In this issue of Rolling with Ankeny
⚽ The biggest soccer Friday Ankeny's ever had
🍔 Weekend pick: rooftop seats at Whiskey River
🎻 Live music debuts on the High Trestle Trail
📅 Your weekend, day by day
🌦️ Weather: one dry window — use it right
🍦 Spotlight: The Outside Scoop
Have an Event You Want Promoted?
By 3:15 this afternoon, Centennial will be playing for a spot in the state final. By 8 tonight, the U.S. men will be playing their first home-soil World Cup match in 32 years. Ankeny has had big soccer days before — it has never had one quite like this. Let's roll. 🚲
⚽ The big one: a state semifinal and a World Cup opener, same day
Yesterday's storms did Centennial a favor. The postponed Class 3A state semifinal against second-ranked West Des Moines Valley kicks off today at 3:15 p.m. on Field 2 at the Lied Recreation Fields in Ames — under sunshine and 82° instead of Thursday's mess. Thursday tickets are honored at the gate. The Jaguars earned this one by dismantling crosstown rival Ankeny 5-1 in Tuesday's quarterfinal; win today, and they play for the 3A championship this weekend.
Driving up? One more reminder: the I-35 stretch between Elkhart and Cambridge has both shoulders closed in both directions for construction. Leave margin.
Then comes the nightcap. The USMNT opens its World Cup against Paraguay at 8 p.m. CT on FOX (streaming free on Tubi) from SoFi Stadium — the United States' first men's World Cup match on home soil since 1994.
🍔 Weekend pick: Whiskey River — the rooftop seat for Soccer Friday
If you're not making the drive to Ames (or Inglewood), Whiskey River at The District is the play. Sports on the TVs, a rooftop patio overlooking The District, and timing that cooperates: Fridays After Work runs 3–6 p.m. with free chips and salsa and $3.50 domestic bottles — the semifinal kicks off at 3:15. Stay through the full menu (served until 9), and the late-night menu runs to 2 a.m., which covers extra time, penalties, and post-match analysis.
Not a soccer house? There are 200+ whiskeys behind the bar. And if you'd rather make it a Sunday: a $15 build-your-own Bloody Mary bar comes with a three-egg omelet, hashbrowns, and Texas toast, with free pool and 20 wings for $14 from 6 p.m.
📍 1350 SW Vintage Pkwy · open 11 a.m.–2 a.m. daily
📞 (515) 802-7250 · 🌐 whiskeyriverankeny.com
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🎻 New this weekend: live music comes to the High Trestle Trail
The City of Ankeny landed a $7,500 grant from Bravo Greater Des Moines to launch a new Uptown Arts project — public art and live performances along Uptown and the High Trestle Trail. The first event, Music on the Trail, is Saturday 1–3 p.m. at the Northwestern Trailhead (2125 NW Irvinedale Dr.), with live music from Levi Smith. More trail concerts follow July through September, plus a community fiber art exhibit and a temporary art installation. Bravo money is also lighting the High Trestle Trail underpass under South Ankeny Boulevard later this year. Bike or walk over — just watch the radar (more below).
📅 Your weekend in Ankeny
Tonight (Friday)
🎸 Sips & Songs at The District — 6–10 p.m., gates 5:30 · Dan Mediros + Dirty Rotten Scoundrels · free, all ages, takeout from District restaurants welcome · 1500 SW Main St. · Event page
🎬 Movie Under the Stars: Zootopia 2 — 8:45 p.m. · Ankeny Bandshell, Wagner Park · free, bring a blanket · City calendar
🥎 Hawkettes softball at the John Stephens Classic (Creston) — four games today and Saturday: Clarinda and Atlantic today, Dallas Center-Grimes and Bondurant-Farrar Saturday · Ankeny Fanatic
Saturday
🥕 Uptown Ankeny Farmers Market — 8 a.m.–noon · AMP, 715 W. 1st St. — the pavilion is covered, so morning storms don't cancel your tomato run · Market info
🧘 Yoga in the Park — 8–9 a.m. · Ankeny Bandshell · City calendar
✂️ K–5th Stationery Pocket Lab — 10–10:45 a.m. · Kirkendall, Children's Program Room · no registration · Library calendar
🎻 Music on the Trail — 1–3 p.m. · Northwestern Trailhead (see above)
Sunday
🚌 DART's new network goes live — all 11 redesigned routes launch, and every ride is free June 14–30 · Route details
🎲 Adult Dungeons & Dragons — 2–7 p.m. (games start 3:30) · Kirkendall, Meeting Room BC · walk-ins welcome early · Library calendar
🏊 Family Fun Night — 4–6 p.m. · Prairie Ridge Aquatic Center · City calendar
🎪 Summer Break by Cirque Flip Fabrique — 5:30–6:30 p.m. · Ankeny Bandshell — an actual circus troupe, at the bandshell, for free · City calendar
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🌦️ Weekend weather
One dry window Saturday — schedule around it.
Today: Sunny, high 82°. West wind 5–10 mph, gusts to 18. Perfect kickoff weather.
Tonight: Mostly clear, low 62.
Saturday: High near 80°, with showers and thunderstorms possible after 10 a.m. (50% chance, a quarter to half inch). Morning errands early; clearing overnight, low 54.
Sunday: Sunny, 72° — NW gusts to 22 mph, but a clean day end to end.
🍧 Local Business Spotlight: Tropical Sno — 18 summers of shave ice on East 1st
Eighteen summers in, the stand at 800 E. 1st St. has outlasted trends, heat waves, and more than a few of the kids who grew up in its line. Tropical Sno is Ankeny's Hawaiian shave ice ritual: more than 40 flavors plus a long list of toppings, run by owner Abby Evans — and quietly growing into a small empire, with a second stand in Grimes and a Waukee location on the way. They cater now, too: graduations, weddings, festivals, block parties.
The hours are built for exactly the weekend on this page — weekday evenings and weekend afternoons. Post-farmers-market Saturday treat, or a Sunday cone after Family Fun Night at Prairie Ridge.
The basics:
🍧 800 E. 1st St., Ankeny · Mon–Fri 4:30–9 p.m. · Sat–Sun 2–9 p.m.
🎉 Event catering — graduations, weddings, festivals and more
📞 515-868-4101 · 🌐 tropicalsnoiowa.com · Facebook · Instagram
⚡ Today's Takeaway
A week that brought a lawn-watering ban and a new round of road closures ends with the two biggest soccer matches Ankeny can watch in a single day — one in Ames at 3:15, one on FOX at 8.
Monday: how the Jaguars' weekend went, whether Saturday's rain showed up, and the week ahead at City Council — the June 15 meeting is back on.
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