Elma is a small Howard County town with big opportunities. It has a lot to offer, convenience stores, parks with playground equipment and a nice baseball diamond with a covered grandstand. It also provides beautiful scenery and is located about 15 miles from Riceville, IA and 7 miles from Highway 63. It has small town friendliness with the convenience of filling all of your daily needs, plus access to bigger towns, when needed.
Visitors to the Elma area can experience a rare form of art: Field Stone Stacking. The concept was started near Iowa by a farmer looking to do something with the rocks in his field. The structures can now be seen on many farms around the Elma area.
Elma has an Old Roundhouse Trailhead Visitor Center located at the north depot area, near the covered bridge in the center of town on Busti Avenue.
There you will find a public restroom, drinking fountain, as well as a place to rest your feet & read up about the Elma area. The Visitor Center is open seven days a week, 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. in season (roughly May-September).
The Old Roundhouse Trail is a hard surfaced, .44 mile trail from the Elma Trailhead Visitor’s center (across from the water tower) to the Elma City limits. The Old Roundhouse Trail now connects to the Wapsi-Great Western Trail for a nearly 26-mile trek northwest of Elma; past Lylah’s Marsh, the ghost town of Acme, and through the communities of Riceville, IA & McIntire, IA.
Visit Elma in July and experience Elma Trail Days, the town’s annual festival, occurring the weekend of the 2nd Saturday of July each year. Some annual features of the festival include a kid’s pedal tractor pull & ball games, a ribeye steak sandwich meal in the park with additional entertainment such as live music, inflatable bounce house & other kid’s activities. There are food trucks & a beverage garden, and a fireworks display Saturday evening.
The community of Elma is a community of re-birth and endless growth. Through many catastrophes in its early days, the citizens of Elma, with their spirit of hometown pride, persevered and rebuilt the community at every turn. This hometown spirit and constant strive to make Elma the “best little bedroom community around” is still alive today. It is evident among the families who reside here, as well as in the businesses, organizations, and Mennonite cultures that dot our landscape.
Visit this summer or anytime, and experience “a great place to visit and an even better place to live”.
