After Oct. 31, Living History Farms Runs on Reservations
November 12, 2026
November 12, 2026
"It's a space where people can come all year round," Elizabeth Keest Sedrel, the museum's director of marketing and communications, told the Business Record this spring. She was talking about the new Kemin Cultivation Center at Living History Farms. Her comment applies to the whole place on 111th Street now. The tractor carts stopped running on Oct. 31, but the winter calendar at 2600 111th St. in Urbandale runs almost every week from now through New Year's Eve. Nearly all of it needs a ticket bought ahead.
That changes how you plan a visit. In summer, you show up by 2 p.m. and you'll see the farms. In winter, a seat at a dinner table or a spot at a woodstove can sell out weeks ahead.
The museum's hours page splits the year in two. General admission runs May 1 through Oct. 31, Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. In that season the farm sites are reached only by tractor cart from the Visitor Center, and there is no walking path to them. From Nov. 1 through April 30, the page lists "Programs by reservation." That covers day camps, historic dinners and teas, skills classes, Barnyard Readers, book club, and historic home tours.
So the 1846, 1850 and 1900 farms aren't open for wandering until spring. Instead, the museum is putting its historic kitchens, parlors and forge to work for small groups.
There's one exception to the reservation rule. On four Saturdays, the museum sells Winter Admission for $10 per person. Members and children age 1 and under get in free.
Each visit includes the Smithsonian Spark!Lab, the Exhibit Hall, and one historic home that's open from 10 a.m. to noon. Spark!Lab is the newest piece. In April, the Business Record reported that a room in the museum's Learning Center was being turned into a Smithsonian-sponsored lab. Museum president Ruth Haus said it would focus on "agricultural inventions, inventions by Iowans."
Those four Saturdays also overlap with some of the busiest class days. If you want a walk-in morning and a booked afternoon on the same trip, Nov. 14 and Dec. 12 are the days that work best.
The museum's historic skills classes fill more of the winter than anything else, and most of them are about food. Classes need registration, and members get 10% off. Here's what's on the calendar from Nov. 14 on:
| Date | Class | Time | Price | Status in early November |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat., Nov. 14 | Cooking with Kids: Mac & Cheese & Cookies | 1:30–3:30 p.m. | $75 | Open |
| Tue., Nov. 17 | Apple Doughnuts & Hot Cider | 5:30–7:30 p.m. | $75 | Open |
| Sat., Nov. 21 | 19th Century Bread Baking | 1:30–4:30 p.m. | $100 | Sold out |
| Tue., Nov. 24 | Sausage, Biscuits & Gravy | 5:30–7:30 p.m. | $75 | Open |
| Tue., Dec. 1 | Norwegian Kringla & Fattigman | 5:30–7:30 p.m. | $75 | Sold out |
| Tue., Dec. 8 | Norwegian Christmas: Sandbakkels | 5:30–7:30 p.m. | $75 | Open |
| Tue., Dec. 15 | Norwegian Christmas: Pepperkakker | 5:30–7:30 p.m. | $75 | Open |
Most cooking classes fall on Tuesday evenings, which makes them easy to fit around a workday. The December lineup is all Norwegian Christmas baking, and the first of those three is already sold out.
Not every class happens in a kitchen. Blacksmith Basics runs Saturday, Nov. 14 from noon to 3 p.m. and Wednesday, Nov. 18 from 2 to 5 p.m., at $125. Beginning Embroidery is Saturday, Dec. 12, and Beginning Knitting is Saturday, Dec. 19. Both run 2 to 4 p.m. and cost $75. The Dec. 12 and Dec. 19 classes start an hour after Winter Admission ends on those days.
The dinners are the heart of the winter calendar, and each one is set in a different period.
These run most of November and into December at $125 per person, or $110 for members, for ages 12 and up. Booking is required. Weeknight seatings run 6:15 to 9 p.m., and Sunday seatings run 1 to 3:45 p.m. Dates still ahead from mid-November:
Several dates were already marked sold out on the museum's ticketing calendar in early November, including both year-end seatings on Dec. 30 and 31.
Friday, Nov. 13, brings the museum's Friday-the-13th dinner. Triskaideka Dinners are set for Friday, Nov. 13 and Saturday, Nov. 14, from 6:15 to 9:30 p.m., at $113 or $102 for members, for ages 14 and up. Saturday's dinner was already sold out in early November.
The holiday dinners at the Tangen Home are Dec. 17, 18, 19 and 23 from 6:15 to 9:30 p.m., plus Sunday, Dec. 20 from 1 to 4:15 p.m. They cost $115, or $100 for members, for ages 12 and up, and tickets are required.
The Flynn Mansion teas are a lighter choice. Staff in 1870s period dress serve them from 12:45 to 3 p.m. on Nov. 15 and Dec. 12, 13, 26 and 27. Nov. 15 and Dec. 13 had sold out by early November. The two dates after Christmas could be useful if you'll have family in town that week.
Barnyard Readers is for ages 3 to 5 with an adult. The remaining sessions are Saturday, Nov. 21, Saturday, Dec. 5, and Saturday, Dec. 19, all from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Registration is required. Nov. 21 and Dec. 19 are also Winter Admission days, so a preschooler's story morning can roll right into Spark!Lab.
The Adult Book Club meets Tuesday, Nov. 17, at either 1 p.m. or 7 p.m., to talk about "Caddie Woodlawn."
Over winter break, two day camps fill Dec. 28 through 31, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. "Celebrations Around the World" is for grades 4 and 5, and "Prairie Pioneers" is for grades 2 and 3.
Family Christmas is the only event this winter built for a crowd. It's Saturday, Dec. 5, from noon to 3 p.m. Tickets are $12 in advance, $11 for members, and $13 at the door, $12 for members. Kids under 2 are free. You can buy at the door, so it's the one event this season you can decide on that morning.
The day includes visits to the historic buildings, crafts, carols, stories, cookie decorating, wagon rides if the weather allows, and Santa. It's the only time between now and spring that the event list opens the historic buildings to everyone at once. Barnyard Readers meets the same morning from 9:30 to 11 a.m., so families with preschoolers could make a full day of it.
A lot of this winter calendar runs in new buildings. The Business Record reported that the Kemin Cultivation Center opened in May 2025 as part of a $6.2 million capital campaign. It's a climate-controlled 4,000-square-foot gallery that replaced exhibit space in a converted 1930s hog barn. Inside are a prairie schooner built for the 1976 bicentennial, quilts from the museum's collection, an 1879 hearse, and "Road to Liberty," an exhibit produced by the White House.
The same campaign added a courtyard and turned the former visitor center into the Learning Center, which now houses the museum's education programs and day camps. The museum also rents out the Learning Center year-round. It has a Great Hall, a Celebration Room and a Welcome Wing, along with a kitchen.
Keest Sedrel explained the reason for the new space in the same Business Record piece: "During this time of year when we don't have the farm sites open for general visitation just because of Midwest weather, they can still come in and tour this gallery." The farms rest for the season, and the indoor spaces keep the museum busy through December.
Have you already booked a seat for apple doughnut night or a Flynn Mansion tea? I'd love to hear which one you picked. Living History Farms is one of the places that makes the west side of the metro feel like home, and helping people find that sense of belonging is what I care about most. If you're thinking about what's next for your own home this winter, Laura Major is happy to talk it through over cider. Let's Connect.
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