Iowa invites visitors into the iconic landscape of "Field of Dreams," where corn stalks frame a baseball diamond and the famous promise "If you build it, they will come" echoes across the farmland. Beyond this celebrated cinematic setting, Iowa stands as America's heartland, where generations of family farms cultivate the nation's largest corn harvest, small towns preserve authentic Americana, and surprising cultural treasures await discovery. From its famous baseball legacy to its agricultural dominance as the country's corn kingdom, this Midwestern state successfully balances rural tradition with distinctive innovations that make it worthy of exploration for baseball enthusiasts, food lovers tracing ingredients to their source, and travelers curious about one of America's most productive yet often overlooked regions.
In 1989, Kevin Costner, Ray Liotta, and James Earl Jones starred in the Academy Award-nominated film, Field of Dreams. Filmed in the rural town of Dyersville, Iowa, the story tells about a husband and father tending to his cornfield when he hears, “If you build it, they will come” — one of the top film quotes of all time according to the American Film Institute. Inspired by Kevin Costner’s character, Iowa constructed a temporary stadium at the film's location and hosted their own Field of Dreams games. These games were a hit! MLB constructed an 8,000 seat ballpark at the end of a pathway through a cornfield where the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees played on August 12, 2021 to a sold out crowd. The following year, the Cubs and the Reds played the second annual game, even donning uniforms made to match the ones from the early 20th century.
Regrettably, the event, which was the most-watched baseball game on television, has been on hiatus due to construction plans by the new owner, Hall of Famer Frank Thomas. Go the Distance Baseball, Thomas’s development group, has an $80 million expansion planned called Project Heaven. The original project broke ground in September 2022 to begin constructions for a youth baseball and softball complex, team dormitories, a hotel, and more. Though it was known that the games would be postponed in 2023, it was surprise when they were also postponed in 2024. According to an update from December 2024, Go The Distance Baseball had plans for a boutique hotel, an amphitheater and an RV park: but those projects have been cancelled. The only new developments will be the baseball stadium and a youth sports complex, to maintain the field's rural charm. The priority now is just erecting a professional baseball stadium next to the movie site and bring professional baseball to Dyersville. Vice President Sutter (of Go the Distance Baseball) says they are, "trying to keep it as simple as possible just to maintain in the integrity of the identity of the slice of Americano we have here and not make changes to the actual movie site itself.” This means less construction to keep the field surrounded by the iconic cornfields and have the site be most like the 1989 film scenes.
You can’t have the Field of Dreams field without the cornfields—but then, you can’t have corn without Iowa! Iowa produces more corn than any other state and nearly more than any other country. Farmers produced around 2.4 billion bushels of corn for grain and harvested 12.9 million acres in a year, according to the U.S. Department of Agricultural Statistics Service. This doesn’t include the sweet corn that we’re familiar with eating whenever we have canned corn or corn on the cob; that only makes up 1% of U.S. planted corn. The other 99% is known as 'field corn,' which is processed into products like corn cereal, corn starch, and corn syrup. Most of this corn is used for livestock feed and ethanol production, where it is considered a grain. This state has the perfect formula for corn growth: optimal temperatures, consistent rainfall patterns, and fertile soil composition. When they combine their livestock industry which provides the nutrients to enrich the corn fields, it’s no wonder that Iowa has been growing corn for the last 150 years, now being sustained by 86,900 farms, and most of these (97%) are maintained by farm families that have passed on their experience for generations.
Iowa is not only the filming location for Field of Dreams and a major corn producer, but it is also the leading state for pork production. In 2018, there were 73 million pigs documented in the state, meaning they had more pigs than people! Do you like sandwiches? You have Iowa to thank for sliced bread, since the first bread-slicing machine was created by Otto Frederick Rohwedder in Iowa! For something a little more quirky, did you know Iowa has a mini-Luxembourg? St. Donatus is a small town made up about 120 people, originally settled by Luxembourgian immigrants, and continues to have a truly unique environment with historic architecture and fame as a Luxenbourgish village. Finally one for our interstate drivers: Iowa is also home to the Iowa 80 Truck Stop, the largest truck stop in the world!
Established in 1964, the Iowa 80 Truckstop is a veritable "Trucker's Disneyland" that acts as both a home away from home for countless drivers and a fascinating destination for curious travelers. This roadside marvel is more like a mini-mall, featuring an impressive array of amenities: nine restaurant options (including the 24/7 Iowa 80 Kitchen with its comforting hometown diner menu), a convenience store, gift shop, and even a full service center for trucks. What truly sets Iowa 80 apart, though, is its unexpected offerings—where else would you find a truck stop with its own barber shop, chiropractor, dentist, and movie theater? Travelers can also enjoy workout facilities, laundry services, and pet washing stations. The crown jewel might be the Iowa 80 Trucking Museum, a passion project started by founder Bill Moon, which now houses over 100 meticulously restored antique trucks, 304 original petroliana signs, and 24 vintage gas pumps—preserving trucking history for all to appreciate.
If you’re traveling through Iowa, make sure to hit up the Iowa 80 Truckstop for fill up experience like no other. As you pass by the countless fields of corn heading to Little Luxenbourg or do Dyersville’s Field of Dreams, remember that Interstate Signways marked the way!
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