On Thursday, October 8, 2026, the self-serve Farm Stand at Middlebrook Farm, 4300 Cumming Avenue, updated its availability list with pumpkins, gourds, squash, potatoes and peppers, sold while supplies last. According to Middlebrook, the stand is open during daylight hours seven days a week on a self-service basis. This fall the stand is one of the most reliable places to stop near the trail. A row of new storefronts has gone up a few hundred feet away, and some of those shops are open while others are still showing "coming soon."
Cumming's trailside life is moving from one anchor to two. The old stops along Cumming Avenue still hold their place. The new mixed-use buildings at S. 44th Street are filling in more slowly than the early announcements suggested. From now through Thanksgiving, most of the reasons to visit come from the farm's event calendar, with the storefronts adding to it.
Two clusters, one trail
The Great Western Trail runs about 19 miles from Des Moines to Martensdale, with Cumming as an access point along the way, according to Polk County Conservation. For years, a Cumming stop meant a short list of places. DSM Bike Notes names the Cumming Tap, Iowa Distilling Company, and Middlebrook Mercantile at 4125 Cumming Ave. as the regular stops for riders.
Those places are still part of the fall schedule:
- Cumming Tap, 117 44th St., sits right next to the trail. BIKEIOWA wrote about its history with cyclists back in 2010. It still books live music. The Greater Des Moines Partnership listed The Soul Searchers there on May 27, 2026.
- Iowa Distilling Company, 4349 Cumming Ave., has Mule playing at 6 p.m. on Friday, October 9, with a food truck. The distillery's website asks visitors to confirm their age before showing hours, so calling 515-981-4216 is the simplest way to check.
- Middlebrook Mercantile, 4125 Cumming Ave., hosts several of the farm's indoor events this fall, which are listed below.
The second cluster is new. Middlebrook is an 800-acre agrihood from Diligent Development. Tim Portzen, a manager at Diligent, told Axios Des Moines in June 2026 that the plan includes a town center, local restaurants and farms, modeled on Iowa's walkable small towns. Two mixed-use buildings already stand near the trail, with shops on the ground floor and apartments upstairs. Axios reported the apartments were largely leased.
What's open on S. 44th Street right now
Three ground-floor businesses are listed at 1107 S. 44th St.:
| Business | Address | What we could confirm |
|---|---|---|
| Cups & Cones Ice Cream Shoppe | 1107 S. 44th St., Suite 113 | Opened in spring 2026 |
| Reese Marie Salon | 1107 S. 44th St., Suite 109 | An Aveda salon. Open Mon. noon to 8 p.m.; Tue. and Wed. 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Thu. and Fri. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sat. 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; closed Sun. |
| The Farmstand by Manastash Mercantile | 1107 S. 44th St. | A lifestyle boutique named as a tenant in 2025. Axios counted a lifestyle boutique among the building's occupants in June 2026. We could not confirm its current hours. |
The ice cream shop was the first opening of 2026 that people outside Cumming paid attention to. Axios covered it in a May 12 "first bite", and the Indianola Record-Herald also wrote about it. Business Record first reported the salon and boutique as tenants in July 2025, when the first phase of the town center opened. For now, that's the whole list of storefronts on the street, and the boutique's hours are worth a call before a trip. A Saturday visit to S. 44th Street works well for ice cream and a haircut. It won't fill a whole afternoon yet.
The October calendar is on the farm
The farm has the most going on this fall. Here is what Middlebrook's events calendar lists from now through Thanksgiving:
| Date | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Fri., Oct. 9 | Grant Gillon Chef Residency: October Dinner | Middlebrook Farmhouse, 4300 Cumming Ave. |
| Sat., Oct. 10 | Gardening Informational Series: Seed Saving | Middlebrook Farm |
| Sat., Oct. 10 | Empeiria Social Sauna + Cold Plunge Pop-Up | Middlebrook Farm |
| Sun., Oct. 11 | Middlebrook Porchfest | Great Western Crossing & Middlebrook Farm |
| Wed., Oct. 14 | What Is Middlebrook? | Middlebrook Mercantile, 4125 Cumming Ave. |
| Fri., Oct. 16 | Winefest Pork + Pinot | Middlebrook Farm |
| Sun., Oct. 18 | Intro to Indigo Dyeing Workshop | Middlebrook Farm |
| Sat., Oct. 24, and Sun., Oct. 25 | Mary Jane Cooks at Middlebrook Farm Fall Class | Middlebrook Farmhouse |
| Sun., Oct. 25 | Empeiria Social Sauna + Cold Plunge Pop-Up | Middlebrook Farm |
| Sat., Oct. 31 | Empeiria Social Sauna + Cold Plunge Pop-Up | Middlebrook Mercantile |
| Sat., Nov. 7 | Grant Gillon Chef Residency: November Dinner | Middlebrook Farmhouse |
| Sat., Nov. 21 | Cumming Holiday Sip & Shop | Middlebrook Mercantile |
Most of these events need tickets bought ahead of time. The calendar links to booking pages for the chef dinners, the seed-saving class, Pork + Pinot, the indigo workshop, the cooking classes, and the sauna sessions. The summer's casual drop-in series is over. Middlebrook says Fridays at the Farm runs from mid-May through the end of September, 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. From October on, the main free events are Porchfest and the Holiday Sip & Shop. The rest of the calendar is ticketed.
Porchfest, this Sunday
The first Middlebrook Porchfest runs Sunday, October 11, across Great Western Crossing and Middlebrook Farm. Middlebrook lists the hours as 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. A Partnership listing published October 6 gives the end time as 5 p.m. The idea is to bring a lawn chair and move from porch to porch. The day ends at the Farmhouse porch with food trucks, wine and beer.
The posted lineup:
- Randy Burk & The Prisoners, 11 a.m.
- Heath Alan, noon
- Bonne Finken, 1 p.m.
- Other Brothers, 2 p.m.
- The Soul Searchers, 3 p.m.
- Brother Trucker, 4 p.m.
The Soul Searchers played the Cumming Tap in May. A band that plays at both the Tap and Porchfest is a small sign that the old Cumming Avenue stops and the new trailside buildings are drawing on the same local music scene. None of the listings we found named the food trucks or gave parking directions. The farm's event page is the place to check for updates before Sunday.
On the way, but not open yet
Several businesses have been announced for the new buildings but have not opened. Here's where each one stands as of October 8:
- FreeBird & Co. The coffee roastery's owners plan to live upstairs and work downstairs in Middlebrook's third building, which is set up as live-work units. FreeBird's website says the commercial roastery is "anticipated to open in October." It doesn't list a Cumming address or hours yet.
- Bloom Play Co. This indoor play café for kids is moving to Middlebrook and renting out the apartment above its space. In August, Des Moines Mom described it as "opening in Cumming this fall." Bloom's site posts hours of 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekends. Its booking calendar runs into November. We could not confirm an opening date.
- A butcher shop. In June, Axios reported only that talks were underway for a butcher in the ground floor of a nearby office building.
- Roosters Coffee, 4301 Cumming Ave. In March 2025, DSM Bike Notes said Roosters was aiming for late summer or early fall 2025. Roosters' website still says "Cumming Soon" and asks visitors to follow its social media for updates.
Two coffee shops are in the works, one on Cumming Avenue and one on S. 44th Street, and neither is confirmed open. For now, coffee near the trail still means bringing your own or picking some up on the drive in.
Getting there by bike
Riding to Porchfest or the farm stand on the trail is easy in principle. The most recent detailed report on the trail's condition is from February 2025, though. At that time, DSM Bike Notes reported that riders found the Warren County section rough, especially between Cumming and Martensdale. A 2021 assessment had rated 19% of that pavement as failed. The county repaired those failed sections, but 9% was still rated poor, and funding limited further repairs. The same report said Polk County patched and replaced its section in 2024 and considered it in satisfactory shape. We couldn't find a 2026 update, so the pavement may be different now.
The trail page from the Warren County Conservation Board lists food and restrooms near Cumming, plus picnic shelters and water at Coolidge Street south of town. That makes Cumming the natural place to stop between Des Moines and Martensdale. This fall, the stop can cover a few places at once: a pumpkin from the stand at 4300 Cumming Avenue, a cone at Suite 113, and a set on a porch at Great Western Crossing.
If you live near the trail and you're wondering how this new town center might change your part of Cumming, the team at Ashlee Knickerbocker keeps track of what's opening in Middlebrook and along Cumming Avenue. We're glad to talk it through over coffee once Cumming has a coffee shop. Contact Us.
