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In this issue of Rolling with Ankeny
- 🏳️🌈 Ankeny Pride turns five
- 🎬 A movie under the stars on Juneteenth
- 🎶 Sips & Songs is back at The District
- ☀️ A near-perfect weekend (until Sunday)
- 📅 What's happening around town
- 📸 Rachael Venema Photography
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Friday is Juneteenth, which means two things for Ankeny: most of town gets a three-day weekend, and this newsletter goes dark until Monday. So before you clock out, here's the long-weekend playbook — a fifth-birthday Pride party, a free movie under the stars, and the Uptown shop where every gift is made by an Iowan. Let's roll. 🚲
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🏳️🌈 The big one: Ankeny Pride turns five
Ankeny Pride hits a milestone Saturday — its fifth year. The 2026 Ankeny Pride Celebration runs 4–9 p.m. Saturday, June 20, at Southview Middle School, and organizers are billing it as the biggest one yet.
The free, all-ages festival packs live entertainment, local food, and a vendor market into one evening. New this year: a crowd-judged lip-sync battle — Ankeny Pride is taking sign-ups now at [email protected] if you want to compete.
The timing makes for a stacked community weekend. Pride lands the day after Juneteenth — the federal holiday we mapped Tuesday, with the metro's Neighbor's Day celebration running that same Saturday at Western Gateway Park downtown. Translation: two of central Iowa's marquee community gatherings, back to back, a 20-minute drive apart.
The forecast cooperates, mostly — Saturday should be mostly sunny and 81° through the early evening, with storms holding off until well after dark.
📍 Source: Ankeny Pride
⚡ Quick hits
🎬 A movie under the stars — on a night everything's closed. The city's free summer movie series rolls Friday with Disney's Lilo & Stitch at the Ankeny Bandshell in Wagner Park (410 W. First St.), starting at dusk. Bring a blanket or lawn chair and a snack; coolers are welcome, just no glass. It's a low-key way to spend Juneteenth evening when offices and banks are dark. Movies Under the Stars
🎶 Sips & Songs is back Friday. Live music returns to The District at Prairie Trail (1500 SW Main St.) Friday, 6–10 p.m. — drinks, food, and a band on the lawn to kick off the long weekend. Event details
☀️ Weather
A gorgeous stretch — then the bill comes due Sunday.
Today (Thursday): Sunny and pleasant, high near 75°.
Friday (Juneteenth): Mostly sunny, high near 78°. Clear for the movie; low around 62°.
Saturday: Mostly sunny, high near 81° — Pride weather looks great, with storms holding until after midnight.
Sunday: Showers and thunderstorms move in, high near 72°.
📅 Around Ankeny
Today (Thursday):
🥂 AYP After Hours — 5:00–7:00 p.m. · Good Trip Travel Co., 104 SW Maple St. (Uptown) · Ankeny Young Professionals networking · Event details
🎶 Beats & Eats — 5:00–7:30 p.m. · Ankeny Market & Pavilion, 715 W 1st St. · food trucks + live music, free · Event details
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Friday (Juneteenth):
Saturday:
Heads-up for Monday: Kirkendall Library's next program is Family Tiny Art Studio, 1:00 p.m. — make a tiny canvas masterpiece, all ages. Library calendar
📸 Local Business Spotlight: the photographer who wants you to print it
Most photographers hand you a gallery of digital files and call it done. Rachael Venema built her studio around the opposite idea: portraits you hang on a wall or hold in your hands — not images that quietly die on a hard drive.
She's a Certified Professional Photographer, a credential earned by passing an exam and a portfolio review through Professional Photographers of America, with more than 14 years behind the camera and stops in Tennessee and California before she landed in Ankeny. Sessions are planned end to end: what to wear, hair and makeup, and which finished pieces will actually go up in your home. The work centers on families, kids, high school seniors, and newborns, plus headshots and brand portraits for business owners — but the throughline never changes. Treat the photo as an heirloom, not a file.
The basics:
📸 Studio & on-location portraits — families, seniors, newborns, business headshots
🖼️ Print-first: designed wall art and albums, with full session planning included
📍 RVP Studio, Ankeny · serving the Des Moines metro · ☎️ (515) 782-9327
📍 Source: Rachael Venema Photography | Bold Journey
⚡ Today's Takeaway
It's a three-day weekend with a full local calendar: Ankeny Pride's fifth birthday Saturday at Southview, a free movie Friday night at Wagner Park, and the Uptown Farmers Market Saturday morning — with the weather holding right up until Sunday's storms.
Monday: how the long weekend went, plus the week ahead at City Council — including whether that Alleman–Elkhart ambulance vote finally makes it onto the record.
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Rolling with Ankeny — Local news, local deals, no fluff. 🚲