"A raucous, bright, and sometimes lurid strip." That's how the Historic Valley Junction Foundation describes Fifth Street's past, on the page for one of the five murals it finished this fall. Most of the district's history has been told through its brick storefronts. Now the narrow pedestrian walkways between those buildings carry a painted version of it: railroad workers, a locomotive, the Rock Island line, a century of Fifth Street nights, and the prairie that came before any of it.
The foundation calls the project "Vivid Junction – Off the Rails." It's the first phase of a broader placemaking effort and, by the foundation's own account, the largest public-art investment in Valley Junction history. The partners named for phase one are the foundation, the City of West Des Moines, Bravo Greater Des Moines and Microsoft. On Aug. 3, 2026, the West Des Moines City Council unanimously approved a site-plan modification and licenses for the five murals.
So the walkways used to be shortcuts from parking to the shops, and now they're part of the reason to come. Walk them in address order and the five pieces add up to one account of how the district came to exist.
The route, block by block
All five works sit on Fifth Street, in two clusters, one in the 100 block and one in the 200 block.
| Address | Work | Artist | What it draws on |
|---|---|---|---|
| 127 Fifth St. | Night Life | Nick Goettling, Chicago | Fifth Street nightlife, from Ioway Native people to present-day festivals |
| 131 Fifth St. | Siding | Thomas Agran and Drew Etienne, Iowa City | A locomotive |
| 208 Fifth St. | Catch the Wind | Mike Giron and A Midsummer's Mural, Omaha | Valley Junction along the Rock Island Railroad |
| 214 Fifth St. | Iowa Prairie Keepers | Jimmy Navarro, Des Moines | Native prairie, a revived Valley Junction sign, the farmers market |
| 233 or 235 Fifth St. | The Line's Legacy | Biafra, Twin Cities | Railroad workers |
One address question is still open. The Gallery Night listing puts The Line's Legacy at 235 Fifth, while the mural's own page gives 233 Fifth St. The two numbers are next to each other, so look for it at the north end of the 200 block.
Start at 127 Fifth, where the timeline begins
Begin with Night Life, since it tells the whole history in a single wall. Goettling's design moves left to right through the district's nightlife and history. It starts with Ioway Native people and ends with present-day festivals, the Fourth of July and circus scenes. The foundation says the imagery comes from historical documents, building records, local storytelling and anthropological research. It also takes on the old district tagline "Pioneers, Prostitutes, and Progress," which the page says is "lightly depicted in a modern, celebratory, and memorable way."
Goettling has painted murals for the Chicago Public Library, the Washington State Arts Commission, Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry and the Des Moines Area Rapid Transit agency. His mural page says he plans each piece around how people move through the space it's in. In a narrow walkway, that means the timeline reveals itself as you walk past it.
Next door at 131, the reason the district has its name
Siding, by Thomas Agran and Drew Etienne, is a few doors up. The foundation's image description says it shows a locomotive, and the page gives no further written history. The title explains it. A siding is a short track off the main line, and the district is named for a junction.
Seen right after Night Life, Siding focuses on a single object from the larger story next door. The first wall covers centuries. This one zooms in on the train.
Cross into the 200 block for the railroad story
At 208 Fifth St., Catch the Wind by Mike Giron and team shows Valley Junction's history along the Rock Island Railroad. It's the most direct of the five about the line that put the district on the map.
The Line's Legacy, by the Twin Cities artist Biafra, ends the walk at the north end of the block. Its image shows railroad workers. Siding showed the machine and Catch the Wind showed the route. Here you see the people who worked it.
214 Fifth widens the frame to the land itself
Iowa Prairie Keepers sits between those two railroad pieces and pulls the story back further than the tracks. James Navarro, listed as Jimmy Navarro on the Gallery Night page, built the design around native plants. He focused on compass plants and restored prairie and oak savanna, drawing on his work at Whiterock Conservancy. Mixed into the flowers are a revived Valley Junction sign, subtle train references, and the color of the weekly farmers market with its overflowing planters and fresh flowers. The page says the long floral panorama is meant to visually pull people down the alley.
Navarro is the only Des Moines artist of the five. The foundation notes he completed 10 murals in 2025, and his clients include the Iowa State Fair. His wall ties the alley back to something on Fifth Street every week in season, the market.
Oct. 9 is the night the walls get their introduction
Fall Gallery Night runs Friday, Oct. 9, from 5 to 8 p.m. It's free and covers the 100 through 500 blocks of Fifth Street. This year it doubles as the debut of the murals. Performers will be at each mural location, the artists will be there to talk about their process, and a free trolley will run between the galleries and the walls.
The murals fill the 100 and 200 blocks, but several gallery stops are farther south. That's where the trolley helps. The participating galleries and their Gallery Night offerings:
- Olson-Larsen Galleries, 542 Fifth: opening reception for Human Experience, a group show of six Midwestern artists
- Mix Creative Community, 415 Fifth: The Art of Trying, a community exhibition about risk and experimentation
- Kunzler Studios, 324 Fifth: paintings by local artist Mindy Meinders alongside work from the studio's more than 45 ceramists
- Kavanaugh Art Gallery, 228 Fifth: nearly 40 years in Valley Junction, with originals, reproductions and sculpture
- 2AU Limited, 200 Fifth: new jewelry by studio artists Ann Au, Sena Shebaro and Emily Manker
- Five Monkeys, 131 Fifth: The Rainbow Connection, a group show of 12 artists, in the same building as Siding
- A Okay Antiques and Atomic Blond Mid Century Modern Gallery Loft, 124 Fifth: two floors of Americana and Mid-Century Modern pieces, plus a sculpture garden
The Spice & Tea Exchange at 218 Fifth and Happy DSM at 234 Fifth are hosting pop-ups. Event sponsors include G-Migs, Microsoft, the City of West Des Moines, Red House Remodeling and Bravo Greater Des Moines.
If you're walking it start to finish, the stops line up well. A Okay Antiques at 124 and Five Monkeys at 131 are within a few doors of Night Life and Siding. Kavanaugh at 228 and the 234 pop-up sit near the north end of the 200-block walls.
What comes after the walls go up
The foundation calls Off the Rails the first phase, but it hasn't published what the next phases are or when they'll happen. Its Vivid Junction page only says more projects are coming.
Once the murals are up, the walkways stay in use through the rest of the fall calendar:
- Pumpkin Walk, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2 to 5 p.m.: hayrides, kids' activities, trick-or-treating and free pumpkins while supplies last
- Jingle in the Junction, Thursday, Nov. 19, 5 to 8 p.m.: extended business hours and free entertainment along Fifth Street
- Small Business Weekend, Nov. 27 to 30: across the Main Street district
Some of the foundation's event pages still carry text from past years, so check details with the Historic Valley Junction Foundation before you go.
For a drink at the end of the route, T12 Distillery moved into the former Foundry Distilling space at 111 S. 11th St. in late May.
If walking Fifth Street on the 9th gets you thinking about which streets around Valley Junction you'd like to live on, or what your own home near the district might be worth, the Ingrid Williams Real Estate Team works in West Des Moines every day and is glad to talk it through. Start Your Next Move.
