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Best of Curious Iowa 2025
This year’s top 10 most-read installments of Curious Iowa
Dec. 29, 2025 5:30 am
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The Gazette’s series Curious Iowa is dedicated to answering readers’ questions. Every Monday since May 2023, we’ve answered questions about our state and how it works and inquiries about Iowans and our culture.
This year, we received more than 150 questions from readers across the state.
While a majority of questions were submitted by Eastern Iowans, we fielded questions from other parts of the state and country, like South Carolina, Texas and Arizona.
We catalog every question received for future reporting, whether we answer it within Curious Iowa or our daily news reporting. If we receive a question that’s already been answered, we email our reporting to the person who asked the question.
This year, we responded to 52 question in The Gazette and gave readers two opportunities to engage with the series live at our annual Iowa Ideas conference. You can watch replays of those sessions at iowaideas.com/replays/2025.
Below, you’ll find summaries of our most-read Curious Iowa stories of 2025. It seems Iowa roads and laws associated with them captured the interest of our readers this year.
You can find a full catalog of past installments of the series at thegazette.com/curious. There, you can also sign up for our weekly Curious Iowa newsletter and submit questions of your own.
What are the boxes mounted on the back of Iowa highway signs?
Eagle-eyed motorists on Iowa’s interstate highways may have noticed what appear to be bird boxes mounted on the back of DOT signs. One Cedar Rapids resident asked, what are they for? And who put them there?
To answer this question, then-Gazette intern Evan Watson looked into the decades-old history of the houses and why the project was seemingly discontinued.
Why can’t Iowans mow roadsides before July 15?
Mary Aschenbrenner, of Tama County, noticed ditches mowed and hayed in the summer while driving on Iowa Highway 21. Aschenbrenner wondered whether a permit and fee is required to harvest hay.
“It certainly makes the roadway neat! And makes good feed for some farmers’ livestock,” Aschenbrenner wrote to Curious Iowa.
Mowing the roadside vegetation on the rights of way or medians on Iowa highways, interstates or secondary roads before July 15 is prohibited, per Iowa Code 314.17.
The Gazette’s social video producer Bailey Cichon spoke with experts from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the Linn County Secondary Roadside Department about why this law is in place.
Why does Iowa require a front license plate?
Iowa is one of 31 states in the U.S. that requires vehicles to have two license plates displayed while driving — one on the front and one on the back of the car — with very few exceptions.
Several people wrote to Curious Iowa wanting to know why Iowa has the requirement and how strictly the rule is enforced. The Gazette’s public safety reporter Emily Andersen responded for the April 7 installment of the series.
What’s the story behind Bever Park Zoo in Cedar Rapids?
In the early 1900s, Bever Park Zoo was a point of pride in Cedar Rapids. Over the years, it became home to beloved black bears, monkeys, alligators, elk and lions. Today, Bever Park is home to Old MacDonald’s Farm, a free petting zoo stocked with animals you’ll commonly find around Iowa.
A curious Iowan from Cedar Rapids wondered how the Bever Park Zoo got started and why the exotic animals were rehoused.
The Gazette’s social video producer Bailey Cichon spoke with local historians and dug through more than a century of newspaper coverage of the Bever Park Zoo to find the answers.
Why does Cedar Rapids have so many Mexican restaurants?
It’s a question that never seems to get worn out in Cedar Rapids.
When a restaurant closes or a new building is constructed in the City of Five Seasons, residents can count on local foodies in social media groups to speculate what kind of restaurant will fill the space. Nearly every time, there’s one punch line guaranteed to get laugh reactions: “another Mexican restaurant.”
The Gazette’s features reporter Elijah Decious reported an answer to the question for the March 10 installment of the series.
Are bobcat and coyote numbers increasing in Iowa?
Iowa’s wildlife population typically fluctuates each year, depending on a variety of factors. But are the populations of furbearer species specifically — which include coyotes, foxes, bears, beavers, raccoons, minks and bobcats — increasing in the state?
That’s what The Gazette’s energy and environment reporter Olivia Cohen set out to answer in the July 7 edition of Curious Iowa.
What are weigh stations located along Iowa interstates used for?
Iowa’s highways are built to withstand a wide variety of vehicles, from compact cars to 18-wheeler semis and large farm equipment. They do have their limits, though, and according to the Iowa State Patrol, that limit is about 80,000 pounds.
“The weight deteriorates the roadway, so if you’re not abiding by the weight laws, it’s pretty much ruining our infrastructure in the state of Iowa,” said Lt. Neil Suckow, of the Iowa State Patrol Commercial Motor Vehicle Unit.
It’s also a safety issue, Suckow said, because hauling too much weight can cause strain on crucial equipment, like brakes, which can lead to dangerous crashes.
A Gazette reader asked Curious Iowa which vehicles are required to stop at the weigh stations along Iowa interstates and how often the stations are open. The Gazette’s public safety reporter Emily Andersen responded in the Sept. 22 installment of the series.
Who decorates the I-380 Christmas trees in Cedar Rapids?
For more than 20 years, a small evergreen tree along Interstate 380 heading north toward Cedar Rapids has been decked in holiday decorations annually. A second tree, located along I-380 headed south, was added through the years.
Elizabeth Barnes of Cedar Rapids asked Curious Iowa who was behind it. Laura “Sis” Gilmore started the tradition in 2001 to spread joy to weary travelers. The Gazette’s social video producer Bailey Cichon spoke with Gilmore’s family as they prepared to decorate the tree for the first time since Gilmore’s passing in August.
Why doesn’t Iowa have toll roads?
Thirty-six U.S. states have toll roads, including Iowa’s neighbors Minnesota, Nebraska, Missouri and Illinois. Why not Iowa?
Troy Reuter, of Colesburg, drives for a living and avoids I-80 “like the plague.” He wrote to Curious Iowa with an idea.
“Why doesn’t Iowa turn a section of I-80 into a toll road? Vehicles from all over America tear it apart daily as this major artery across the U.S. is jokingly referred to as flyover country. Local trucks could get an exemption, but the others can help pay for the costs of repairs.”
To answer Reuter’s question, The Gazette’s social video producer Bailey Cichon spoke with the Iowa Department of Transportation about the considerations that have kept Iowa a toll-free state.
Why is Iowa the ‘Hawkeye State’?
Why is Iowa the Hawkeye State? And how was the same “Hawkeye” name adopted by the university? That’s what The Gazette’s higher education reporter Vanessa Miller set out to discover when she wrote the Dec. 15 installment of the series. Along the way, she learned about the University of Iowa mascots that predate Herky the Hawk.
Have a question for Curious Iowa?
The Gazette will continue Curious Iowa in 2026, publishing stories every Monday. Tell us what to investigate next.
Comments: bailey.cichon@thegazette.com
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