Discover history, local food and tour the new commercial kitchen at the Historic Poor Farm Open House from 3 to 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026, at the Johnson County Historic Poor Farm (HPF), 4811 Melrose Avenue, Iowa City. The event is free and open to all ages.
The event will feature the soft launch of the HPF Kitchen, a shared-use commercial kitchen space for food and farm business entrepreneurs to expand their markets and capacity. A ribbon-cutting ceremony and tours of the new facility will begin at 3:45 p.m.
Along with the ribbon-cutting, the open house will feature historic and natural areas tours, a vegetable farm pest control workshop from Iowa State University Commercial Vegetable Field Specialist Dan Fillius, the Global Food Project Market, local food trucks, kids’ activities, tabling from partner organizations and equipment exploration. A complete schedule of activities is available at https://www.jchistoricpoorfarm.com/openhouse2026.
The Johnson County Historic Poor Farm is one of the few remaining relatively intact examples of the county farm model established in the 19th century. Today, the site preserves the property's history while serving as a place for public education, natural area restoration, recreation and beginning farmer training. More information about the Historic Poor Farm is available at www.jchistoricpoorfarm.com.
Johnson County strives to host inclusive, accessible meetings and events that enable all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. If you are a person who requires reasonable accommodation to participate in this event, contact Julie Watkins at 319-688-8012 or [email protected] by 5 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 3. Early requests are strongly encouraged.