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Beats & Eats
ANKENY
Uptown Garage Brewing Company
Trailside Tap
Ankeny Market & Pavilion
Uptown Funky
Uptown Dairy
U P TOWN ANK E N Y is the neighborhood where Ankeny was born, all the way back in 1874. But it’s been in the past 10 years that it has undergone a renaissance of sorts, with an eclectic assortment of new shops, restaurants, and breweries blending seamlessly with older neighbors. The heart of Uptown is the Ankeny Market & Pavilion (AMP), a 3.1acre park that includes two pavilions and bicycle trailheads (including the popular High Trestle Trail). It’s here where you’ll find the Saturday morning Farmers Market, along with Thursday night’s summer series Beats & Eats, teeming with everything from live music and local food trucks to kids’ entertainment, including inflatables, face painting,
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and costumed characters. It’s also just a stone’s throw from Firetrucker Brewery, whose patio beckons with the promise of Taco Tuesdays and Tenderloin Thursdays. The tenderloins come from Trailside Tap down the street, which also offers elevated fare like smoked chicken with risotto and chimichurri steak. Wash it all down with one of the 30-plus rotating beers and ciders on tap at Uptown Garage Brewing Company (based in an old Ford showroom), which has the longest bar in the metro. If you didn’t get enough of a lactose fix from one of the hazy IPAs, you can get it next door at the new Uptown Dairy, serving hard-pack Cedar Crest Ice Cream fresh from Wisconsin. And that’s the scoop on Uptown.
VIS ITORS GU I DE 2024
