Zearing, IA

Zearing is a city in northeastern Story County, about eight miles northeast of Nevada and close to the U.S. 65 and U.S. 30 corridors. The 2020 census counted 528 residents. It was founded on October 17, 1881, and incorporated in 1883 after the railroad made the site useful as a water stop. That beginning still fits the town: Zearing sits among farm roads and smaller Story County communities, with Colo-NESCO schools and Nevada's county-seat services nearby.

Zearing Days gives the calendar a big summer marker. The festival returned in 2000 after a long pause and now fills the last weekend of July with food, a parade, and the memory of Dick Sparrow's famous 40-horse hitch. Dakins Lake adds camping, hiking, and fishing on the edge of town, while Main Street gathers the library, post office, city hall, health clinic, and local shops. Zearing is a railroad town that grew into a school-and-farm center, with a yearly celebration that keeps its old stories in circulation.