Iowa’s State Fair
As just about everyone around this part of the Midwest will tell you, the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines is a one-of-its-kind event. It’s been held for nearly 145 years, and these days, about one million Iowans attend each year. If that figure isn’t impressive enough, consider this: The state of Iowa’s population is only about 3 million.
The fair is known and revered for several reasons. Yes, it has a typical Midway of games and rides and a giant Ferris wheel. But lots of fairs have that.
What most fairs don’t have — but Iowa’s does — is such a huge array of animals — and lots and lots of contests for them. People work hard all year to raise — and compete for the honor of having — the biggest boar, ram, bull, rabbit or pigeon. There are “shows” for all kinds of animals, and giant buildings to show them in.
Speaking of animals — the Iowa State Fair is known far and wide for its butter cow. This particular creature has been a staple since 1911. It’s sculpted anew each year — yes, out of butter — and enormous crowds line up to be photographed in front of the cow’s show window. The cow, it is safe to say, is iconic.
The Iowa State Fair is also an impressive showcase for food — much of it on a stick. You can get almost any kind of food you want on a stick, including some you never thought you wanted. Pork chops on sticks are very, very big — but you can also bite into bacon balls on a stick, chicken parmesan on a stick, and chocolate brownie waffles on a stick. There are also dozens, if not hundreds, of dishes that are not on sticks, and among the 57 new ones this year are such things as bacon-wrapped pig wings, dill pickle popcorn, monster cookie popcorn, soft-serve dough cones and a corn stalker cocktail which, it is said, “will sneak up on you.”
And if that was the totality of fair offerings, it would be enough. But this fair also has a unique heritage of putting presidential candidates on the spot — or rather, on a soapbox. For decades, the Des Moines Register has built a stage surrounded by bales of hay — and for decades, political hopefuls have made their way there. They are given 20 minutes — no more — to make their case to giant crowds about why they would be the best fit for whatever office they’re running for.
And this being the year-before-the-presidential election, and this being just six months from the Iowa caucuses, nearly all the two-dozen or so Democratic hopefuls have signed up to make their pitches. On this Thursday — Day One of the fair — Montana Governor Steve Bullock was first up. Bullock — who is barely showing up in national polls and who no one is giving any chance to become president — came out on stage and gave an energetic, coherent, vibrant speech about the importance of choosing someone who could do more than excite the Democrats’ most liberal activists — someone who could draw support from moderate voters and move on to defeat President Trump.
A few minutes later, Joe Biden strode onto stage. The Democratic front-runner spoke about the usual Democratic Party concerns — health care and gun control. But he also spoke aspirationally, and at times wistfully, about how the United States could be so much better, so much kinder, so much stronger. As he said this — the big crowd became silent — then burst into applause.
The other Democrats are lined up and ready to appear for their 20 minutes in the spotlight. The national newspapers and TV networks know the importance of all this. They were lined up with their cameras and still photographers and reporters, taking it all in. It’s an amazing fact — the center of the political world is in Iowa these days — and more to the point, it’s on that soapbox at the Iowa State Fair.
One more note from the fair: For decades during the fair’s run, KCCI-TV in Des Moines has broadcast its early-evening newscast live from an outdoor stage there. KCCI has — since its earliest days in the 1950’s — been the top-rated news station in the market, and deservedly so. Its news coverage is superior, and its reputation for keeping anchor talent in place is legendary in the broadcast business. Russ Van Dyke, Paul Rhoades and Kevin Cooney were the primary male anchors over the station’s first 60 years, and Steve Karlin admirably stepped into the prime-anchor role a few years ago when Cooney retired.
Karlin and co-anchor Stacey Horst smoothly handled the live 5 p.m. remote broadcast on this first fair day, in front of a big audience at the Mid American Energy stage at the fair. Newscasts anchored remotely are complex and often chaotic affairs — but this one went well, with the anchors interacting with the crowd during station commercial breaks and even giving out various goodies.
You might be wondering why — if this particular fair is so good — someone hasn’t written a book about it. Or maybe produced a movie. Turns out — someone did. The book — “State Fair” — came out in 1932. Phil Stong wrote it, and it’s all about the Iowa State Fair. It was a bestseller.
As for the movie — it came out — several times. The first was in 1933. It starred Will Rogers, Janet Gaynor and Lew Ayres. A remake in 1945 starred Jeanne Crain, Dana Andrews and Dick Haymes. The 1962 redo featured Pat Boone, Bobby Darin, Ann-Margret and Tom Ewell.
Not a lot of state fairs have drawn this kind of attention. But that’s because Iowa’s state fair is, indeed, a one-off.