“Welcoming the stranger”: Diocese of Des Moines participates in Iowa’s summer festivals

by Benjamin Shane Evans | August 25, 2026

As the summer months end, the Diocese of Des Moines reflects on how Catholic parishes and organizations participated in two of Iowa’s staple cultural events: the Iowa State Fair and the Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI).

These events served as opportunities to invite Iowans -- both Catholic and non-Catholic -- to encounter Christ through hospitality and service.   

IOWA STATE FAIR

Iowa Catholic Radio’s annual booth located near the Ann and Bill Riley Stage on the state fairgrounds offered attendees faith resources, the opportunity to take a picture with a cardboard cutout of Pope Leo XIV, and the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Iowa Catholic Radio’s Media and Outreach Specialist Alexia Baker said the station’s participation in the state fair was “very successful.”  

“It is really beautiful opportunity to be able to provide a sacrament at the State Fair because obviously, that’s something that other vendors cannot provide,” Baker said. “We’re so grateful to our diocese priests for being able to set time, aside from their parish obligations to come out and provide that for people at the fair.”

Another way the Iowa Catholic Radio team invited encounter with Christ at the fair was through a newly launched social media video series, “Where is Alexia?” Hosted by Baker, this series featured reviews of new fair foods, including items such as a Cajun chicken sandwich, butter-dipped ice cream, and peanut butter and jelly corn dog.

Baker said that filming sparked spontaneous interactions, where people asked about items she tried, that lead to opportunities to Iowa Catholic Radio’s content and mission. One interaction she described included a newly married couple from the East coast who started following the station’s Instagram page after the conversation.

“It was just a simple encounter through that interaction,” she said. “That is also what Iowa Catholic Radio does. We’re not just a media outlet, we’re also there to meet people and have relationships with people face to face. And we were able to do that through social media and all of our volunteers and our staff that were able to do that face to face. We’re not just a radio station that talks to people through a microphone and evangelizes that way. We also evangelize through contact with people and through building relationships.”

The Diocese of Des Moines celebrated 7:15 a.m. Sundays Masses at the Farm Bureau Pioneer Hall during the Iowa State Fair. See photos of one of the masses below.   

RAGBRAI

Parishes across the Diocese participated in RAGBRAI, which began on July 18 in Onawa, and completed on July 25 in Dubuque.

Parishes in Dunlap, Exira, Guthrie Center, Panora, and Bayard welcomed and served riders on the 391.4-mile journey across Iowa.

Here are how Holy Trinity Parish in Exira and St. Michael’s Parish in Harlan welcomed the stranger.

Holy Trinity Parish in Exira

Holy Trinity Parish in Exira collaborated with other community organizations to serve approximately 900 slices of pie to RAGBRAI participants.

Holy Trinity parishioner Susan Osvald said that approximately 157 pies were made, and by the end of the day, only three remained uncut.

Osvald said there was strong participation from the local Lutheran church, which provided the physical stand, while Holy Trinity’s Altar & Rosary Society coordinated pie production and collected the free will donations. A “community baking day” included a “pie assembly line” at the Lutheran Church, while some pies were baked at the Holy Trinity parish hall. 

Osvald said this was an example of Exira’s long-standing tradition of ecumenical collaboration, which includes events like the bloodmobile, Meals on Wheels, Prayer for Christian Unity supper, World Day of Prayer, and Vacation Bible School.

The stand raised $5,111, which will be split evenly between Exira’s public library and an ongoing pocket park project.

St. Michael Parish in Harlan

St. Michael parishioners Angela and Richard Buman organized the Pasta & Pie Feed for RAGBRAI’s Harlan stop. The event fed approximately 1,300 cyclists, some of whom called the pasta “the best spaghetti in RAGBRAI history,” according to the parish bulletin.  

“When we heard that RAGBRAI was coming to Harlan, my wife Angela jumped up and said, ‘We have got to do something,’” Richard Buman said.

Angela, who is St. Michael’s director of religious education, researched what other Catholic parishes had done previously and was advised that pasta is ideal, as riders want carbs, and it is easy for large batches.

Having owned a restaurant in Harlan, Richard and Angela were confident in their ability to serve the appetites of over a thousand hunger cyclists. The parish hall hosted the feed and lines wrapped around the building from about 4-8pm.

According to Buman, proceeds for the event totaled over $10,000. These proceeds will contribute to the construction of a dedicated youth space that will serve St. Michael’s youth.

Buman said ultimately the event was about serving the people who were hungry.

“It’s the hospitality,” he said. “When people ask later where the riders were fed, they can say, ‘Oh we stopped at the Catholic Church.’ We wanted to be able to bring them in and give them a great experience that maybe that is their only experience with Catholicism.”