Iowa State Fair

I’m not sure how you could do a comprehensive review of the Iowa state fair!!! But here ya go… The best state fair in the Midwest! I go at least 8 days every year. You can’t go just once and sample all of the food or beer at the Iowa beer tent. If I’m not getting a beer from there I’m grabbing one at the Steer and Stein (coldest and best value) something new to eat and watching people. Plus the fair board does a great job bringing in free acts to watch on the many stages. I’d love to tell you about all of the great venders and where the best food is… If you see a bearded crazy looking gent sitting next to a smoking hot chick and watching people it’s probably me. Just stop and ask I’m pretty friendly!

So it is a must do in the USA and Iowa but once you have been you do not really need to go again. If you do go, purchase your tickets in advance and save some money. Parking can be interesting so either park and ride the bus or plan on walking a ways. The locals nearby charge you to park in their yards. Sometimes you can get a decent space that way. Plan on spending several hours here. Tons of overpriced food and drinks to be had. Nothing mind blowing. Lots of shows and attractions. Petting zoo for the kids. Rides for the small and not so small. The concert venue isn’t great. If you don’t have to see the act just hang out nearby and you can hear the entertainment without paying the admission for the concert. While you are here check out the butter cow.

Rides and exhibits are always a blast. Concerts are always fun. Good family fun. Find the KGGO tent if you can. Ask if they still have the «Eat For The Cycle» list. It’s a list of several different fair foods that truly are the essence of the Iowa State Fair. Go see the famous butter cow too, it’s pretty cool. As a former Iowa farm hand, I really enjoy the farm exhibits, and the livestock showings. I’m not a fan of the games in the midway though, in my opinion, they are a rip off, so steer clear of there, unless your kids are really wanting that stuffed animal for 5 bucks a try. Great late summer fun, but stay hydrated, trust me on that. Temps have been known to be in the 100’s during the fair, so have sun screen and lots of water.

It’s impossible to write a simple review of the Iowa State Fair. You simply need to take people’s word for it and go for an afternoon and an evening.
Plan on seeing the fair in the daytime with kids and the night with your date. The fair is completely different at night compared to the day.
You will want to dress comfortably, especially for heat. Bring a wagon for the kids, pack your own water and some snacks for little ones. Expect to spend about $ 50 per person on food for a 6 hour visit for an adult, it’s a little pricey.
Get online ahead of time and look at activities and concerts. Plan your day based on which set times you have to be at an exhibit, but leave enough time to roam around and people watch.
If you have never been around farm animals, this is your chance to meet and talk with real farmers. Most importantly, have fun and enjoy the spetacle

Went here in 2014 and 2015. Saw the famous butter cow. Interesting…
Price was pretty decent, $ 11 entry. Rides were extra. There is a variety of foods, any type of food you could want.
I managed to do all my Christmas shopping at the shopper’s mart.
No good place to park an RV. I rode a taxi here.

The butter cow absolutely lived up to the hype (her curly tail was incredible), and the secondary figure this year was Mr. Monopoly with all his game playing pieces. The Bandaloni one man band was pretty neat and instantly made me think of Mary Poppins. We even sat in on the judging of the angora goats — something I knew absolutely nothing about prior to this experience. Now I have some hot talking points for my next cocktail party… go ahead and ask me about angora goats, I dare you!
There are a ton of things to do and eat, the trick is knowing how to find what interests you. The @iowastatefair Instagram and Twitter accounts were posting real-​time event announcements. There are several show barns and theatre spaces with shows scheduled almost solid, so it’s definitely a good idea to pick out one or two things that really interest you so you can build your day around that.
With any fair, I’m on the lookout for good eats — this is a celebration of local food producers, after all! A couple things I sampled this year that are now on my «Mandatory State Fair Food List:»
–pork loin sandwich from the Iowa Pork Producers tent:
throw on some BBQ and sit in their air-​conditioned tent! Now that’s State Fair bliss. They even come around with water and iced tea refills!
–pulled turkey sandwich from the Iowa Turkey Federation tent:
the turkey is good, really good. Throw some BBQ on that sandwich and you’re good to go.
–corn in a cup from The Corn Stand:
they grill Iowa corn on the spot, then shave the kernels off the cob and combine it with things like pork chorizo, cheese, sour cream, and «spicy magic dust.» Umm, yes.
–ice cream from The Dairy Barn stand:
when you order a double scoop, you actually get a quadruple scoop — go for the double in a cup and ask that one scoop be chocolate and the other strawberry.
–root beer from State Fair Root Beer stand:
it’s the perfect root beer. Really.

This was a great event with many food vendors, competitions and good olé fair music :) the grounds are huge with lots of parking and various activities for all ages! I recommend starting your day early, so you have plenty of time to walk around and see all that the fair has to offer. Don’t forget to stop by and take a picture with the butter cow!

Just the best… wish I could come every year. But glad I don’t because I couldn’t afford the new wardrobe. One year, I gained 10 lbs. in a week trying all of the food. I know, you are asking why anyone would spend a week at the Fair… it was for work and the most fun I’ve had at work in ages.
Starting off… wear comfortable clothes. The Fair is huge and you will be walking a lot. It is August in Iowa and that means one thing… HOT! And understand that most of the food sold on site is fried. Your appetizer… fried. Your entrée… mostly fried. Your dessert… fried. And if you are vegetarian, good luck.
So many venues to watch. I enjoyed the animal areas (cattle, pigs, sheep, etc) but be alert as there is feces everywhere (don’t where flip-​flops) and once in a while an animal will get loose. The animals are tame, but if a running pig hits you, you won’t win.
The Butter Cow is the fame of the Fair. It is a full size cow sculpted from butter and people queue up early and often to get their picture with it. Some of you might not get it, but when you see it in person you will understand. This year’s secondary sculptures was based on the board game Monopoly. There were butter sculptures of all of the game pieces. my friend becoming particularly enthralled at the butter scottie.
For the first time, I went and watched the Monster Arm Wrestling contest… WOW! It was like watching Sylvester Stallone in ‘Over The Top’, except I don’t think he could have won here. The winner of the super heavyweight division usually threw aside his competitors in under 5 seconds.
Other highlights: Fiddling contest, classic cars, parades, sky lift, food judging, crop judging, games and rides.
WARNING: Every few years… usually the year before a presidential election year… candidates swarm the Fair as it is an easy way to ‘meet’ tens of thousands of Iowans. These candidates and their entourages create a mass swarm of media and voters that want/​need to see them. You might not be able to avoid them completely, but you can minimize exposure by avoiding the Des Moines Register Soapbox where many of them speak.

This is the state fair that serves as the gold standard for all other state fairs. But, to be honest, the state fairs in Minnesota and Texas outdo this one. Both have better quality food and a better selection of food than Iowa, and both are much better organised. Iowa has better agricultural displays (animals, farm equipment) than Minnesota or Texas, but Texas has better rides and both have better fairgrounds.
We went on a Saturday and had to share space with The Donald, Rick Santorum and Comrade Bernie’s herd of supporters (seemed like every 3^rd person had a BERNIE button, cap or T-​shirt). We took the recommendation of locals and parked at someone’s private home rather than the public fairground lot… the walk was a bit farther but it was half the price and hey, it’s a good way to walk off all that deep fried stuff in your stomach, right? The fairgrounds themselves were dirty and disorganized, and there was not enough open space to handle the throngs of fairgoers. [N.B. if you want to go to the Iowa State Fair, avoid going on a weekend during an election year.] Disabled and morbidly obese people on motorised wheelchairs had to share space with pedestrians, and wheelchair vs. pedestrian accidents were commonplace.
The best food items we found were the deep fried cauliflower, the apple slushie and the pork chop on a stick, but there weren’t as many exotic foods on a stick or zany Frankenstein combinations that sound awful on paper but taste delicious in reality as there are in Texas or Minnesota. No deep fried butter, deep fried watermelon, fried coke or rattlesnake jerky here.

In some ways it was better than San Diego county fair. Way bigger! We arrived and found out that it is better to park in someone’s yard than at the fair. So we paid $ 10 to park at some strangers home that was about 2 blocks away. Upon entering, we saw multiple beer tents and picked one that took credit card. $ 10 for a pretty damn big craft beer (way cheaper than sd, and u can walk around with it!). We were unable to find a map so we just started walking around. We ended up walking to the pig and cow barn. That was nice. After that we saw a big ass crowd gathered. And found out Donald Trump was right there. That was pretty cool. We ended up seeing the butter cow (waste of time abd your an idiot if u walk in line to see it). We ended up eating the pork chop on a stick, cup of corn (Mexican) and cup of cookies. Everything was good. We also checked out the Iowa craft tent. Good beers overall. We enjoyed ourselves and would go again.

The Iowa State Fair is one of the best places to go to gorge on food and see some fun stuff. Tried some of the new fair foods this year. The Ultimate Bacon Brisket Bomb was awesome, full of meat and in its gloriousness, it’s at the Rib Shack. Also tried the Deep fried Nacho Balls from Jalapeños Petes they are really good and at $ 5 you can’t pass them up. In the Varied Industries Building you need to buy something from the Kalona bakery always good stuff. The apple pie on a stick was alright could have been done better I thought. We also got a footlong corn dog and chicken on a stick both were tasty. The Craft Beer Tent has some great Iowa beers and some good options for craft soda also. There were plenty of other foods I wanted but will wait til next year.

I love, love, love the fair. This year I didn’t have time to do even one tenth of what I wanted to. Normally I hit up the horse barn and stand in awe of the draft horses, watch some baby animal’s birth, pick out my favorite flower arrangement in the Ag building, check out the photo exhibit, walk through a sprinkler, and have a beer at the Midway among other things. This year I rode the sky glider and made a you tube video of it, ate some delish bbq brisket, checked out the GIANT American Gothic couple and ran past the butter cow just to say I saw it. :) Life gets no better than this fair!

What’s not to love about the Iowa State Fair? While I have never lived in Iowa, I grew up in Kansas City and then moved to Nebraska for college back in the day. Having family in Iowa, we were always regulars at the State Fair, and since moving back to Nebraska again, have been the past two years in a row. I love everything about the Fair! The food is fantastic! This year, they even had an app you could download, and it tells you where each item is located on the fairgrounds! I can’t tell you how beneficial that was! IT prevented us from hunting high and low for specific foods. Some of the buildings I love are the Ag building (Of course, the Butter Cow — Also free hard boiled egg on a stick) with all of the produce, the Varied Industries building with all of the vendors and displays (also, get the warm chocolate chip cookies from here, they are to DIE for!), and the Cultural Building with all of the photography. Also, I love seeing the big pig, big bull, and big cow every year (I’m sure PETA frowns on me).
If you are drinking at the Fair, I would hit up the Iowa Craft Beer Tent, which has become VERY popular! We’ve never had a bad experience over there. I would also check out the concert schedule, and plan your trip around some of your favorite performers. We got to see The Nadas this year for the first time, and will probably make their concert an annual event, now!
Bottom line, there’s really something for the whole family out at the Iowa State Fair! Come on out and enjoy!

The grandaddy of all state fairs, i can’t believe a prevous reviewer said «there’s nothing to see». Granted, if you’re not interested in farming or agrculture it may SEEM like there’s nothing to see, but look deeper. Sorry there isn’t much «high culture» at the fair but I don’t go to a gourmet restaurant looking for a corn dog either.
Lots of food (about the only thing not offered, sushi), competitions, shopping and exhibits to see and participate in.

Stunning breathtaking best of the best… This is the king of state fairs! If for no other reason you visit Iowa… come for the fair! Here you will learn so much of what this great state has to offer! The sheer scale of this event is amazing. There is something of interest to anyone who attends. From the Grand Concourse to the midway… farming, cattle and agriculture… craft, music, concerts and contests… commercial displays… and FOOD! I love every square foot of it. Truly a brilliant jewel that represents a great state!

A must go to for Iowans or not. Good mixture of air-​conditioned buildings with displays, huge assortment of food and the best crowd watching in the Midwest! My favs: ELWELL BLDG: cooking competions, where Iowans are the star! Must see the butter cow too

How can you wrap the Iowa State Fair into one review!
It’s hard to imagine an August in Iowa without the Iowa State Fair, I can remember seeing Quiet Riot, Slaughter, and Firehouse 15 years after their prime! Beatles tribute bands rock out!
I saw a Bee Gees Tribute act shine! I got to see the Association play their hits! Heck I have even got to play the fair myself a few times!
All this good, and bad music in one place why not!
Then there is the food, Not much for a vegan but they have upped the healthy outlets the past few years, but beware it’s mostly just fried things on a stick, that will probably make you sick!
I do enjoy the new Iowa Beer Tent which host all the Iowa Micro brews during the fair, it’s a good place to spend some time!
Then there is rides, over priced games, and that amazing gondola for a romantic birds eye view of the fair!
Now mind you it’s usually hot, smelly, and very dirty but hey it’s the Iowa State fair, you may see the future President campaigning next to a 1,000 pound cow! ONLY IN IOWA!

I’m on the other side on this one, I’m prepared to get a corndog thrown at me.
I am not from Iowa and have been to many fairs my whole life. I have to say this one does not live up to the hype. Everyone made this out to be the best ever and I cannot say the same in my three years that I have attended.
Food– fried stuff and repeat stands, it’s not that good either. I’ve tried many things and nothing really is so unique aside from random novelty fried items, that you can’t get anywhere else. This isn’t the best of the best.
Size– for a state fair it’s really not that big. There really isn’t a ton to see either.
Novelty– you have typical random fried stuff and the best thing is the Butter Cow, a giant cow made of butter on display and that did live up to the hype. The pork tent may also excite many. They usually have a decent act as well.
Bottom line is I’ve been to many County not State fairs that were bigger and had a better food selection. The excitement will be in the air but not for me.

If you are in Iowa during the State Fair season, DO NOT MISS IT! I have been here 3 years in a row and do not plan on missing it in the years coming. I tried checking out the activities they offer here, but they did not really interest me… all I’m interested in is the FOOD.
They have typical state fair food if you been to others. The top foods I would recommend you trying is the big Turkey leg, gyros, pork chop on a stick, and blooming onions. These foods are flavorful and will definitely get you craving more food even though you are stuffed.
The fair gets busy but the lines are not terribly long. It is a great experience and definitely worth the money, BRING CASH!

My Son and I spent a very nice 4 hours at the today’s Iowa State Fair. Like most Iowans, we arrived early (close to the 9 AM opening) and found that the Fair Grounds were already full of fellow travelers and before the days heat really started to bear down.
We hit the high points:
— Varied Industries Building (Exhibits)
— Ag Building (Butter Cow and one on the Lincoln Highway)
— Pavilion (Cow Competition)
— Cultural Center (don’t miss the Photography Exhibit Winners)
— Expo Hill (think Wind Power!)
— Machinery Grounds (who doesn’t want to see cool Farm equipment?)
— Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Plaza (cool fish)
— The Big Boar (Iowans love their farm animals).
— Food (we were good and avoided Double Bacon Corn Dog and other delicacies)
— Food Building (and the Competitions)
— Stuff (I stocked up on super glue and the Kid got a custom t-​shirt)
The only thing that I wish the Iowa State Fair had was more radio stations broadcasting live from the Fair Grounds. WHO AM kind of does this, but it’s not the same as the energy that comes from the Minnesota State Fair, which has several stations going during the entire event.
There’s also kind of a «circle of life» dynamic at play here. There’s a plethora of strollers as many young families come out the the fair. There’s also quite a few assisted living wheelchairs and scooters at life’s other end. There’s also many ages and associated Iowa cultural dynamics at play in-​between. I can’t say that some fair goers are the healthiest folks around or that I haven’t moved on to something else in many aspects of my life as I watch this all unfold. However, they are part of where I’m from and who I am. And if I ever forget that…