts with federal child labor regulations.

State lawmakers last year passed a law allowing teens to work longer hours and at more jobs, including those formerly off-limits as being hazardous. The state law includes a provision allowing 14- and 15-year-olds to work as late as 9 p.m. on school nights and as late as 11 p.m. during the summer.

Federal law specifies younger teens can work only until 7 p.m. during the school year and until 9 p.m. during the summer.

Supporters have said the state law provides more opportunities for young Iowans who want to work, and could help address the state’s shortage of workers.

Democrats, labor unions and others criticized the bill for conflicting with federal law, putting young Iowans at risk in dangerous jobs and creating contradictory rules for Iowa businesses to follow.

Governor decries ‘excessive fines’

Gov. Kim Reynolds and Dunker have decried the federal fines as “excessive.”

Dunker asserts the U.S. Department of Labor is being heavy handed and singling out Iowa, noting it is one of 21 states with employment laws related to minors that don’t comply with federal law.

The Labor Department denies singling out Iowa, and says it is dealing with violations nationwide. So far this year, the department says it has found child labor violations in 16 states, with ongoing investigations in several others.

Last fiscal year, the department concluded 955 investigations, identifying child labor violations affecting nearly 5,800 children across the country. Penalties assessed exceeded $8 million.

Federal labor officials had warned lawmakers and the governor that employers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act who follow the less-restrictive Iowa law would be subject to penalties.

‘I knew I was in a safe environment’

A Labor Department spokesperson declined to comment on the fines against Sugapeach, stating the case still is considered open.

Simmons said the restaurant has appealed and are negotiating to have the fines reduced.

In a statement provided to The Gazette, the Department of Labor said no child should be working long hours, doing dangerous work or be employed in unsafe conditions.

“It’s dangerous and irresponsible that amidst a rise in child labor exploitation in this country, Iowa’s governor and state legislature have chosen to repeatedly undermine federal child labor protections despite the Labor Department’s clear guidance,” the statement said.

Since 2019, federal investigators have found an 88 percent increase in children being employed in violation of federal labor provisions.

Labor officials note the restaurant industry has a high rate of violations and often employs vulnerable workers who may not be aware of their rights or employment rules.

“The U.S. Department of Labor is working every day to ensure that children seeking their first work experiences are doing so in a safe and responsible way,” a spokesperson said. “But under our watch, that will not include allowing children to be exploited.”

Amari, the former Sugapeach employee, said he never felt unsafe or exploited working at the restaurant. “I knew I was in a safe environment. It was a positive environment,” he said.

He said he was never forced by the business to work past 7 p.m. on a school night. In instances when he did, “that was on me, because he had started or was in the middle of a task he wanted to finish.

Enhanced penalties

Last year, the Department of Labor announced it was launching a national initiative to uncover child labor violations, which included changing the way it fines employers for violations.

Previously, employers were fined on a per-child basis based on the size of the business and gravity of the violation. Now, employers are fined per violation. For instance, if there are three separate violations related to a child’s employment, the employer is fined for three separate penalties, each of which can reach the statutory maximum.

Federal law allows for a fine of up to $15,138 for child labor violations and up $68,801 for violations that cause death or serious injury of an employee under the age of 18. Fines can be increased or decreased based on the nature of the violations, the age of the child, the size of the business, whether the violation was willful or repeated, the length of illegal employment and hours worked.

The Department of Labor said it is committed to using all its enforcement tools, including assessing monetary penalties, to ensure that when children work, the work does not jeopardize their health, well-being or education.

‘Innocent bystanders in a fight some else created’

Chad Simmons said he was trying to help his community by supporting young teens, many of whom came from single-parent households.

The restaurant owner hired 14- and 15-year-olds as part of a program called “Scholars Making Dollars,” which works with the Alpha Phi Alpha chapter in Iowa City. Under the program, the high school students receive mentorship provided by the chapter and part-time work experience through the restaurant.

Simmons said the aim was to provide a safe after-school environment where the teens could learn valuable job skills, while putting a little money in their pocket.

Students worked one day during the week and one day on the weekend from about 4:30 to 8:30 p.m., with a 30-minute dinner break and free meal provided by the restaurant. He said they were paid $8 an hour, a guaranteed tip of $3 and additional incentives that could bump their total pay to $13 an hour for busing tables, greeting customers, serving food, mopping floors and cleaning bathrooms.

“My wife and I were there with them and working beside them. They were never doing anything unsafe,” Simmons said.

Most of the six to seven teens employed by the restaurant were student athletes looking for a job with flexible scheduling, he said. At the same time, the program helped the restaurant fill positions during the pandemic at a time when many workers were leaving the industry, finding jobs with higher pay or weren’t looking for work because of unemployment benefits.

Simmons said he was contacted by the Department of Labor in early August 2023 requesting payroll records and employee timesheets for the last two years. Investigators also interviewed employees under the age of 16.

He said he does not know why his business was selected, but speculates it may have arisen as a result of national news coverage of the restaurant’s use of high schoolers to fill a worker shortage during the pandemic.

And while the violations predate the 2023 change to state law (Simmons said the business was simply unaware of the limits for 14- and 15-year-olds), Simmons faults lawmakers and the Iowa Restaurant Association for advocating “a policy to purposely antagonize the federal government and the Department of Labor.”

He said his interactions with the Department of Labor throughout the process have been positive, calling them “great civil servants.”

“This is not a train wreck that we started,” Simmons said. “We are innocent bystanders in a fight someone else created” between the state and federal government.

But it’s a fight Simmons said could result in a killing blow for his restaurant “for trying to do the right thing.” As a result of the fines, he said the restaurant no longer employs workers under the age of 16.

“As a Black-owned business trying to be supportive of the community, it breaks my heart that the only way for us to survive is to not employee 14- and 15-year-olds and not to provide support to our youth,” Simmons said.

Parent: Feds should loosen work rules for teens

As the old saying goes, raising a child takes a village, said Eric Thigpen, Amari’s father.

As a divorced father who grew up in a single-parent household, Thigpen said he understands how difficult it can be for working parents to raise a child — to have the time and resources to make sure they’re surrounded by positive role models, engaged in constructive activities and taking advantage of opportunities to grow and learn.

“For me, as a parent, I didn’t have any issue with it,” said Thigpen, a former Hawkeye football player and member of the local Alpha Phi Alpha chapter involved in the “Scholars Making Dollars” program.

“The life lessons we instill in these kids will catapult them monumentally in the future,” Thigpen said.

A March 2023 Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll showed that a majority of Iowa parents with children under 18 ― 57 percent ― supported relaxing child labor laws, with 32 percent opposed and 11 percent unsure.

“Being a student-athlete and working around his schedule, it was great for him,” Thigpen said. “It didn’t affect my child’s academics or extracurricular activities. It was a bonus. … It was a win-win for myself and my son.

“You have these kids out here that are eager to learn and do good things. … They want to do their school work and be good students, but they also want to work and put a little change in their pocket.”

He and his son said federal officials should loosen regulations on the hours young people can work.

“I think it’s ridiculous,” Thigpen said of the $65,000 fine against Sugapeach. “You have a business owner and restaurant trying to do positive things for the community.”

Amari agreed.

“They were giving us work opportunities and to make money and pushing us to go to college,” he said. “ … I feel if teenagers want to put in the work and work those hours, they should be able to.”

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com