Mount Pleasant’s vibrant multicultural celebration TapestryFest honors the rich cultures and traditions woven together into Southeast Iowa communities, offering opportunities to learn about different cultures and perspectives. TapestryFest takes place Saturday, July 11, 1–4 p.m., at Mount Pleasant’s Central Park. Now in its fourth year, the annual summer event showcases diverse cultures with live music, entertainment, and food from all over the world. Renowned Midwestern duo Calle Sur headlines TapestryFest for the second year, with a joyful fusion of Latin American acoustic flavors and jazz piano that promises to get everyone dancing. Three local talents will provide supporting acts.
“It’s become a really, really cool festival,” says organizer Bob Mueller. “We’ve got great musical acts to attract people, we get good crowds, and it’s kid friendly— it’s great for all ages.” He adds that TapestryFest helps “to show that we are a community.”
Primarily organized by PFLAG—the nation’s largest organization dedicated to supporting, educating, and advocating for LGBTQ+ people and those who love them—TapestryFest is also sponsored by Iowa WINS, the First Presbyterian Church, Veterans for Peace, and Community 1st Credit Union. “No one group could do this kind of festival,” Mueller explains, “but if you get a coalition of groups, it really does come together.”
According to the promotional literature, TapestryFest “brings together people from all walks of life to celebrate the vibrant tapestry of Southeast Iowa.” Mueller, who serves as secretary in Mount Pleasant’s local PFLAG chapter, says there will be twelve cultural tables, eight of them offering food, celebrating the area’s amazing cultural diversity. Cultures and countries represented include Native American, African American, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Mexico, Nepal, Philippines, South Africa, Sweden, Ukraine, and Venezuela. “It’s a combination of education and entertainment,” Mueller explains.
Tables also include educational displays on domestic violence support groups, the local animal shelter All God’s Creatures, and Three Point Academy, which teaches kids martial arts and offers popular demonstrations. Several area museums also have display tables, including Mount Pleasant’s Theatre Museum of Repertoire Americana and the Lewelling Quaker Museum out of Salem.
Mueller, who was convinced by his late husband’s family to retire in Mount Pleasant, moved there from Illinois in 2017. Mueller became involved with the First Presbyterian Church and Iowa Wins after the ICE raid in 2018 because he wanted to help immigrant families. He says they organized food pantries, legal assistance, and English language classes, adding, “That’s when we discovered how many different cultures were here in Mount Pleasant.” Mueller helped establish the PFLAG Mount Pleasant chapter shortly after this.
“PFLAG National is impressed with how much we do in this small town,” Mueller says, adding that over the last few months, they brought famous transgender author Ben Greene to tour the area, which “turned out great.” He says they’re finding opportunities to gradually help people feel comfortable and safe with each other. “It is okay to be gay; that’s just one of your attributes. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
TapestryFest came about in 2023, when organizers were looking for ways to increase visibility in the community and bridge anti-immigrant and anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment, and came up with the idea of showing people “these are your neighbors.” TapestryFest interweaves “all these cultures and individuals into a real community,” Mueller says. “That became our focus.”
He explains that TapestryFest is a pride event, “but it’s pride for everything—it’s pride for gender, it’s pride for your culture, it’s pride in the service you give.” He thinks it’s been a very successful strategy. “We don’t push anything down people’s throats, we just say, ‘We welcome you, you welcome us.’”
Community feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. “We went from a negative situation into a positive community celebration,” he says. TapestryFest operates on the principle that showing who’s present in the community combats prejudice. “It’s the old adage—if you know somebody who is such and such, then you don’t have a prejudice against them, you just have to get to know these people,” Mueller explains. “That’s our basic philosophy.”
He adds, “Especially in Iowa, especially these days, it’s important to be out there and just get people to talk.” Mueller says the interweaving of the culture is bigger than any prejudice, and feels that TapestryFest helps people cross the divides within communities and recognize our shared humanity.
For more information, visit the PFLAG Mount Pleasant website PflagMP.org or IowaWINs.