Iowa State Fair

I first heard about the Iowa State Fair when we were still in Chicago, and I was glancing at the Wall Street Journal, where there was a right up. I realized that we would be in Des Moines at the same time as the fair, and it seemed too good an opportunity to pass up. I've been to the Big E, the New England exposition, a number of times, but I was unprepared for the magnificence of the Iowa State Fair.

The first building after we walked into the fair grounds was the Pigeon and Poultry Barn. It was an appropriate starting place, because from what I can tell, the Fair is all about lots and lots of ridiculous competitions. Out east, pigeons are flying rats; here, they are show animals. To be fair, there were some surprisingly beautiful breeds of pigeons out there.

This one, for example, had a fancy crest over its head. I think this little guy placed first in his category.

The judges engage in some serious deliberation over pigeons.

After leaving the pigeons, we wandered around for a bit, looking at Iowa's first church and stopping in at the Iowa State Fair museum, which has all kinds of well-aged memorabilia. I was pretty amazed by the section sponsored by the Iowa Association of Antique Gas Engines and Tractors. All these old guys were stooped over various kinds of old engines they had running, stinking up the place with diesel. I think I was mostly amazed that such an association exists. We're not big on tractors or gas engines in West Hartford.

I took this photo of the Iowa State Marble Shoot. They had a bracket done up and everything.

The trams at the Iowa State Fair consist of cars pulled around by John Deere tractors.

There is also a sky tram. And all kinds of people. After braving these crowds, I am now ready to retreat to the isolation of South Dakota.

Here is a blurry shot of the Midway. I didn't go on any rides; I was at the Fair more for a cultural experience, I guess.

Just as we were getting ready to get some dinner, a parade materialized in the road next to us. The Atlantic High School Marching Band came by first, but I won't put up those photos since they're pretty boring.

There were a couple clowns in the parade, including this stilt lady. The little boy on the bicycle rode under her legs, but I didn't time the shot very well.

There are also, of course, lots of animals at the fair.

Like sheep.

And goats.

Here is the Big Boar. I think this is actually the runner-up Big Boar, but my photo of the pig that was even fatter didn't come out too well. They were both over 1100 pounds. That's a lot of pork. The other guy was about the size of a small cow, and was so hefty that all he could do was lie down on his side while some attendent spritzed him with water to keep him cool.

This is the famous butter cow; it is about life-size and constructed entirely out of butter. You can see they even went as far as sculpting the ribs. The bulging veins on the udder are a nice touch, too, I think. There was also a butter Superman this year, because the actor in Superman Returns is an Iowa Boy. And then there was a bust of "Mr. State Fair." I'm not sure what that was about.

My mom was most excited about seeing the prize-winning vegetables. Keep in mind that these are the most aesthetically pleasing veggies Iowa has to offer.

Check out that blue ribbon cabbage!

I thought this was going to turn out to be a pretty cool photo, but then the flash went off and now the colors are all off. And the crush of people behind me who also wanted to scope out some prize-winning peppers prevented me from snapping another photo.

The highlight of the Fair is obviously food. My mom doesn't like to eat pork, because she thinks pigs are too intelligent to be eaten, but she was also raised in Iowa, which is pork country. So she had a hankering for a good old tenderloin sandwich, and we got one:

I had never seen anything like this. The bun seemed kind of pointless, but it served as a good house for the pickles, mustard, and ketchup.

Before we left, we got some dinner at the Iowa Pork Producers Tent. I had a nice pork chop that was about 2 inches thick. I had never seen a pork chop like that before. This is another reason why my mom doesn't buy pork: you can't get real pork chops in Connecticut. By the way, I recall someone at school questioning my technique of dipping pork chops in apple sauce. I'll have you know that in Iowa, where I think they know their pork, they serve the chops with apple sauce. I feel vindicated.