Megan Bannister
Megan Bannister is a Des Moines–based travel writer and content creator who launched the blog Olio in Iowa in 2012 after moving from Chicago. Her site celebrates road‑tripping, small‑town discoveries, roadside attractions and a long-running “world’s largest” series; she’s driven coast to coast to document quirky, offbeat places across the Midwest and beyond.
In addition to running Olio in Iowa, Bannister works as a freelance travel writer with pieces and collaborations for outlets such as Roadtrippers, Time Out and Far & Wide, and she regularly appears on regional radio and at industry conferences. She’s also a published author — Iowa Supper Clubs (Arcadia Publishing, August 2020) and Secret Iowa: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure (Reedy Press, September 2023) — and operates Olio Oddities, a curated thrift/home shop referenced in national coverage.