Museum Events

The museum hosts a number of events in the community throughout the year. Follow us on our Facebook page to get announcements about future museum events! Events are also often promoted in the Adel Living and Adel Weekly publications. Scroll below to see pictures of recent events.

Tea and Style Show - 2025

  • Decorated tables in spring colors

    The Adel Museum hosted a tea and style show at the Raccoon Valley Community Center.

  • Sign advertising the show

    Cindy Baldon created a very artistic sign for the event.

  • Model wearing long teal dress next to flowers.

    The show featured styles from Azalea Lane, Real Deals, and Valtera Boutique.

  • Table decorated with pink flowers and pink cushions on the seats

    Each table had its own matching decorations.

  • Table with yellow table cloth and green settings with a bunny centerpiece

    This table had a bunny theme.

  • Bunny themed table with guests, food, and drink

    Attendees were served tea, sandwiches, and deserts.

  • Museum volunteers ready to serve the attendees.

  • Man pouring tea in Adel Historical Museum uniform

    Aubrey Dunbar serves tea to guests.

  • Four ladies sitting around a table enjoying food and tea

    Attendees added to the decor with their hats!

  • 9 ladies sitting around a rectangular table decorated in red, pink and white

    The event was so popular that the museum is looking for a bigger venue for the future.

  • Female model wearing a rust colored vest over a striped sweater

    Melissa, owner of Real Deals, models an outfit for the style show.

  • Female model wearing a white t-shirt, silver necklaces with a jean jacket thrown over her shoulder.

    Another model from the style show.

  • Six female guests around a blue and white decorated table

    Attendees enjoy the show at the blue themed table.

  • 4 decorated tables before the show in Spring colors

World War I Honor Roll - 2023

  • Front of Traveling Exhibit

    The Adel Historical Museum hosted this traveling exhibit from Iowa’s State Historical Society. It features more than 4,000 names and corresponding photos from Iowan’s who lost loved ones during the war.

  • Side of Exhibit

  • Visitors to Exhibit

Garden Party

The Adel Historical Museum often hosts garden parties as a summer fundraiser, which offers attendees a chance to tour the museum, listen to live music, enjoy the garden, and support local history efforts. Aubrey Dunbar designs and maintains the gardens for both the museum and his residence next door. In the picture below, Adel Garden party organizers posed for a photo at Aubrey Dunbar’s gardens before the 2023 event.

Holiday Tours - Ongoing

The Adel Museum often participates in the annual holiday tour of historic homes. The homes on the tour are usually within a few blocks of the museum, and proceeds help with ongoing repairs and museum enhancements. In the picture below, Aubrey Dunbar shows some of the decorations he created with his wife Nadine Law for the 2024 tour. Picture taken by Marsha Fisher and courtesy of Adel Living magazine.

River to River Retro Tour - 2023

The River to River Retro Road Trip included a stop of Adel’s Historical Museum in 2023. The annual trip begins in Davenport and ends in Council bluffs following Historic US Route 6 across Iowa over four days. Attendees stopped in Adel to tour the two-story museum and the Clarke-Kinnick addition. The museum surprised the trip organizers Casey McCallister and Vince Wallerich with a booklet of a previous River to River Retro Road Trip from 1910.

The photo to the left is courtesy of Adel Living magazine and shows the museum event hostesses and the River to River Retro Road Trip organizers. Pictured left to right are Cathy Jorgensen, Bev Carrico, Nadine Law, Vince Wallerich, Becky Dymond, and Casey McCallister.  Conducting tours but not pictured were Mary Ockerman and Karen Smith. Picture courtesy of Adel Living magazine. The second photo shows pictures from the museum tour during the event and is courtesy of Shirley McAdon.