Katie and I did not quite know what to expect. We had each been to a fair or two. But there was something ominous about going to the Iowa State Fair, considered by some the fair of all state fairs. We had also heard that it can get crazy busy, especially on the weekends. So we decided to tackle seeing the fair across two weekdays to help manage the craziness.
The first day that we went was a Tuesday. We set off early in the morning from the Quad Cities and arrived just before lunch. Several people gave us the same tip of the general area of where to park, which was to enter from the west side of the fair and park in the neighborhoods. After being quoted ridiculously high prices for the first couple of blocks, we eventually found the $5 parking we were told about. My one worry was that they'd stack up the cars such that we wouldn't be able to leave when we wanted to, but luckily that didn't happen.
We entered near the Grandstand and ended up just doing a big clockwise loop around the fair grounds as the day went on. When we first entered we saw that there was some kind of cook off going on the Grand concourse. I managed to grab a couple free samples. It was an excellent way to start the day, but we weren't that hungry at the time so we moved on quickly. Too bad too, cuz of course by the time we were hungry the cook off was over. Alas...
The first big stop was in the Agricultural Building. There you could look at farm themed art, various kinds of vendors (some of which gave you samples of their products like eggs, honey, and jam), vegetable judging entries, and the highlight of the building was getting to see the famous Butter Cow. We stood in line for about 10 minutes as we meandered our way to the glass case containing the sculpture. Much to my surprise though there were some other things carved out of butter that the nerdy side of me was particularly excited about.
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| The famous Iowa State Fair butter cow. That's right, an actual size cow carved out of butter. |
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| A buttery likeness of the original Star Trek crew on the bridge. I am assuming this was in honor of Star Trek's 50th anniversary. |
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| The Enterprise in butter form |
Next we went to the animal learning center. This building was really nicely air conditioned, so we did not mind at all spending a little extra time there. In this building you get to see lots of baby farm animals, and if you time it right you can even see farm animals being born. We did not see that, which was fine with me, but you could watch video replays of births earlier that day. I preferred to just look at the cute baby animals. The baby goats and baby ducks were particularly cute.
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| A cute little duckling |
After getting a bit lost, we eventually made our way to the Cultural Center. It was another nicely air conditioned building filled with different categories of art for our viewing/judging pleasure. We also got to watch a pottery making demonstration.
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| An artistic tardis from Doctor Who |
Next we made our way down to some of the animal barns. These things were gigantic. They had a barn dedicated to cows, one for pigs, one for horses, and one for sheep. It was definitely weird for me wandering through those barns. I don't particularly like animals that are much bigger than me and smell terrible. But on the other hand I enjoy seeing a side of life I don't get to experience very often. I tried my best to appreciate and understand what they were doing there. The weirdest take away I had was how much care goes into prepping these animals for being shown. The cows in particular were weird. The cow barn was filled with people vacuuming and hair spraying their cows. And I'm pretty sure the some of spray was colored, like they were spray painting their cow's coat. We sat and watched a 4H cow judging contest for a bit, and I still have no idea what the criteria is for a good cow vs a bad cow. But I'm thankful that I don't really need to know either. It was still amusing to be in what felt like such a foreign land right in my own backyard.
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| A cow judging |
We eventually got hungry and had to track down food. There were almost too many options and we waited too long to track down the "best" of whatever they had. Katie and I settled for a quick pulled pork sandwich, and my mom found a pork chop on a stick. I think my mom won the best pick of good fair food, but our sandwich was tasty as well.
We then went out in pursuit of finding the quilting section of the fair. We were told it was in the Varied Industries building, but all we could find there initially were rows and rows of vendors trying to sell hot tubs, cable/dish packages, and everything else under the sun. We eventually left the building and got help from an info desk and were pointed to one particular side of the Varied Industries building that had a second floor that we weren't able to find before. Once we found it, it was quite impressive. There were hundreds of quilts on display. Some of those pieces had to have taken years to make. I think even my mom felt overwhelmed by some of the complexity of certain quilts. But overall I think she came out inspired with ideas for her future quilting projects.
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| A gigantic sand creation at the entrance of the Varied Industries building |
After seeing the quilts, we attempted to go see a horse show but learned that some of the shows cost money. But all the shows the next day were free. We opted to wait. We instead checked out the 4H building for a bit and wandered around judging the kids' project boards and art. My favorite was finding how many of the photography entries featured a picture of their cats. Katie's favorite was looking at the sewing projects where some of the girls made rather impressive dresses.
Our day was winding down at that point. We had hit up most of the major buildings/displays and were feeling quite worn. I was determined to get at least one more snack that had to be on a stick before we left for the day. So we went back to one spot where they had salads on a stick. Along the way we saw an ice sculpture carving demonstration and walked through a pretty garden area.
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| Caprese salad stick |
It was kind of a bummer that we were feeling so worn out. The evening was starting to set in, and things were cooling down nicely. But there was nothing left on the schedule that we wanted to see that day, and we were tired and sore. My two regrets for the day were not sticking around the cook off a bit longer and apparently there was also a beard contest. I'm not saying I would have entered or anything, but it seems like the type of thing I wish we could have attended. But my schedule reading skills did not get tuned until it was too late. Oh well.
That night we stayed a really nice Airbnb on the west side of Des Moines. The guy we were staying with had just put his place up, so we were one of his first few guests. He was really nice, and so was his dog. We found a Trader Joe's nearby and got stuff to make sandwiches for dinner that night and breakfast the next day. We sat and talked with our host about Airbnb experiences we've had in the past, the Olympics, and really anything else on his mind like current movie releases. He even shared some his favorite beers with us while we sat and chatted. It was a nice relaxing night and certainly beat an overpriced hotel or driving back to the QC.
The next day was a lot calmer. We had pretty much already hit up most everything we wanted to see. Had we not already bought tickets we might have gone exploring the Amana Colonies or something else around Des Moines. But we made the most of our return visit. We managed to make into one of the horse judging contests/shows. In fact, if you watch the right PBS special you might see us. Apparently, we made it into the PBS program for about 5-6 seconds while watching the horses. I haven't found the clip online or anything, but my mom saw it just the other day.
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| Horse judging |
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| The horse judging arena "zamboni" tractor |
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| A blue-ribbon couple |
We checked out the food center which ended up being a bit of a let down. I thought there'd be a lot more free samples from the food judging contests happening there. We also went back to the Varied Industries building to give the vendors another try. It really was crazy how many different places you can buy a hot tub from. We also got in another round of fair food for lunch. I was again determined to get food on a stick, but because of long lines and out of stock items I settled for the classic corndog on a stick. Katie went the healthy route with a veggie wrap of some sort, and my mom got her pork tenderloin that she had heard so much about.
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| More food on a stick |
Lastly we finally caught a ride on the fair tram. It was something we probably should have started with to help us get the lay of the land. It was nice to not have to walk as much the second day and still get to see all the happenings around the fair grounds.
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| Farm equipment everywhere |
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| Shaded tram ride around the fair grounds |
On the way home we stopped at my favorite gas station off of I-80. I might have talked about this place before, but it's worth mentioning again. There's a gas station off exit 220 called Colony Point. And they have the best sandwiches. They bring all their breads, meats, cheeses, etc. down from the Amish Amana Colonies. It's always a highlight of any road trip across Iowa.
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| The best gas station sandwich in all the land |
And that was our Iowa State Fair experience. I don't think I would need to go every year, but I would definitely go again. We would probably only need to go for one day instead of two. And if we went again I'd splurge a bit more on trying out even more fair food and shows even if it cost extra. But I think how we did it this time was a great way to do it for our first visit.
