All's Fair
Every August, Bob and I head to the Iowa State Fair, and every year, I’m grateful that we still feel like making the trek. This year we had a special reason to go: We were celebrating the one-year anniversary of our friends Gaylyn and John moving to 70 acres in southern Iowa from Boulder, Colorado.
Last year we took them to the fair as a proper introduction to the state. Now that they have four seasons of living on Iowa land under their belts, we wanted to commemorate their anniversary with lemonade and a giant tenderloin.
We spent about eight hours at the fair, which is ample on a 90-degree day. By my rough estimation, we saw several thousand people (many of them from the bird’s-eye view of the sky ride), ate well over two thousand calories each (probably in one tenderloin sandwich alone), and walked several thousand steps (about 8,000+, according to my fitness watch).
On the way home, Bob and I asked each other the questions we typically ask when we’ve had an adventure: What did you like the best? What was most memorable?
Well, there were the kids in the livestock barns with fake spiders and flying bats attached to fishing line so they could make the critters jump from a distance. They made the fairgoers jump, too. I wouldn’t be surprised if kids were doing exactly the same thing 100 years ago. It was refreshing to see something so low-tech delighting the little ones.
And…we visited the new Barksdale’s chocolate chip cookie building, getting a cup of cookies in less than a minute. As anyone who has stood in line for an hour (not an exaggeration) for these cookies in the past can tell you, having this dedicated site for one of the State Fair’s favorite foods is a big deal. Millions of these miniature cookies are sold at the fair every year. And last year, I almost got caught in the middle of a brawl when their concession stand in the Varied Industries Building ran out of plastic tubs for the larger cookie orders. Thankfully, the new building and easier cookie access have brought peace to the purchasing process.
When I really think about it, though, these are the Fair standouts for me this year:
• The dancer who performed on the Anne and Bill Riley Stage for the Iowa State Fair Talent Search. Even though we were sitting a long way away from the stage and focusing on our food, contemporary dancer Jordan Formaro from Des Moines got our attention. It takes a lot to captivate someone on an outdoor stage, on the periphery of the crowd with all those distractions, but Jordan delivered his effortless pirouettes and acrobatics with so much heart and soul, he made me stop and pay attention.
Like any artistic performance, his dance was open to interpretation. But to me it delivered a message of why we each need to be exactly who we are. That’s how and when we shine. Thank you for the reminder and the inspiration, Jordan.
• The woman I met in the horse barn. She was leaning against one of the stalls, with a cane in one hand and a brace on one knee, struggling to get a couple of dollar bills out of her purse.
“Do you need help?” I asked.
She nodded. “I want to get a drink from the vending machine.”
That machine was about twenty steps away—which might as well have been a mile for someone with mobility issues. In those twenty steps, she told me she’s facing two knee replacements. Yet she’d come to the fair by herself, using Park and Ride for her transportation. She’d considered borrowing a friend’s scooter but couldn’t make the logistics work, so she was easing herself through the fair one step at a time—on a blistering day.
She didn’t complain. And once she got her drink from the vending machine, she politely refused any more help and was ready to keep going. I thought about what it would take for her to walk from the entrance of the fair all the way to the horse barn and back. Monumental effort and determination. That’s what it would take. I didn’t get her name, but witnessing her resolve will stay with me for a long time.
• My friend Mary McCarthy, Des Moines yoga teacher extraordinaire. Mary and her family were in line just ahead of us as we waited to board the sky ride. We had a few minutes to chat while we waited. And, in a perfectly orchestrated reminder that all roads lead to Iowa, our recently transplanted Colorado friends discovered that they know some of the same people as Mary’s husband. Of COURSE they do. This “coincidence” took probably three minutes or less. It was inspiring in its own way, reminding us how connected we all are.
So there you go. You can experience the Iowa State Fair in a million different ways—literally, since about a million people go each year. Grand things happen there—big tractors, big acts, big tenderloins.
But sometimes it’s the small moments that stay with you, long after the chocolate chip cookies are gone.
I’m delighted to be part of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative.
We aren't in Iowa for the fair this year, Debra. Thank you for taking us along with you and reminding us of the magic that happens at the Iowa State Fair!