Festival Park is a themed entertainment event center in Des Moines, Iowa

Des Moines, Iowa

Des Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857...

 with portions in Pleasant Hill, Iowa

Pleasant Hill, Iowa

Pleasant Hill is a city in Polk County, Iowa, United States. The population was 5,070 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Des Moines–West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area. The waterpark White Water University is located in Pleasant Hill, as is part of Festival Park...

. It is built to resembled an Old English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 Village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 with approximately 50 buildings, including a large castle

Castle

A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...

 facade. It opened on Labor Day Weekend 2006 with the Des Moines Renaissance Faire, and has hosted other events such as an October Iowa Pumpkin Fest and Harvest Fair, a Country Music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 Wild West Music Fest, the Hollowood Film Festival, and in 2007 it was used for a Halloween event. The facility is also used for weddings and corporate events.

It is constructed on 18 acres (72,843.5 m²) of property just east of the Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

 State Fairgrounds at Sleepy Hollow Sports Park. Festival Park, themed to 16th century England, joins another Des Moines theme park, Living History Farms

Living History Farms

Living History Farms is a 500-acre open air museum located in Urbandale, Iowa. The museum's mission is to educate visitors and demonstrate the past 300 hundred years of Iowa's agricultural history...

, which is themed to 19th century America

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Sources

• Sleepy Hollow Sports Park - owner/operator of Festival Park.
• Des Moines Renaissance Faire - first event held at Festival Park the first three weekends of September 2006.
• Festival Park - website for the event center.