SOLON — When looking to celebrate some of life’s biggest moments, Solon residents often choose one place.
That spot is the Timber Dome Lodge in the Solon Recreation and Nature Area (SRNA).
Lauren Legrand, a Cedar Rapids native, chose to hold her wedding in the Timber Dome Lodge in 2022. Legrand said her wedding venue of choice needed to meet certain criteria. First, she wanted the venue to have a lodge-like look to it. Second, the venue needed to appeal to the small wedding. Three, she also wanted the venue to be a little out of town.
“So when I actually went out to see it, that was then the moment I was like, yeah, this is where we need to have it,” Legrand said. “The environment…the ambiance of it all,” Legrand said.
“That natural lighting, that beautiful wood, it’s got the high vaulted dome ceiling.”
The Timber Dome Lodge opened in 2014 and was built by Dick Schwab, who has also built other round barn structures in Iowa. The lodge has a maximum occupancy of 120 people, according to the City of Solon website.
This special structure has many community ties to it as well. Former City of Solon Public Works Director and Assistant City Administrator Scott Kleppe said the lodge was partially built the old-fashioned way by community volunteers. Beams were made on site, concrete was hand-poured, the mortar for the limestone was all hand-mixed. Kleppe also stressed the importance this had for the community.
“It just brought together community pride,” Kleppe said. “It just brought in the talents of the community and really brought something to showcase someone.”
The Timber Dome Lodge was rented out 39 times in 2024, according to City of Solon’s City Clerk Susie Siddell. This includes events such as weddings, fundraisers, graduation parties, and more.
Solon also has another spot for weddings, called the Celebration Barn, also built by Schwab. The Celebration Barn is bigger in size compared to the Timber Dome Lodge, but it has the same dome structure as the lodge. The Celebration Barn’s basic rental fee for weddings is $5,500 and is for up to 250 guests, according to the Johnson County website.
The Timber Dome Lodge has a unique structure that stands out to those who catch sight of it. The name speaks for itself. The Timber Dome Lodge has a dome-like shape with a barn-like style to it. When looking from a distance, the lodge sort of resembles a city storage dome used for storing road maintenance salt. Instead, it stores joyous people coming together to celebrate life.
Legrand also feels like the lodge can fit the needs of anything that it’s rented for.
“It can be like an elegant space, it can be kind of a laid-back space,” Legrand said. “We did kind of a more boho style, and so it really just kinda fits to whatever, you know, kind of style or theme that people are looking for, for any event.”
Another event that happened recently at the Timber Dome Lodge was the 2025 Spartan Dash. The Spartan Dash is an annual fundraising event for the Parent-Teacher Organizations (PTO) at Lakeview Elementary School and the Solon Intermediate School. In this event, families and friends come together to compete in an outdoor obstacle course, utilizing the Solon Recreation and Nature Area.
At the Spartan Dash, participants weren’t afraid to get messy for the fun of it. Whether it was getting sprayed with water or confronted with powdered dye, participants welcomed the mess to raise money.
The Spartan Dash is one of the recent examples of the joy and excitement that happens at the Timber Dome Lodge. For years, Solon residents have come together to celebrate some of life’s most important events at the Timber Dome Lodge. This distinctive building has continued to bring people together and build a strong community. Although the outside look of the building is what attracts people to the building, it’s what’s inside that makes all this possible.
The people. That is what Solon is all about. When looking to insure the Timber Dome Lodge, Scott Kleppe said it was hard to put a
value on it.
“We’ll never be able to replace it if something would happen,” Kleppe said.