PazTripReports: Iowa State Fair

(August 8 & 9)

Our affection for the Minnesota State Fair (which we have attended three times since 2008) is likely the reason we began our quest to attend every state’s fair. So, naturally, we tend to compare other state fairs against Minnesota’s.

By that measure, the verdict for the Iowa State Fair is good, very good; but not quite as good as Minnesota.

Iowa’s Fair is probably a little larger and its agricultural shows, exhibits and buildings are definitely more extensive than Minnesota’s. Iowa fair goers may be even whiter than Minnesota’s. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen such a large concentration of white people in one place since last year’s Republican Convention.

A clear winner for Iowa is the craft beer tent where beers from dozens of small breweries around the state were on tap. Another home run for the Iowa Fair is the pork chop on a stick. Yummy!

Other cool features we liked at the Iowa Fair included the hymn sing, where folks gathered to sing old favorites, and the $2 shuttle service that departs from the beautiful state capitol building in downtown Des Moines.

Iowa also has a very good talent show – which is one of our favorite events at the Minnesota Fair.

Clogging nun at the talent show.

But the Iowa folks don’t seem to be quite as talented as Minnesota’s; and they are definitely fatter. Good lord are they fat. Sloppy fat. So many fat people. The kids are fat. The teenagers are fat. The young adults are fat. The parents are fat. The grandparents are fat. These people are huge! Honestly, I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that two-thirds of the people at the fair were significantly overweight.

And, to make matters worse, an astoundingly large percentage of them move from food booth to food booth on electric carts. At times the number of people riding on something seemed to outnumber the people walking.