As the pandemic wore on, many music venues in Des Moines stayed closed. But other spaces opened their doors after our new world started to mimic the one we left behind. And the most active venue in Des Moines – which, given the sparse booking options and reduced capacity, is kind of like being the tallest dwarf – is Woolys.
Des Moines has always struggled to attract a wide array of artists. For big-name acts that had outgrown bar gigs but couldn’t sell out stadiums, Iowa just wasn’t on their touring radar. But a development in the mid-2000s started to change that: festivals!
The pandemic’s effects quickly became the world’s common enemy, but everyone had different resources available to fight them. Follow four students’ experiences managing their mental health and locating themselves again a year later.