Halloween lands on a Saturday this year, and Waukee trick-or-treats on the night itself. The week opens with a no-school Monday and trout in the Triumph Park pond.
The Waukee Brief
We're building the same weekly briefing for Bondurant that Waukee already gets: home sales, jobs, what's on this week, and more. Be first to know when it launches.
Close ×
The day-by-day rundown of everything worth leaving the house for.
Off work and not sure what to do? We keep the whole week in one place so you're not digging through five Facebook pages. Here's what's on, plus the stuff you can count on every week.
Sources this week: the City of Waukee calendar and news flashes (Trick or Trout, trick-or-treat hours, road work), the Oct 27 Planning & Zoning agenda, the Waukee Public Library calendar, the Waukee CSD 2026-27 calendar, the Dallas County Auditor's election page, the Waukee Chamber calendar, Vibrant Music Hall's own listings, each haunt's own site or the Des Moines Haunted Houses 2026 list, the IHSAA and IGHSAU postseason pages, and Bound (gobound.com) for both high schools. Home and away were checked against the posted venue or the official host, not a vs label.
Bigger metro weekends and day trips are down in Worth the Drive.
More to plan with: the standing weekly rhythm above · the City of Waukee calendar · WaukeeDowntown events · Halloween in Waukee: trick-or-treat hours, trunk-or-treats & haunts · our Nov 3 voter guide.
Five hand-picked local things this week: a spot to support, something to do, a place worth finding, a new opening, and a local doing good.
Waukee's own haunted house, and Halloween weekend is your last shot at it. Timberline Campground, just west of town, turns its hall into the Haunted Hall of Tortured Twisted Terrors on Friday and Saturday nights, 6 to 9pm, and the last two nights are this Friday and Halloween itself. The first hour, 6 to 7, dials back the scares. The city lists it as recommended for ages 10 and up, and kids under 12 need an adult. $10 a person, and no drive into Des Moines.
No school Monday, and the city has the morning covered: the DNR stocks hundreds of trout in the Triumph Park pond around noon, and some are tagged for prizes. It runs 11:30am to 2pm, free, with yard games and the Kaaswagen food truck. Bring your own pole; a fishing license is needed at 16 and up, and the city says a trout stamp at all ages. 700 NW Douglas Pkwy.
Most people walk past it on the way to storytime. The Waukee Public Library has a coal mine museum inside, opened in November 2013 and funded by a bequest of more than $500,000 from Hiram Ori, per the city's history page. It tells the story of the mining camps that once sat where Alice's Road runs now. 950 Warrior Ln, open Sunday noon to 4pm.
Tuesday's Planning & Zoning agenda lists a site plan from Apple Inc. for "Project Morgan", a laydown area at 2995 W Hickman Rd. A laydown area is a construction staging yard, so this is a building-phase step, not something you will visit. We will keep an eye on what it supports.
The group that keeps Waukee's coal-town and railroad past from getting paved over. This Wednesday it teams up with Waukee YP for Halloween Trivia at Jethro's BBQ (9350 University Ave, West Des Moines), 6pm to 8pm: $5 for YP members, $10 for everyone else, costumes encouraged, and the proceeds go to the Historical Society.
Nominate any Waukee business, nonprofit, or local find for next week. Recommend it here → (or reply to any issue).
Tap any section to open it. Each one ends with a link to the full guide.
Where we'd send you first: a starting lineup of local favorites in town (mid-2026).
Pizza & Italian: Taste of New York Pizza, Scorno's Pizza & Pasta
Steak & date night: Rube's Steakhouse, plus Firebirds Wood Fired Grill just over the line in West Des Moines
Breakfast & brunch: Littleleaf Luncheonette, The Breakfast Club (Kettlestone Central)
Burgers: Central Standard Craft Burgers & Beer, Wayback Burgers (first Iowa location)
Mexican: Panchero's Mexican Grill
Raw bar & seafood: Guesthouse Tavern + Oyster
Taprooms & pub grub: Gastro Grub & Pub, The Kee Bar & Grill, 85 Bar West, plus Barn Town Brewing just over the line in West Des Moines
The full rundown: best restaurants in Waukee →
The full local coffee scene, ranked drive-thru to sit-down: the best coffee in Waukee →
New spot opening? Tell us →. We run a "new this month" feature.
Always worth a look: current standing deals (we refresh these weekly):
Kids eat free, Tuesday nights: Pizza Ranch Waukee, 448 SE University Ave, lists Kids Eat Free on Tuesdays, 4pm to 9pm: one child 12 and under per full-priced paying adult. It also lists a senior lunch buffet for $13.09, Monday to Thursday, 11am to 4pm, per the location's own page. 515-978-6603. Re-verified Oct 25.
Happy hour in Waukee: 85 Bar West, 432 E Hickman Rd, lists happy hour Monday through Friday, 3pm to 6pm with food and drink specials (no prices posted), per its own site. Re-verified Oct 25.
Cheap movie night: The Palms Theatres & IMAX, 200 NE Westgate Dr, runs Bargain Tuesday: Fridley's own promotions page lists $6 for 2D, $8 for 3D, $11 for IMAX 2D and $13 for IMAX 3D, plus a free 46 oz. popcorn with any drink. Not valid for premieres, opening days, holidays and special engagements. Re-verified Oct 25.
Happy hour just over the line: Guesthouse Tavern + Oyster, 9500 University Ave in West Des Moines, lists happy hour Monday 3:30pm to 9pm, Tuesday to Friday 3:30pm to 5:30pm, and Friday from 8pm to close, per its own homepage. Re-verified Oct 25.
Burger Monday just over the line: Barn Town Brewing, also at 9500 University Ave in West Des Moines, still lists Cheeseburger Monday on its specials board; ask for this week's price. It is also where the Vince Meyer PTO holds its fundraising night this Monday. Re-verified Oct 25.
We only list deals we can confirm at the source. This week we could not re-confirm Gastro Grub & Pub's happy hour or anything for Rube's Steakhouse or Guadalajara on their own sites, so none is claimed here. If you know one is running, tell us and we'll check it.
Got a deal or happy hour we should list? Add it here → We list the ones we can confirm at the source.
Food guides: what should we eat tonight? · best restaurants · pizza · breakfast & brunch · coffee
Waukee High (Warriors) & Waukee Northwest (Wolves), the town's own crosstown rivalry, now that Waukee runs two comprehensive high schools.
Both volleyball teams won their regional semifinals at home Thursday, which sets up a Warriors vs Wolves 5A Region 1 final on Tuesday at 7pm at Northwest; the winner goes to state in Coralville. Both football teams won Friday to close the regular season (Warriors 5-4, Wolves 6-3), made the 16-team 5A playoff field, and open on the road Friday. Football scores list the Waukee school first.
The crosstown rivalry shows up across every sport, from a 31-28 football finish in the fall of 2025 to this year's 44-0 Northwest win, and now a regional volleyball final with a state trip on the line. It's the town's own built-in derby now that Waukee has split into two attendance zones.
Follow schedules & scores at Waukee CSD & Northwest Wolves Activities. Full schedules, the rivalry & recent results: our Waukee high school sports guide.
Waukee is one of the fastest-growing family towns in the Midwest. Here's where to take them, rain or shine, any time of year.
The Palms Theatres & IMAX, right in Waukee (200 NE Westgate Dr), with a true IMAX screen.
The Waukee Public Library (950 S Warrior Ln, 515-978-7944) holds 40,000+ items and runs storytimes plus children's, teen & adult programming. Hours: Mon-Tue 9-8, Wed-Thu 9-6, Fri 9-5:30, Sat 9-4, Sun 12-4.
Know a family gem we're missing? Recommend it →
Family guides: things to do with kids · parks & playgrounds · the movie theater · Halloween & trick-or-treat
Waukee is a trailhead town. The Raccoon River Valley Trail's 89-mile network starts and ends here, and the newest big park opened in 2022.
Centennial Park is Waukee's community-event park, host to the Easter Egg Hunt, Movies in the Park, and the Waukee Arts Festival. Enter from Ashworth Drive, or park in the gravel lot off University Ave near the covered bridge.
The Kettlestone Greenway is being built out in phases: Phase 2 connects the Kettlestone Commons/Holmes Murphy area through a Grand Prairie Parkway underpass to Kettleview, and through a Westown Parkway underpass to the Grant Park neighborhoods.
Sugar Creek Municipal Golf Course: Waukee's own public course, 9 holes, par 34.
18 acres with a free splash pad, tennis court, 4 pickleball courts & playgrounds. 522 NE Westgate Dr.
Outdoors guides: trails & bike paths · Raccoon River Valley Trail · Triumph Park · parks · golf
When the weather won't cooperate, or the kids are finally in bed.
Exile Brewing's second-ever location is opening inside Kettlestone Social. The taproom scene here is only getting bigger.
Kettlestone Social's pickleball courts and duckpin bowling will be the go-to once it opens in 2027. For now, The Palms Theatres & IMAX covers movie nights right in town.
Run a club we should list? Tell us →
Indoors & night-out guides: the movie theater · a night out · Kettlestone
Some of the best nights out aren't at a Waukee address. You've got a car. Here's the metro and the easy day trips, with rough drive times from town.
Worth planning a whole day or evening around:
Beyond the lakes north of town (see Outdoors), these are the metro's signature green spaces:
No ticket needed. Great when you just want to wander:
When you want more than Waukee's own (excellent) lineup:
A little farther, but easy round-trips and a true change of scenery:
Pack a bag. Within a half-day's drive: a big-city zoo, Mississippi river towns, Iowa's lake country, and a baseball field in a cornfield.
The full rundown, with what to do and who each trip is best for, is in our day trips & weekend getaways guide →
Drive times are rough door-to-door estimates from central Waukee. Add a little for downtown parking or game-day traffic. Got a favorite spot we're missing? Recommend it →
Nearby guides: things to do in Waukee · trails & bike paths · Triumph Park
Bargain-hunting, fresh sweet corn, taco trucks, and the weekend treasure hunt.
Pulled fresh from the public sale maps. We refresh this list weekly in season:
No sales posted for Waukee on gsalr.com or GarageSaleFinder as of Sunday, Oct 25. The only nearby listings are Des Moines online auctions and a Marshalltown estate sale, none in Waukee. With trick-or-treat Saturday night, this is a quiet garage-sale weekend; check the links below closer to Saturday.
See the full live map (and post your own) at gsalr.com or GarageSaleFinder, and check the local Waukee buy/sell/swap groups on Facebook, where a lot of sales and finds post first.
The Waukee Farmers Market is the summer anchor: Wednesdays 4 to 7 p.m., June through September in the downtown Triangle, with local produce, prepared foods, crafts and live music. The 2026 season wrapped September 30, and 2027 dates aren't announced yet, so watch WaukeeDowntown.com in spring.
For roadside sweet corn, melons and produce around Dallas County in season, the state keeps a licensed farm-stand directory.
Waukee doesn't run a single standing truck night, so the trucks travel to the crowds: the Waukee Farmers Market (Wednesdays, downtown Triangle) draws prepared-food and dessert vendors, and the Waukee Arts Festival each July at Centennial Park brings a big lineup of food and beer trucks alongside the artists and live music.
Track who's parked where around the metro on StreetFoodFinder. Running a truck? Tell us → and we'll feature it.
Market guide: the Waukee Farmers Market
Waukee is a school town, one of the fastest-growing districts in Iowa, and a big reason families move here.
A four-day week. There is no school Monday, Oct 26 (teacher work day), and Term 2 starts Tuesday, Oct 27. No early-outs this week. Lunch highlights (elementary): walking tacos Tuesday, stuffed-crust cheese pizza Wednesday, a breaded chicken sandwich with tater tots Thursday, and cheesy Bosco sticks with a pumpkin cookie Friday. Coming up: early dismissal Wednesday, Nov 4 and Wednesday, Nov 18; Thanksgiving break Nov 25 to 27. Lunch is $3.00 for TK to 5, $3.10 for grades 6 to 8 and $3.20 for grades 9 to 12.
Weekly lunch menus on SchoolCafe → and the full 2026-27 calendar (early dismissals, no-school days, picture days): waukeeschools.org → · boundaries & buildings: our schools guide · first-week checklist: back to school.
The district keeps opening buildings to keep pace: two comprehensive high schools plus separate ninth-grade schools, with more planned across Kettlestone and the west-side subdivisions.
Waukee schools back students from preschool through 12th grade with a full Student Services team:
Out in the community, the free Miracle League (see Families) gives kids with special needs their own accessible ball field at Triumph Park. Everyone plays, every game.
Waukee's crosstown rivalry: Waukee High (Warriors), the original school with a Spartan-style mascot adopted in 2016, and Waukee Northwest (Wolves), which opened in 2021 in a $103M building. Both are large schools in the CIML (Central Iowa Metro League), Iowa's deepest conference, and regular state contenders across the major sports.
The Warriors are a longtime boys-golf and boys-swimming power; the young Wolves have piled up state titles fast in softball, girls' and boys' soccer, volleyball and girls' track. The head-to-head games, a 31-28 football finish in the fall of 2025, plus head-to-head softball, basketball & more, are the tickets to have now that the town runs two comprehensive high schools.
For the weekly game scoreboard: scores, playoff runs and standings. See the Sports section → Schedules & results live at Waukee CSD, Northwest Wolves Activities and on Bound.
School guides: schools & boundaries · high school sports · the library
Waukee is the fastest-growing large (20,000+) city in Iowa, sitting in Dallas County, one of the fastest-growing counties in the country. Its economy leans finance/insurance, healthcare, education, retail & professional services, with Hy-Vee a major area employer. Newest addition: Iowa Ortho is building a 15,843 sq ft orthopedic care facility to serve the growing west metro.
Permits and where the growth is: straight from the City of Waukee's monthly building report.
Kettlestone Central is the story of the year. Developers are pitching the 164-acre mixed-use district as Waukee's future "Main Street," part of the broader $325M Kettlestone Lakes investment reshaping the city's south side. On the flip side: Waukee voters rejected a $35M outdoor aquatic center bond in November 2024: 54.9% in favor, short of the 60% supermajority Iowa requires for bond referendums, so the city still has no municipal outdoor pool. It's unclear if or when it comes back to the ballot; we're watching.
Getting around while it's built:
Here's what actually lands on the agenda most weeks:
Here's who holds each office right now (mid-2026):
2026 is a big year locally: Dallas County's Board of Supervisors expands from three seats to five on the November ballot, with the new, larger board seated in January 2027; at the federal level, Sen. Ernst is not seeking reelection. Look up your exact districts at legis.iowa.gov.
The general election is Tuesday, Nov 3. (The June 2 primary set most of the matchups.)
Bring a valid photo ID (Iowa voter-ID law). Early voting started Oct 14 at the Dallas County Auditor in Adel and runs through Nov 2. The Oct 19 deadline to request a mailed ballot or pre-register has passed, but same-day registration is allowed on Election Day with ID & proof of residence.
Our election guides: the Waukee voter guide · what's on your Nov 3 ballot · how to vote: early, absentee & ID
Yours not listed? Add it →
A quick honesty note: Waukee sits in Dallas County, not Polk. Dallas County's assessor doesn't publish a per-sale "existing home just closed" feed the way Polk County's does for Ankeny & Johnston. So the market stats below are Redfin/Zillow aggregates, while the lot-sales figures are real, self-pulled county records (see note below).
Straight from the Dallas County Assessor's public "Urban Residential Lots" sales file. This tracks new subdivision lot sales (land, mostly pre-construction), not resale of existing homes, but it's real and it shows exactly where the growth is platting.
April 2026's building-permit report: 30 new single-family homes and 10 new townhomes among 196 total permits worth $41.1M. See Town Hall for the full breakdown.
Housing & moving guides: moving to Waukee · neighborhoods · cost of living · Kettlestone
The newest businesses registered in Waukee with the State of Iowa, freshest first. A filing means someone registered a business, not that a storefront is open yet.
141 filings since June 1, through August 27, 2026. See every one, by category →
We love featuring businesses started by Waukee grads and lifelong locals. Own one, or know one? Tell us your story → and we'll spotlight it here.
A weekly snapshot of real openings in and around Waukee, pulled fresh from public job listings with the national trucking-board spam filtered out. The town's biggest steady employers are the Waukee Community School District, the City of Waukee, UnityPoint Health at the Waukee Med Park, Fleet Farm and the Kettlestone retail corridor; the full picture is in our jobs & largest employers guide. Tap any role to see the full posting and apply.
Afternoon Toddler Room Teacher · Little Endeavors Child Development CenterApply → Driver Helper · UPSApply → General Manager in Training · Pizza Ranch WaukeeApply → Auto Body Technician · The Boyd GroupApply → Teachers at Waukee KinderCare · KinderCare EducationApply → Maintenance and Housekeeping Manager · Independence VillageApply → RBT (Registered Behavior Technician) · Heartland ABAApply → Maintenance Service Technician, Alice Patricia · Indigo LivingApply → Seasonal: 4am Inbound (Stocking) (T2909) · TargetApply → Landscape Install Team Member · RJ Lawn & LandscapeApply → Retail Sales Associate: Full Time · AutozoneApply → Property Casualty Captive Executive · Holmes MurphyApply →Business guides: jobs & largest employers · cost of living
This whole thing is better with you in it. Know a great restaurant, a local find, a deal, a can't-miss event or garage sale, or run a local business yourself? Send it our way. The best picks land in the Brief.
Recommend a spot →Prefer email? Just send it to [email protected].