Yes, it helped that we had a group of just two Fairing today instead of ten. But mostly it was because the heat wasn’t quite as oppressive (yay cooling rain for part of the day!), and because it felt like the Fairgrounds weren’t quite as full. I didn’t hear any numbers, but I’m guessing there was at least 20,000-25,000 fewer sweaty, sticky people searching for the Butter Cow today. There was much more room to breathe and air out.
Our first hint that the day was going to be a bit more relaxed was our ability to find parking within sight of Gate 15. WHOO HOO! Yes, we still saw the FAIR PARKING LOTS FULL sign reprimanding us for not arriving until noon. But today we decided to see what the lots actually looked like. Full, yes. But we found a nice guy who let us park on his lawn for only $10.
Our parking lot owner said he’s been running his front yard parking business for 15 Fairs and has only attended the extravaganza twice. At first I was stunned. How is it possible to live so close to the Most Amazing Pork Chop On the Planet and not go get one at every opportunity?? Then I did some quick math while tallying the cars already parked near his porch. The Fair is probably like a honkin' Christmas bonus to this guy; I can't really blame him for not wanting to miss out. But still...Pork Chop!!
We didn’t really have much of a plan today, which was wonderful. We Faired just like we love to. We grabbed a daily schedule at the gate when we entered, but we rarely consulted it. Mostly because it is jam-packed with activities in 6-point font and my reading glasses were buried in my cinch sack. And because it is way more fun and satisfying just to wander and discover a Fair.
Some of the wonders we stumbled upon:
Tappity tap tap
We did a LOT of walking through animal barns today, in large part because they are massive. Entire buildings the size of the Big Air Conditioned Building at my Fair are dedicated to one type of animal. The Sheep Barn, the Swine Barn, the Horse Barn, the Cattle Barn…all enormous and wonderfully smelly and each with its own show rings and bleachers. It was pretty dang impressive.
Dazzled by how tasty the pork is here, we wandered into the Swine Barn to see where the magic begins. We heard some sort of competition going on in the show ring. I was ecstatic to discover one of my most favorite 4-H events was underway. Yes, it was the Senior Showmanship competition for swine aka Pig Tapping (my term, not officially sanctioned by 4-H or anyone who is serious about pig showmanship).
I LOVE watching Pig Tapping!
I have no idea how or what the kids are doing in Pig Tapping, but they mostly following their pigs around the show ring while tapping their swine with a long, bendy antenna. I’m guessing the pigs are supposed to go the direction opposite of the tapping…but at home it’s been very hard to discern that. At home, it’s really just Bumper Pigs with kids darting around with long wands in their hands, hoping they are tapping their own pig and not a competitor's, all the while looking at the judge and hoping their pig doesn’t decide it wants to rumble and require the use of Grown Ups with pig boards to save the day but dash the chances of a decent ribbon.
Here in Iowa, the kids and the pigs seemed to have a much better agreement on the proceedings. The kids today were calm, kept to their own pigs, deftly avoided hog collisions, and tapped with purpose.
I spotted some pig boards in a corner behind a gate; clearly they were not anticipated to be called into action. The kids did a great job and totally impressed me and Rob by each shaking the judge’s hand as they left the ring. I was SO happy we happened upon my most favorite livestock event! I didn’t get to see any pig tapping at our Fair this year. Hap Hap Happity Happy!!
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| I LOVE that they have green sawdust in the ring instead of yellow. I'm not sure if the sawdust came that way or if they spray painted it. Either way, it was very pretty making the show ring look like a field of grass. It also made the colors of the pigs stand out more. |
Old fashioned pawing
There’s an old wooden building called Ye Olde Mill that has a water wheel in it. I thought it was some sort of educational display showing old timey irrigation. In fact, it is a ride. An old timey ride with little boats you sit in while they float through a maze like It’s A Small World. Or so we thought.
We bought the tickets for $3 each and were assigned our very own boat all by ourselves even though at least six other people could have floated with us.
As we started off, we passed murals of the historic 1932 train wreck that the Iowa State Fair people orchestrated on purpose to do something novel with two old engines that needed to be scrapped and a population of depressed Iowans who needed to be distracted from their woes.
“Cool!” I thought. “This will be a floaty little trip through the Fair’s history.”
Nope.
There were three very wordy, brightly lit murals scattered throughout the ride, with waaay too much information to read while zipping by. So they were mostly useless. The rest of the ride in between the murals was pitch black. No hint of light, nothing to look at, nothing to listen to, nothing to do but…smooch, apparently.
Our best guess is Ye Olde Mill was how folks in the 1930s went a courtin’ at The State Fair. Get your best girl in a boat and you’ve got about 5-7 minutes to steal a kiss, hold a hand, cop a feel...
Confoundingly, the line for Ye Olde Make-Out Ride was not filled with teenagers today. Instead it was mostly families with young children who were about to be terrified by being in the dark with parents making kissy noises.
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| View along most of the route in Ye Olde Kissin' Ride |
History and Wacky!
Hot and sweaty, we were once again in search of air conditioning. We spotted a set of wooden doors inside a part of the Cattle Barn we hadn’t explored yet. Curious, we opened the door to discover we were in a good old fashioned Cattle Auction Ring.
The room was a semi-circle arena with old wooden seats with backrests (hallelujah!). The seats sloped down to a focal point. In the center was an auctioneer's platform and a small cement area below it fully visible from every seat in the arena. There were doors on either side of the platform that seemed to allow livestock to enter on one side and exit on the other after bidding was completed.
My eyes widened and I smiled big as we entered, not just because of the glorious air conditioning, but because I could sense what this room had once been.
I could almost see the men in their coats and ties and cowboy hats sitting on the wooden benches. I could almost smell the odd blending of cigars, hay, and steers. I could almost hear a dinging bell and the fast patter of an auctioneer. I could almost feel the frustration, disappointment, optimism, and relief that most certainly filled the space every time an animal was brought forward.
The room was truly magical. It just oozed history and weight and a sense of time and importance. I loved every wave of energy in there.
And today? What was happening in this magnificent space of history today?
Championship Arm Wrestling.
It. Was. A. Hoot!
We saw four bouts – three pairs of men and one pair of women. Two bouts went super fast; the other two lingered with agony and popped veins and ripped gloves. I really had no idea what I was watching, but it was bizarre and utterly unexpected and fascinating and hysterical.
I LOVE FAIRING!!!
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| There's just so much that I loved about this moment! |
The Ultimate in Fairing
On our way out to our parking lawn, we stopped in at the Animal Learning Center since it was on the way and air conditioned. It was full of exhibits of baby animals. There were some ducklings and turkeys and emus and chickens and a number of piglets. All super adorable.
We saw a crowd gathered up near a sow. As we got closer, we realized a vet and several techs in messy scrubs were standing watch with towels at the ready. With eight teeny tiny little piglets already suckling, momma was in the process of birthing another one!
Rob and I managed to get a prime spot near the pen and got to watch a brand new piglet come into the world. It was one of the most awesome Total Fair experiences I have ever had!
I have never watched anything being born before, at least not in person. It was pretty miraculous to watch the momma pig contract her body, wiggle a bit, stand up, grunt, lie down, and produce a tiny piglet in a sack with an umbilical cord dangling. The techs swooped in with towels and warmers, noting time and weight. And then graciously posed for a few photos.
I’m still just beaming with joy that I got to experience a little bit of what a Fair is really all about – the co-mingling of rural and city, the education of farming and agriculture, the appreciation of where real food comes from. And I love that the Iowa State Fair isn’t just a bunch of expositions. It’s a real live fair where real life happens. I am so grateful we made the effort to Fair here.
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| Fresh piggy in a blanket! |
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| After they cleaned him up, they rubbed some sort of white powder on him. He was just the most adorable little thing! |
SCHEDULE:
Tomorrow is our last Fair day in Iowa. We will then relocate and Fair once again later in the week. Yes, we are utterly exhausted but we are having A BLAST!!!
STATS:
Distance walked: 14,367 steps or 6.1 miles. At one point, around 3.4 miles, we had to stop and rest because I was pretty sure my legs were about to fall off. One cool thing about having silver hair – I don’t feel guilty hogging a seat next to a fan for a spell.
Earrings: Snow cones! A couple of people commented on them but nothing like yesterday’s love fest over my popcorn earrings.
Re-entry stamp: A “38” in a green circle in the same location on my arm as last night’s stamp. So boring! I forgot to ask about the meaning of these weird stamps at the Info Booth today.
Today’s indicator we are not Iowans: We decided to check out the Iowa Wine Experience because we love wine and have a sense of adventure. And no kids in tow. For $5 we got to sample 6 wines assembled on a board the shape of Iowa. It was so cute!
We were given a bead to use to vote for our favorite Iowa vino. We shared our 6 little cup samples of wine but did not finish a single one of them. Try as we might, we just could not pick a favorite. Scribbled tasting notes included: cotton candy, sweet apricot, sweet and bitter, why are all of these sweet??, a musty sweet, and raspberry jam. We tried our best to hide our West Coast Wine Snobbery (I caught myself trying to swirl the first sample in my plastic cup just in time to avoid wearing it the rest of the day). I stuffed our voting bead in a pocket and went in search of some Corn Dog beer instead.
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| I was a little concerned when #1 was super sweet. Typically you work your way up to the sweet wines. Turns out there was lots more sweet to come. |
Most prominent industry featured in the Varied Industries Building: Colleges, most notably the University of Iowa which had about 4 booths’ worth of trophies, posters, cheerleaders, t-shirts, swag, and a Hawkeye mascot flapping about posing for pictures. The state of Iowa does not have any professional sports teams so they seem to satisfy their need for rabid fandom by focusing on college athletics.
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| All those black and yellow tents are for the University of Iowa. There were probably at least a dozen colleges with booths here, something I have never seen before. Much more interesting than leaf gutter attachments, though. |
Price for entry: $12 if you buy your ticket at the gate
Price for parking: $10 if you park on a nice man’s lawn and pay cash
Today’s Presidential candidate trying to be An Average American: While riding the Sky Glider, we spotted Tom Steyer…a Very Rich Guy from New York…strolling past a corn dog stand while chatting with a reporter. We spotted Tom not because we recognized him, but by the small gaggle of media following him. No interaction with the Average American in Iowa was observed.
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| Tom is the average Joe there in the light blue shirt, jeans, and white tennis shoes. His gaggle was much smaller than Kamala's yesterday. |
FAIR FOOD FEAST PARADE:
It was a very good eatin’ and drinkin’ day. We took full advantage of not having any children with us. That being said, humidity is weird with alcohol. Rob and I were feeling the effects with hardly a Dixie Cup worth of wine so there was a lot of sipping but not much drinking. But there was a lot of eating! Whoo!
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| The Fried Pork Tenderloin. The pork here! This was quite good, but I liked the chop on a stick yesterday better. This wasn't as moist and I added mustard and pickles. Still much better than pork I've found at home...but now I'm getting picky. That Chop on A Stick - OMG! Oh, and I finished about 75% of this. |
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| Trying the Corn Dog Dark Ale. I decided I wasn't a fan. It tasted like Michelob at the start and then ended with a sweet, plastic-y taste. I took a couple sips and then moved on. |
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| A Jalapeno Pilsner. Absolutely got a lot of jalapeno from this. I liked the flavor...because I like jalapenoes...but it was just weird in a beer. So again, a few sips and moved on. |
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| Now THIS is my style of beer. I prefer dark beers - porters and stouts with lots of coffee and chocolatey bitterness. This here is a Peanut Butter Porter. It was so good! It had a creamy smoothness to it, I'm guessing the peanut butter influence. I detected a bit of PB taste but not enough to overpower it. I finished all of this one except the sip Rob took and promptly gagged. He's not much of a peanut butter...or beer...guy. |
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| Brown Sugar Pork Belly on a stick. OMG! This was bacon heaven! It was chewy with just the right amount of fat for flavor and just the right crisp. The brown sugar put it over the top into Mindblowing. From the same place as yesterday's pork chop on a stick...now forever named Pork Paradise. Rob and I shared this but I really want my own one tomorrow. |
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| These chocolate chip cookies are apparently A Thing. A must do. Long lines. You get the gist. So we dutifully got a cup to share and were underwhelmed. They were fine but not the very best chocolate chip cookies we've ever had. Glad we tried them...and glad we shared them. |
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| A little mint chocolate chip ice cream to view refrigerated food entries by. I mostly got this because I was curious about the brand. A friend has mentioned Blue Bunny Ice Cream so I wanted to try it. Verdict: fine but no competition to my preferred Tillamook Ice Cream at home. |
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| Today was SUCH a good eatin' day! This was The Grinder, as recommended by a young woman at an Info Booth and then later spied by me as someone was carrying one around, leaving me drooling. It is ground Iowan sausage with marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese, and banana peppers on a toasted hoagie bun. It was SO good! The sausage was lightly seasoned and the marinara added just the right tomatoey moistness. My only complaint was that the best bites were the ones with cheese. Without the cheese, the sandwich definitely lacked something. I would love to try this again with extra cheese mixed into the sausage. Oh, and Rob and I wisely shared this. It is sadly hard to eat food like this in the humidity. |
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| A preemptive Tums. Cherry flavored. I think it worked! |
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