Fast Facts
- Population
- 4,477 (2020 census), up from 4,035 in 2000
- Elevation
- 968 ft
- Best Season
- June–September, when the corn is actually standing
- Nearest Interstate
- None close — US 20 runs just south of town
What to Know Before You Arrive
Dyersville was laid out in 1851 and named for James Dyer, an early landowner who had emigrated from England. It is a small eastern Iowa farming town of under five thousand people, and two of the three things it is known for have nothing to do with baseball.
The first is toys. Dyersville is nicknamed the Farm Toy Capital of the World, on the strength of two farm toy shows held in June and November and the National Farm Toy Museum in town. The nickname is widely used but flagged as poorly sourced in the city's own reference entry, so treat it as a local claim rather than an established title.
The second is the Basilica of St. Francis Xavier, described as one of the few minor Roman Catholic basilicas in the United States outside a large metropolitan area. A town of 4,477 with a basilica and a major-league ballpark is an unusual combination by any measure.
The Road Trip Stop
The Field of Dreams Movie Site at 28995 Lansing Road is the anchor, and the access arrangement is unusually generous: the field is open “from sunrise to sunset YEAR-ROUND, weather permitting.” It is owned and operated by Dyersville Events, Inc., a registered nonprofit.
Check the schedule before you drive out
- Check the rental and event calendar first. The site can be unavailable because of “private rentals or scheduled events,” and its own advice is to check before coming. For a site this far from an interstate, a wasted drive is a long one.
- You can walk the diamond. Visitors are able to walk the field itself, and the original farmhouse can be toured. The operator's visit page says house tours are given daily during the season, and its farmhouse page describes a live, guided 30-minute tour with tickets to be booked in advance; the 10:00 AM and 2:30 PM slots are reserved for motorcoach groups, and walk-up tours are accepted when no motorcoach is booked. We were unable to confirm the farmhouse tour prices or the dates of the tour season; neither is published on those pages. The office number is 563.875.8404.
- The corn is seasonal and not guaranteed. In the operator's own words: “We cannot guarantee the presence of corn at the beginning or at the end of our season.” The operator adds that the corn is planted and harvested on the schedule that suits the crop. We were unable to confirm the months in which the corn is standing; the operator publishes no dates, so the office on 563.875.8404 is the place to ask before a trip.
- Ghost Players appear on selected dates. They turn out on select summer days, at special events and on Ghost Saturdays, when visitors can play catch with them. These are scheduled rather than continuous. The office number is 563.875.8404.
Neighborhoods
Lansing Road
The farm road north-east of town leading to the movie site, which is a working rural road rather than a visitor approach.
Downtown Dyersville
A short nineteenth-century main street serving a town of under five thousand.
The basilica precinct
Where the Basilica of St. Francis Xavier stands, at 104 3rd St. SW; the parish gives the height of each of its spires as 212 feet.
The US 20 corridor
The route of US 20 past Dyersville. The Field of Dreams Movie Site's own directions describe the site as located just off U.S. Highway 20 and tell visitors coming from Dubuque to take the Dyersville exit.
The Food Stop
The DugOut is on the movie site itself, serving hot meals and beverages. The operator lists its hours as Saturdays and Sundays 10 AM to 5 PM in March, daily 10 AM to 5 PM from April to November (to 9 PM on tournament weekends), and available upon request from December to February, all marked subject to change. For other dining in the area, the operator's visit page points to the Dyersville Area Chamber of Commerce.
The Home Teams
No team is based in Dyersville — but the town has hosted three Major League Baseball regular-season games, in 2021, 2022 and 2026. Very few places on this route can say they have staged major-league sport without having a franchise.
Day Trips
| Destination | Time | Distance | How we got it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dubuque | 37 min | 27 mi | routed |
| East to the Mississippi, with the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium and the Fenelon Place Elevator, a funicular railway that its operator also calls a historic cable car and lists as open daily from 8 AM to 10 PM, April 1 through November 30. | |||
| Galena, Illinoisguide | 1 hr 10 min | 48 mi | routed |
| Across the Mississippi in northwest Illinois, Galena, which the Illinois State Museum places in the Upper Mississippi Valley lead-zinc district; the city designated its National Historic District in 1969, covering the original town limits as they stood on 31 December 1859. | |||
| Cedar Rapidsguide | 1 hr 25 min | 64 mi | routed |
| Cedar Rapids, home to the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library and to the Grant Wood Studio, which the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art owns and operates; the museum says Wood lived and worked in the studio from 1924 to 1935 and painted American Gothic there in 1930. | |||
| The Driftless Area | 32 min | 17 mi | routed |
| The Driftless Area, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service describes as a karst region across parts of Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois that escaped the last glacial event about 12,000 years ago, with steep slopes and cliffs and none of the glacial deposits found in most of the surrounding area. | |||
| Backbone State Park | 56 min | 35 mi | routed |
| Backbone State Park, which the Iowa DNR describes as dedicated in 1920 as Iowa's first state park; a steep, narrow ridge of bedrock from the Maquoketa River, the Devil's Backbone, forms the highest point in northeast Iowa. | |||
2 of these are places the Hub has its own guide to — marked guide and linked from the name.
Routed figures are computed over map data at free-flowing speeds, between map points rather than street addresses, so a real drive runs longer.
Distances routed by OSRM and places geocoded by Nominatim, over map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL)
Worth a Weekend
7 more Highway Heads places lie within about 180 miles of Dyersville (Field of Dreams) in a straight line — far enough that most are a night away rather than an afternoon.
Annual Events Nearby
Within 60 miles of Dyersville (Field of Dreams), nearest first.
What is on, and when
Dubuque County Fair — some details below are unconfirmedfairDubuque
- Usually
- Late July–early August, over several days
- Held at
- Dubuque County Fairgrounds
* We could not confirm: the details beyond the month it usually runs. Check their site before you go.
This is a list of what is near you, not a recommendation of any of it. Events are listed by the month they usually fall in, because that is what we hold — we do not publish dates, and a month is not a promise. Check the organiser before you plan around one. One entry is marked with an asterisk: we could not confirm part of what is listed, and the note under it says which part. Opening times, line-ups and ticketing change without notice, so check the venue’s or organiser’s own site — every name above links to it.
Roadside Oddities Nearby
World's Largest StrawberryGiant statue / World's largestStrawberry Pointabout 25 miles away
- Cost to see it
- Free
- When you can see it
- Any time — outdoors, visible from the road
- Nearest road
- IA-3 / IA-13
Fiberglass strawberry atop a pole by City Hall
Read on the page we checked
These are things you can go and look at, not a recommendation of any of them. Oddities move, get sold and quietly disappear more than anything else we list, so check anything you are driving a long way for. One of these is named for a record. That is what the place calls itself — we have not checked the record itself. Some sit on private land and can only be seen from the road — please do not go onto anyone’s property. Every entry links the page we read it off.
Practical Road Trip Info
No interstate serves Dyersville. US 20 runs just south, and the site itself is on a farm road beyond the town.
Come when the corn is up. The operator says plainly it cannot guarantee corn at the start or end of its season, and the corn is a substantial part of what people drive here for.
Check the calendar for private rentals. The field is rentable, and a booking closes it to casual visitors.
Sunrise to sunset is a real opportunity. Most attractions of this profile close at five; this one does not, and early or late light on a cornfield is the reason to use that.
The Local Debate
Family-Friendly
Walking the bases
Children can go out onto the field itself rather than looking at it from a fence, which is the whole point of the site.
Playing catch with the Ghost Players
On selected summer dates and Ghost Saturdays, visitors can play catch with them. The operator lists Meet a Ghost sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 AM to 2 PM in summer, weather permitting, and describes the Ghost Saturday show as an hour long and suited to all ages.
The National Farm Toy Museum
Miniature tractors and machinery in a farming town, which is a more direct sell to children than most small-town museums.
Bringing a glove
We were unable to confirm whether gloves or balls can be hired or borrowed on site; the operator's visit, Ghost Players and event pages do not mention equipment hire, and the office on 563.875.8404 can say.
Plan Your Visit
Field of Dreams Movie Site
- Address
- 28995 Lansing Road, Dyersville, Iowa 52040
- Hours
- Open sunrise to sunset year-round, weather permitting
- Check first
- May be unavailable for private rentals or scheduled events — check the rental schedule
- What you can do
- Walk the diamond; tour the original farmhouse; Ghost Players on selected summer dates and Ghost Saturdays
- Corn
- The operator states it cannot guarantee the presence of corn at the beginning or end of the season
- Fees
- We were unable to confirm admission or parking fees; the site does not publish them
- Phone
- 563.875.8404
We checked opening hours, fees, seasonal opening, operating status, reservations and closures on 2026-10-12. These change without notice — confirm with fieldofdreamsmoviesite.com, nationalfarmtoymuseum.com, xavierbasilica.com and fenelonplaceelevator.com the week you travel.
Sources — 31 claims, 30 checked against the source on 2026-10-12
| Claim | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Field of Dreams Movie Site, 28995 Lansing Road, Dyersville, Iowa 52040, office 563.875.8404; open “from sunrise to sunset YEAR-ROUND, weather permitting”; may be unavailable due to “private rentals or scheduled events”; visitors can walk the diamond and “tour the original farmhouse”; owned and operated by Dyersville Events, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit; The DugOut restaurant on site; Ghost Players on select summer days, special events and Ghost Saturdays | Field of Dreams Movie Site | Checked monitored · 2026-10-12 |
| “We cannot guarantee the presence of corn at the beginning or at the end of our season”; the site does not publish admission or parking fees | Field of Dreams Movie Site | Checked monitored · 2026-10-12 |
| The ballpark hosted Major League Baseball games on 12 August 2021 (Chicago White Sox v New York Yankees), 11 August 2022 (Cubs v Reds) and 13 August 2026 (Phillies v Twins) | Dyersville, Iowa — Wikipedia | Checked |
| “The population was 4,477 at the time of the 2020 census, up from 4,035 in 2000”; elevation 968 feet | Dyersville, Iowa — Wikipedia | Checked |
| “Dyersville was laid out in 1851” and “was named for early landowner James Dyer (1820–1864)”, who had emigrated from England | Dyersville, Iowa — Wikipedia | Checked |
| “It is nicknamed ‘The Farm Toy Capital of the World’”, tied to farm toy shows in June and November and the National Farm Toy Museum. The claim is flagged with an “unreliable source?” tag in the source, and is reported here as a local claim rather than an established title | Dyersville, Iowa — Wikipedia | Checked |
| The Basilica of St. Francis Xavier is “one of the few minor Roman Catholic basilicas in the United States outside a large metropolitan area&rdquo | Dyersville, Iowa — Wikipedia | Checked |
| Meet a Ghost sessions every Tuesday and Thursday during the summer, 10 AM to 2 PM, weather permitting, and not held during site closures; Ghost Saturday shows at 1 PM on 10 July, 24 July and 7 August 2027 and 7 PM on 21 August 2027; the show is described as an hour long and suited to all ages (checked 2026-10-14) | Field of Dreams Movie Site - Ghost Players | Checked monitored · 2026-10-14 |
| The new Field of Dreams Ballpark is described as a permanent home for baseball and major events such as the MLB Field of Dreams Game; ballpark events use mobile tickets; the first season is described as complete and 2027 as the next (checked 2026-10-14) | Field of Dreams Movie Site - ballpark | Checked monitored · 2026-10-14 |
| Hours are 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM Monday to Saturday and 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM Sunday (checked 2026-10-14) | National Farm Toy Museum - visit | Checked monitored · 2026-10-14 |
| The operator describes the site as 25 miles west of Dubuque and gives US 20 as the route from Dubuque (checked 2026-10-14) | Field of Dreams Movie Site - directions | Checked monitored · 2026-10-14 |
| The DNR describes the park as dedicated in 1920 as Iowa's first state park, with a steep, narrow ridge of bedrock forming the highest point in northeast Iowa | Iowa DNR - Backbone State Park | Checked |
| Typical corn growth season in eastern Iowa, to give a reliable window for visiting | No source accepted yet | Not confirmed |
| The DugOut serves hot meals and beverages on site; March Saturdays and Sundays 10 AM to 5 PM, April to November daily 10 AM to 5 PM (to 9 PM on tournament weekends), December to February available upon request, subject to change (checked 2026-10-14) | Field of Dreams Movie Site - The DugOut | Checked monitored · 2026-10-14 |
| Live guided 30-minute farmhouse tour; tickets to be booked in advance; the 10:00 AM and 2:30 PM slots are exclusive to motorcoach groups and walk-up tours are accepted if there is no motorcoach; tour prices are not published on the page (checked 2026-10-14) | Field of Dreams Movie Site - farmhouse tours | Checked monitored · 2026-10-14 |
| House tours are given daily during the season; the site is located just off U.S. Highway 20 and is described as 25 miles west of Dubuque; the page points to the Dyersville Area Chamber of Commerce for local dining; no admission or parking fee is listed (checked 2026-10-14) | Field of Dreams Movie Site - visit information | Checked monitored · 2026-10-14 |
| MLB and Universal Pictures announced a Royals v Red Sox game for 12 August 2027; on game days only visitors with game tickets can visit the site (checked 2026-10-14) | Field of Dreams Movie Site - MLB at Field of Dreams | Checked monitored · 2026-10-14 |
| The first two MLB games at the site were played at a temporary stadium that was later torn down for a new permanent ballpark seating up to 8,000 (published 6 August 2026) | KCRG-TV9 - Field of Dreams to host third MLB game with new permanent ballpark | Checked |
| The original movie site still anchors the property, which now also has a permanent ballpark, a barn-turned restaurant and bar, an event center and a youth sports complex under construction (published 10 August 2026) | KCRG-TV9 - MLB at Field of Dreams: what's changed at the iconic Iowa site | Checked |
| After a four-year hiatus due to site renovation, MLB returned to the Field of Dreams site; the Phillies and Twins met on 13 August 2026 in the third edition (published 7 August 2026) | MLB.com - Five things to know about the 2026 MLB at Field of Dreams game | Checked |
| Admission is listed as $7.00 for adults, $6.00 for seniors (65+), $5.00 for ages 6-17, and free for ages 5 and under (checked 2026-10-14) | National Farm Toy Museum - admission | Checked monitored · 2026-10-14 |
| Side doors open daily 7:00am to 8:00pm; guests welcome to come in and pray; group tours by appointment through the parish office, at least a week ahead, (563) 875-7325; address 104 3rd St. SW (checked 2026-10-14) | Basilica of St. Francis Xavier - guest info | Checked monitored · 2026-10-14 |
| The height of each spire is given as 212 feet; the church was raised to a minor basilica in 1956 | Basilica of St. Francis Xavier - history | Checked |
| The museum is at 350 East 3rd Street, Dubuque, Iowa 52001 | National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium | Checked |
| The Fourth Street Elevator is a funicular railway, open 8 AM to 10 PM daily April 1 through November 30 (checked 2026-10-14) | Fenelon Place Elevator Company | Checked monitored · 2026-10-14 |
| Galena is a historic community in northwest Illinois in the Upper Mississippi Valley lead-zinc district | Illinois State Museum - Galena ore | Checked |
| Galena's period of greatest prosperity as a river port, lead-mining center and commercial hub | Illinois DNR Historic Preservation - Old Market House | Checked |
| In 1969 the city designated the original town limits as they existed on 31 December 1859 as the boundaries of the Galena National Historic District | City of Galena - historic preservation | Checked |
| The museum's own mission statement; its site identifies it as in Cedar Rapids | National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library | Checked |
| Wood lived and worked in the studio from 1924 to 1935 and painted American Gothic there in 1930; the studio is owned and operated by the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art | Cedar Rapids Museum of Art - Grant Wood Studio | Checked |
| The Driftless Area escaped the last glacial event about 12,000 years ago; steep slopes and cliffs, and the glacial deposits of the surrounding area are not present | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Driftless Area National Wildlife Refuge | Checked |
Road Trippin’ with the Harts
The Highway Heads books turn the miles between stops into a game the whole car can play.
See the booksLive Conditions
Wildlife Spotted Nearby
Nearest Airports
Straight-line distance from Dyersville (Field of Dreams), not drive time.
- Dubuque Regional (DBQ) — 22 miles
- The Eastern Iowa (CID) — 51 miles
- Waterloo Regional (ALO) — 65 miles
Explore the Full Road Trip
Return to the Highway Heads map and discover the next family-ready stop.
Explore the Map