Malvern to celebrate its past and present with huge city-wide bash the last weekend of June

Bright yellow rays of sunshine dart through a window at the Classic Cafe and dance around the ice cubes floating in Bev Dashner’s glass of iced tea. The warmth on this spring day in Malvern, Iowa brings a much-needed reprieve from a historically brutal winter that most folks around here are hoping to leave behind. Bev takes a sip while she pores over the event schedule of an upcoming party she and dozens of other committee members have been planning for more than a year. “This is the party of the century…literally,” she says. That’s because Malvern is preparing to host more than two thousand visitors for its Sesquicentennial Celebration in commemoration of its founding in 1869.
As she explains, the city-wide party kicks off with an array of downtown events and an All-Class Reunion dinner with live music on Friday, June 28th. The festivities continue throughout Saturday with attractions all over town from a diorama at the library depicting “A Walk Through History”, a beard contest, fishing competition, live music concerts, the annual lantern launch, children’s games, a grand parade through town, and a full-scale Independence Day Celebration featuring the largest fireworks show in Mills County. This year’s fireworks will be simulcast with music by KMA radio. Other fun activities include a free bus tour of Malvern’s newest golf-course subdivision and an art exhibit at the Zack Jones Art Church.
“It’s so exciting for us to celebrate Malvern's 150 years, going from a tiny pioneer town to an award-winning community,” she says. Bev, along with her friend and colleague Mary Beth Costello, is the co-author of an upcoming book about Malvern’s history and she feels passionate about sharing and highlighting the town’s pioneer past and its bright future. “There are people coming here from all over the country to join in on the amazing events we have planned,” she says.
Bev tells me that what began as a sleepy hamlet on the plains dotted with a few scattered pioneer families, has had to reinvent itself many times. It first experienced rapid expansion with the arrival of the trains and equally rapid decline with the railroads’ departure and the farm crisis of the 1970s and 80s. But Malvern held on and gracefully weathered the ebbs and flows of social and economic fluctuation. It first became a bustling hub in 1869 when the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad arrived. That was followed soon after by The Wabash Railroad, and finally by the Tabor & Northern Railway which exclusively serviced only an 8.7 mile route between Malvern and Tabor, Iowa in neighboring Fremont County. According to Ripley’s Believe it or Not, The T&N was the world’s shortest standard gage railroad in the world. Today, The Burlington & Missouri is commonly known around the world as BNSF.
Malvern’s population had grown to 800 people by 1879, but the town’s grit was soon to be tested by fire and flood. The southwest part of town was the hub of commerce in those days, but having grown weary of flooding and a devastating fire, merchants began to migrate to the north and east ends. One of Malvern’s early prominent citizens, L.W. Boehner, decided to move his Boehner Mercantile Store up the road, brick by brick. Today the building still stands as
Mulholland’s Grocery on North Main. Many of the other original 19th century downtown brick buildings have been restored and line the quaint Main Street embellished by Victorian lamp posts. Boehner and several other early founders of Malvern will be the focus of storytelling and diorama events at the Sesquicentennial Celebration.
Today, Malvern has become one of Iowa’s most desirable weekend destinations because of its notable public art spaces, renovated downtown district, convenient location on the famous Wabash Trace Nature Trail, and its handful of cool dining and drinking establishments. Malvern was one of five Iowa Great Places award recipients in 2018, and its slogan “artfully growing” is evident in the life-sized sculpted trees that are dotted along Main Street and the giant Zack Jones mural painted on the side of Mulholland Grocery. “We have done a great job of keeping up with the changing times and embracing new trends and directions,” Bev says with enthusiasm. “But our best treasure is our friendly, industrious, and welcoming citizens.”
The Sesquicentennial Celebration takes place June 28th, 29th, and 30th. Visitors are encouraged to wear costumes, enter contests, and bring a blanket or lawn chairs to enjoy the outdoor music concerts. AirBnB and Bed & Breakfast accommodations can be found in Malvern and surrounding areas. A full schedule of events and details is on the official website at www.malvernsesq.com.