If you live in West Des Moines, you already know the sound of a Thursday in July: a bass line drifting east from Railroad Park, the smell of kettle corn near 3rd, the slow parade of neighbors angling for a shady spot on the sidewalk. What has changed this year is not the ritual. It is the block itself. Between the storefronts that opened in the last twelve months and the ones about to break ground, 5th Street looks different than it did the last time you walked it with a cone in your hand.
This is a guide for the resident, not the tourist. Skip the parts you already know.
The 4-to-9 Window That Reorganized The District
Every Thursday from May through September, the district's rhythm collapses into a five-hour window. The Valley Junction Farmers Market runs 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. on the 100 through 300 blocks of 5th Street, and Music in the Junction follows in Railroad Park with the beverage garden opening at 5:00 p.m. and live music starting at 6:00. Both are free.
The detail most residents overlook is the parking solution baked into the evening. Free parking and free shuttle service are available 4-9 p.m. during all scheduled Thursday night events at Hillside Elementary School, 713 8th St., West Des Moines. If you have stopped going because of the walk from wherever you finally found a curb, that is your fix.
The district itself is small enough that this window matters. Valley Junction is a linear historic district composed of most of three blocks of Fifth Street and parts of two cross streets, which is why an afternoon that pulls a hundred vendors and a full concert crowd can feel packed even when attendance is roughly the same as last year.
What Opened On 5th Street In The Last Twelve Months
New tenants tend to arrive in Valley Junction in clusters, and the last year has been one of those clusters. A short inventory, in the order a resident is most likely to encounter them on a Thursday walk:
Black Cat Ice Cream, 134 5th Street. The Drake-neighborhood favorite opened its second storefront here on April 1, 2025. The Valley Junction storefront has a bigger kitchen and seating area than the Drake location, and the owners said they hope to start catering once the new store opens. Rotating small-batch flavors, grass-fed dairy, and unusual pairings like brown butter cookie dough and chocolate covered potato chip.
T12 Distillery, 111 S. 11th Street. T12 Distillery, which founder Scott Turczynski began in fall 2022, took over Foundry Distilling's former space at 111 S. 11th St. in late May, per the Business Record. The name refers to the T12 vertebra, which sits at the transition between the mid and lower back. The space itself is one of the district's larger production floors, which gives Valley Junction a working distillery again after a quiet stretch.
Ocha Bubble Tea & Dessert Cafe, 221 Fourth Street. Boba teas and sweet treats in a third location, in addition to Ankeny and Windsor Heights. Opened December 14, 2025. A useful stop with kids in tow when the Farmers Market crowd gets loud.
Coming to 122 5th Street. The lot that has been an empty gap since 2024 is finally moving. A new building is planned for the site where the Longest Yard once stood in West Des Moines' Valley Junction, and the West Des Moines City Council recently approved a development agreement with Baldwin for the construction. The developer is Tom Baldwin. As of the last public update, he said he is still working on the concept for the business, but hopes to have more to announce in a few months, adding "we don't know exactly what it's going to look like, other than to be a good fit for Valley Junction and the customers and people that already come down there." Worth watching if you have missed having a bar at that corner.
The design guardrails on that build matter to anyone who cares how the block looks. Design guidelines that are in place for Valley Junction will ensure the new building meets the historic character of the neighborhood. "We are elated with the fact that the building will be very high quality," Moffatt said. "It's historic appearance, it's not an exact replica but it does pay homage to the historical architecture in the area." The city has agreed to provide a 10-year, 100% tax increment finance package for the project.
The August Music In The Junction Lineup
Four Thursdays left in the month. The 2026 schedule at Railroad Park:
- August 6 — Gallivant
- August 13 — Faculty Lounge
- August 20 — English
- August 27 — Randy Burk & The Prisoners
Then September closes out the season with Bittersweet Nation on the 3rd, the Cedar Falls Rock & Roll Revue on the 10th, Gut Feeling on the 17th, and the Jason Wells Band on the 24th. Beverage garden opens at 5:00, music at 6:00.
If you are the kind of Thursday-goer who used to build the whole night around dinner and then squeeze the market in at the end, flip it. The market's best produce is gone by 6:30. Walk the vendor rows first, drop your bags in the car, and use the shuttle back for the concert.
When Thursday Ends, Sunday Begins
Valley Junction has slowly built out a shoulder-season calendar so the district is not dark once Music in the Junction wraps in late September. The dates worth marking on a home calendar:
Sunday, September 13, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. — The Historic Valley Junction Foundation's antique and vintage fair. Antiques and vintage shops, along with antique and art vendor fairs, have a long history in Valley Junction, and Valley Junction's galleries come together to showcase new artwork by regional, national, and international artists during the bi-annual Gallery Night.
Later in the season, the Foundation runs the Pumpkin Walk, a family-scale Halloween event, and then Jingle in the Junction, when many businesses extend their hours on Thursday nights to give you more time to find the perfect holiday gift, enjoy dinner, and enjoy three blocks of free entertainment on 5th Street under the glow of over 100,000 holiday lights.
Yoga in the Park, presented by Lindsay Bordwell, continues to run through the warm months, which is the least-crowded way to be in the district on a summer weekend.
The Historic Layer Most Residents Skip
The reason 5th Street looks the way it does is not accidental. The Valley Junction Commercial Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in West Des Moines, Iowa. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. At the time of its nomination it consisted of 72 resources, which included 53 contributing buildings, 17 non-contributing buildings, and two non-contributing structures.
The buildings on the south end of the district are older than the buildings on the north. The older buildings (1893–1901) tend to be on the south side of the district. Many of the newer buildings on the north have an inter-war feeling with structures in the Moderne and Art Deco styles. This is why a walk down 5th between Railroad and Elm feels different from a walk between Elm and Vine even though the storefronts read as one continuous stretch. Two of the district's buildings are listed individually on the National Register: the I.O.O.F. Valley Junction Lodge Hall No. 604 (1898) and the Valley Junction-West Des Moines City Hall and Engine House (1901).
The Foundation itself has been running this program a long time. The Historic Valley Junction Foundation has been a proud Main Street Iowa program since 1987.
A Walking Loop From The Hillside Shuttle Drop
If you use the shuttle, you arrive on the northern end of the district. A loop that hits the new places without doubling back:
- Start at Black Cat Ice Cream (134 5th) for something to hold while you walk.
- South on 5th through the market tents to Railroad Park for a set of music.
- East one block to Ocha (221 4th) if you have kids or a boba habit.
- North on 4th, then west on 8th back toward the shuttle stop, passing the Foundation's Welcome Center at 137 5th if you need restrooms or event info.
Total distance is under a mile. On a Thursday in August that is roughly forty-five minutes of walking with stops, which is the right pace for a district this size.
The Point
Valley Junction has spent the last twelve months adding the kind of small operators that give a walkable district its texture: an ice cream maker with a growing catering arm, a distillery moving into a purpose-built production space, a boba shop expanding on its third try, and a redevelopment on the last gap in the street. None of these is a landmark on its own. Together they are the reason the Thursday night crowd looks a little different than it did in 2023.
If you have not walked the district since spring, this month is the one to do it.
When clients ask us what makes West Des Moines feel like home, we point to blocks like this one. If you are thinking about selling near Valley Junction, buying into the neighborhoods that feed it, or simply want a knowledgeable second opinion on how a walkable district affects long-term value, the team at Megan Mitchum + CO would be glad to talk. Contact Us to start the conversation.
