Life Members and Spouses

NACAA and Iowa wish a special welcome to life members, spouses, and other guests. This year, the Life Members and Spouses Programs will participate together in a shared hospitality room, workshops, and tours. Participants will be provided information about local attractions including a map to a self-guided art and sculpture tour.

Sunday, August 13

8 am to 5 pm Life Member and Spouses Hospitality Room (Hilton Room 629)
2:00 pm – 2:45 pm Life Member and Spouse Welcome & Orientation

Monday, August 14

6:30 – 7:30 am Morning Group Exercise
6:30 am to 5 pm Life Member and Spouses Hospitality Room (Hilton Room 629)
10:30 – 11:45 am Life Members Business Meeting
12:00 – 1:15 pm Life Member/Spouses Luncheon

On-site workshops:

9:00 am – 11:00 am The Science of Parenting: Understanding Research and Reality
How do parents use research to help inform their unique parenting reality? Learn about how parenting realities are different and discover helpful parenting tools and techniques.

2:00 pm – 3:30 pm Question. Persuade. Refer (QPR)
Say YES to saving the life of a friend, colleague, sibling, or neighbor. Learn three simple steps to help save a life from suicide. When you take the QPR suicide prevention training, you learn the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to respond.

2:00 pm – 3:30 pm Wildlife conservation in Iowa
Did you know that there were once no white-tailed deer in Iowa and today there are nearly half-a-million? Or that bison and elk once roamed the state and structured the plant communities in the prairies here? This presentation will explore the history of wildlife and wildlife conservation in Iowa and highlight the people working to restore and conserve Iowa’s wildlife for future generations.

Activities/Tours:

1:30 pm – 4:30 pm State Capitol and World Food Prize Center
Take a guided tour through Iowa’s State Capitol. You’ll learn about the history and architecture of the interior of this beautiful building as well as Iowa’s history. Then we’ll take a tour of the World Food Prize Center. This center is a special tribute to Nobel Peace Prize winner and World Food Prize founder, Dr. Norman Borlaug. It’s a world-class museum to recognize great achievements in agriculture and fighting hunger, an educational facility featuring interactive displays on hunger and food security, and more.

1:30 pm – 4:30 pm Botanical Gardens
Come explore Midwest’s ornamental and native plants. Spanning 14 acres bordering the Des Moines River, the Botanical Gardens features a domed conservatory that houses over 1,000 varieties of exotic plants from throughout the world. It is also home to an impressive herb garden, tropical and desert plants, and one of the best bonsai collections in the U.S.

Tuesday, August 15

6:30 – 7:30 am Morning Group Exercise
6:30 am to 5 pm Life Member and Spouses Hospitality Room (Hilton Room 629)

On-site workshops:

9:30 am – 11:00 am Preserve the Taste of Summer 101
Love that fresh garden produce but have more than you can eat? Preserve it! It’s not difficult, but you do need to follow safe methods. You’ll learn how to can, freeze, and dry foods safely at home.

9:30 am – 11:00 am Question. Persuade. Refer. (QPR)
Say YES to saving the life of a friend, colleague, sibling, or neighbor. Learn three simple steps to help save a life from suicide. When you take the QPR suicide prevention training, you learn the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to respond.

2:00 pm – 3:30 pm Preserve the Taste of Summer 101
Love that fresh garden produce but have more than you can eat? Preserve it! It’s not difficult, but you do need to follow safe methods. You’ll learn how to can, freeze, and dry foods safely at home.

2:00 pm – 3:30 pm The Science of Parenting: Understanding Research and Reality
How do parents use research to help inform their unique parenting reality? Learn about how parenting realities are different and discover helpful parenting tools and techniques.

Activities/Tours:

8:45 am – 2:00 pm Nothing Compares to the Iowa State Fair
Create your own adventure through the Iowa State Fair using maps that will be provided, highlighting “must-see” attractions like the Butter Cow, livestock to horticulture to food and more. The Iowa State Fair is the single largest event in the state of Iowa and one of the oldest and largest agricultural and industrial expositions in the country. You’ll also have the option to take a guided tour through the 4-H building scheduled at 10 am and 1 pm to learn more about 4-H and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. Your ticket will also be valid for entry back in when all NACAA participants have the option to go to the Iowa State Fair that evening. If kids choose to go to Iowa State Fair with life members/spouses, they must be accompanied by their guardian, no chaperones will be provided for youth. Be sure to register to attend the state fair on your registration form.

8:30 am – 2:00 pm Living History Farms
Participants will travel back in time and learn how the fertile prairies of the Midwest have been turned into the most productive farmland in the world. This interactive 500-acre open-air museum allows visitors to explore and learn about farming practices and small community living over the past 300 years. From the Ioway Indian Farm, circa 1700, to the Horse-Powered Farms of 1900, visitors are able to learn about livestock, tools, machinery, crops, gardens and daily household chores that took place during these time periods. The town of Walnut Hill, circa 1876, re-creates a bustling frontier community complete with craftsmen and merchants in several historically accurate shops, businesses, homes and even an old country schoolhouse. Take an educational adventure and find out and experience how these pioneers lived in some of the most challenging times of our nation’s history.

Wednesday, August 16

6:30 – 7:30 am Morning Group Exercise
6:30 am to 5 pm Life Member and Spouses Hospitality Room (Hilton Room 629)

Activities/Tours:

8:15 am – 4:30 pm Iowa State University Tour
Explore the Iowa State University campus with a walking tour guided by College of Ag and Life Sciences Ambassadors as they give you the inside scoop about the amazing places students learn. We’ll also stop at the ISU Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, and ISU Creamery. Here, participants will learn about Iowa’s dairy industry, tour the creamery to learn how dairy products are made, and sample some amazing cheese and ice cream made right from the creamery. After lunch, we’ll spend the afternoon at Reiman Gardens. Spanning 17 acres, explore the array of beautiful gardens and most recent additions, Conservatory Complex and Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing. The theme for 2023 is Light and Reflection. Explore garden displays and exhibits revealing the power of light and reflection in nature. Examine how plants can help us find solutions to a changing climate while you see yourself in herbs, delight in floral kaleidoscopes, an edible rainbow, and look through rose colored glass.

7:45 am – 4:30 pm Bridges of Madison County
Madison County Chamber of Commerce will greet us and provide a two-hour guided covered bridge tour, where you’ll get a chance to learn more about the famous bridges including Roseman, Hogback or Cedar and Holliwell bridges. Then we’ll make a stop at the Winterset City Park where you can explore the English hedge maze, Cutler-Donahoe covered bridge, and more. We’ll break for lunch at the Madison County Historical Complex, where Madison County Pork Producers will be serving up a delicious meal while you tour the museum and the historical buildings on the grounds. The afternoon will be yours to explore on your own on the Winterset courthouse square where you can shop the award-winning retail district, tour John Wayne Birthplace & Museum and/or Iowa Quilt Museum.

*Comfortable walking shoes are recommended. A personal water bottle is recommended but not required. First-aid, snacks, and water will also be available daily.