Our State Fair

Our State Fair is a great State Fair, don't miss it, don't even be late!

Now, if you can't sing the whole of that song, or even that part of it you must not be from Iowa. Well, I'm not from Iowa. . .originally. I am, however, a born again Iowan. I can't remember the first time I went to the fair. It was either the year I was pregnant with my son, 1995, or the year before that. I suspect the latter.

Having grown up in California, a HUGE state with what, I am sure is a representatively huge state fair, I didn't care a whit about the thing. I never even considered going. I'm not sure where it is either. I think it's somewhere in Southern Cal.

Moving to Iowa in 1986 was eye opening in many ways. As a student from 1986-1990 I almost always went home over the summer and missed the fair. After I graduated, however, all I ever heard about at the end of July and beginning of August was the fair. Who planned to go? How many times were they going? How many corndogs would they eat? And on and on.

I have to admit that while some things get a bit passe, the essence of the fair - the people - never does. Almost a million people attend the fair during its 10 day run in August. Of course, those attendance counts also include the repeat offenders but don't include those little enough to not pay admission. So I guess it does probably come out pretty even up.

I love the people. I love how they sound, how they walk, how they interact with eachother, and what they wear. The fairgrounds come alive with people. They are everywhere and the demographics of the fairgoers are as varied as the sayings on their shirts. My favorite shirt to date said "Muck Fe." You figure it out.

Save a corn dog and a funnel cake for me! http://www.iowastatefair.com