Pappajohn Sculpture Park — Attraction in Des Moines

Review Date: September 15th, 2015

A rare post that is in two categories! Recreational and Roadside Attraction. It’s a park! But it’s a sculpture! Well, many sculptures in a park. So I filed it under two categories.

So one of my best friends and I drove 4 hours to try Zombie Burger. One does not simply travel 4 hours and not explore the rest of the city. This place popped up on a list of things to do in Des Moines, IA. It definitely belongs on that list. If you appreciate art and sculptures, this is the place for you.

The park is open and beautiful. It’s open, but self-contained. The day we went was just perfect. There is a walkway you can follow that will lead to most of the sculptures. The sculptures themselves are awesome. I am no art aficiando, but the ones here really awed me. Especially the white figure shape make up of letters. Wonder if they rotated the sculptures to keep the park always fresh, always new.

Check out the gallery below to see why I gave this place a 5! I will not upload all the photos I have, as some of the park should...

The day we visited was a little warm out so we did not spend as much time as we would have liked to visiting here but we came to visit nonetheless. The sculptures were unique and thought provoking and some were exciting and fun to talk about. This place was not quite as large as I had imagined and considering you have to pay for parking to visit here it was almost worth not visiting, almost, but I'm glad we went after all. I am not sure if it's the time of the year that we choose to visit or the lack of information regarding the pieces but there were other places in Des Moines that we enjoyed far more. I was hoping to have more photo opportunities at this sculpture park but due to the restrictions on how close you can be to the sculptures those photo ops did not happen. This would be a neat place for a picnic or something in the fall but I would not suggest visiting in 90+ degree heat since there's hardly any shade. Homeless population kind of exists in this area as well too so...

Awesome park for people to enjoy some cool sculptures. Free admission, street parking all around the park for a small fee. The park is not very big but well maintained by the city. Some people complained in the reviews that all the sculptures are metals and plastics. It kinda has to be because the sculptures are outdoor and the materials has to be able to withstand the test of time. All the sculptures looks pretty new and it’s free to enjoy. The only thing that did bothered me was the amounts of homeless people walking and hanging around the park. I was alone at 9:30am and didn’t feel safe. When I got closed to the girl sculpture by one corner of the park; one homeless guy was repeatedly yelling “it wasn’t me”. I was a bit freaked out because there wasn’t anyone else close by. There were a few people scattered around the other side of the park and cars passing by though. Overall, I did enjoyed my visit at the sculpture park. I would highly recommend not going there alone if you...