Rachel Garst
Co-Chair, "Khrushchev in Iowa" Committee

“Khrushchev in Iowa” 50th Anniversary 1959-2009

Celebrating Agriculture’s Contributions to International Understanding

Fifty years after Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev came to Iowa during the icy depths of the Cold War to visit his farmer friend Roswell Garst, a statewide “Khrushchev in Iowa” commemoration will be held August 27-30, 2009.  Participants include US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, Nikita’s son Sergei Khrushchev, and more than 40 Russian and US agribusiness leaders.

JOIN IN THIS UNIQUE CELEBRATION OF AN AMAZING HISTORICAL MOMENT

-Thursday Aug 27: Khrushchev’s Pulitzer-Prize winning biographer, William Taubman, will speak at Drake.

-Friday Aug 28:   Come to a “Khrushchev in Iowa” conference and banquet at the Hotel Fort Des Moines.

-Saturday Aug 29: Bring the family to an Agricultural Progress Festival in Coon Rapids (70 miles NW of Des Moines)

-Sunday Aug 30:   Iowa Sister States hosts a “Faces of Iowa-Russia Connections” Symposium and BBQ at Camp Dodge

Visit www.creatinggreatplaces.org to register and to purchase conference and banquet tickets.  All other events are free and open to the public.

Also at www.creatinggreatplaces.org, view historical documents, photos and film, and leave your own memories of the visit or of later US/Soviet exchanges.  Help celebrate this unique chapter in US history!

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DETAILS ON EACH EVENT FOLLOW

Thurs 8/27/09  AViD Author Series Presents William Taubman

Taubman is the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of Khrushchev: The Man and His Era (2003)

7:00 pm-8:30 pm, followed by book signing and a reception.

Sheslow Auditorium, Drake University

2507 University Avenue

Des Moines, IA 50311-4505

Free and open to the public. Please register online at www.creatinggreatplaces.org

Fri 8/28/09  “Khrushchev in Iowa” Conference

1:30 pm – 5:00 pm

Hotel Fort Des Moines

1000 Walnut St, Des Moines, IA 50309

Two simultaneous panels:

Feeding a Hungry World: Agricultural Progress, Productivity and Sustainability, featuring Kendall Lamkey, Chair of the Iowa State University Dept. of Agronomy; Ted Crosbie, Vice-President of Global Breeding for Monsanto; Bill Northey, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture; and Russian agribusiness leaders

Citizen Diplomacy in U.S.-Russia Relations, featuring Sergei Khrushchev, Ted Townsend of the US Center for Citizen Diplomacy, and Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist Michael Gartner.

Open to the public ($25 registration fee). Please purchase ticket at www.creatinggreatplaces.org

Fri 8/28/09  “Khrushchev in Iowa” Banquet

5:15  – 6:15 pm  Reception (cash bar)

6:30  – 8:30 pm  Banquet,

An elegant evening in the Grand Ballroom with the same menu that was served to Khrushchev 50 years ago and a performance by the Des Moines Metro Opera.  Ambassador Ken Quinn of the World Food Prize is the emcee and  speakers include Ambassador Sergey I. Kisylak, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack; Senator Chuck Grassley,& Lt. Governor Patty Judge

Hotel Fort Des Moines

1000 Walnut St, Des Moines, IA 50309

Open to the public. Please purchase tickets ($125 per person) at www.creatinggreatplaces.org

Sat 8/29/09  Garst Farm Dedication at Whiterock Conservancy

This ceremony will celebrate the entry of the Garst Farm into the National Register of Historic Places. Speakers include: Antonia Garst Lee, Sergei Khrushchev, and Wes Jackson, President of the Kansas Land Institute.

9:45 – 11:00 am

Garst Farm at Whiterock Conservancy

1390 Hwy 141, Coon Rapids, IA 50058 (70 miles NW of Des Moines on Highway 141)

Free and open to the public, please register online www.creatinggreatplaces.org

Sat 8/29/09  Agricultural Progress Festival in Coon Rapids

1:30 pm  Farm machinery parade

2:30 pm  Secretary Vilsack and other dignitaries will give speeches on Main Street

3:30 and again at 5:00 pm , inaugural performance of an original play by Cindy Mercati on Garst/Khrushchev friendship

3:15-10:00 pm  Live music on Main Street

4:30-11:30 pm  Beer garden (cash bar) on Main Street

Also includes inauguration of a major public art piece by David Dahlquist, agricultural displays, family fun activities, historic film clips, and a Khrushchev and Garst look-alike contest (right after the speeches).  Please feel free to wear 1950s clothing. 

Free and open to the public, please register on line www.creatinggreatplaces.org

Sun 08/30/08  Iowa Sister States ”Faces of Iowa/Russia Connections" Symposium and BBQ

5:00-8:00 pm

This event is especially for participants in Iowa/Russia exchange programs.  The program includes Iowa Governor Chet Culver; Deputy Governor of Stavropol Georgy Efremov; Brigadier General Timothy Orr; and Valentina Slater-Fominykh, Chair of Humanities Iowa.

Camp Dodge of the Iowa National Guard

7105 Northwest 70th Avenue

Johnston, Iowa 50131-1824

Free and open to the public (goodwill donations encouraged) please register online www.creatinggreatplaces.org

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These events are supported by the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, via an Iowa Community Cultural Grant; Humanities Iowa, a state-based affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities; the Iowa Department of Economic Development, Syngenta, John Deere Des Moines, Farmers Cooperative, Iowa Corn Growers, Iowa Farm Bureau, and many other foundation, corporate and individual sponsors.  For a full listing see www.creatinggreatplaces.org.  Additional donations gratefully accepted towards the costs of all events.  Donate on line at www.creatinggreatplaces.org.