Where else but in Indianola would you find Simpson College, the Des Moines Metro Opera, the National Balloon Museum and National Balloon Classic. This also the place where the Tourism committee gives away the Official Clarence Pickard Pith helmet for the Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa overnight stay in Indianola. Who you might ask is Clarence Pickard. Well he is the over 80 year old who rode the first of these rides on a women’s bicycle. The Des Moines Metro Opera presents a group of operas each year at the Blank Performing Arts center on the Simpson College campus, during its festival season from June through July. The National Balloon museum here is also the United States Ballooning Hall of Fame. The exhibits in the museum represent over two hundred years of ballooning history.