Sunday, August 21, 2011

Iowa State Fair













































Temperatures in the low 80’s brought record crowds to the Iowa State Fair. We headed up the hill to the area of alternative energy tents and buildings but were disappointed in that we didn’t learn anything new.

This year honored 100 years of a sculpturing a life-sized cow made of BUTTER. The bright lights on the glass refrigerated cases made it difficult to photograph the sculptures but I took pictures anyway. I was more impressed with the early 1900’s cow, calf, milkmaid and farmer life sized creation that was on a revolving stage than I was with the recreation of the first cow. About 100 fancy small sculptures made of plaster were located throughout the fairgrounds; the most unusual that I saw was entitled “ Pirates of the Cowibbean.” We walked through a barn with real live Holsteins but I didn’t get any good photos.

We saw many old time exhibits including Terry with a Case tractor. You could buy almost any food on a stick including my favorite- a thick Iowa Pork Chop on a stick.

My favorite part of the fair is the contest of “The Talent Sprouts.” Kids from 2 to 12 compete locally in dancing, singing, playing instruments, baton twirling and acrobatics before they come to the fair. Everyday there is another competition. On the final day of the fair, the top contestants perform again for thousands of dollars worth of prizes.

1 comment:

Jerry and Suzy said...

Golly, Terry was an old time exhibit? When we were in Bangkok last century, the hotel's dining room featured several butter statues, some quite large. Hope the ones you saw were in refrigerated cases!

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