More Iowa State Fair moments…
The Iowa State Fair has never been emblazoned by the theme – “More Fun Than You Can Shake a Stick At” – too bad. A visit to the fair really has the potential of being great stick-shaking fun.
Our family of seven piled into two vehicles early Saturday morning and headed I-80 East.
When our kids were 4-Hers we spent a good part of our summers at either the county or state fair and nostalgia has been pulling at us of late.
My favorite part of the Iowa State Fair was being with my peeps.
No, not the ones in the fowl barn, the ones who live, or used to, in my house. We laughed, whined, guzzled shared water, sweated and walked together for several glorious steamy hours.
And we ate.
Smoothies, funnel cakes, onion blossoms, tenderloins, Mexican food done as only Iowa can, gallons of water, and fresh squeezed lemonade. Yum.
We patted huge draft horses with hooves bigger than our heads, snickered at polka-dotted llamas. Like salmon squeezing upstream we entered and attempted the many rows of vendors in the only air-conditioned building. A few “as seen on TV” demonstrations caught our fancy, but not our money.
This year, we got to see moldy award winning food. The 4-H displays had been sweltering for nine days. Not pretty. Though some cakes decorated in fondant looked fresh as a daisy. I’ve not seen anything prettier in magazines or on the television, one exhibitor even crafted a guitar, drum and amp. The record breaking pumpkin weighing in at over 1,100 pounds putrefied on the lawn.
Photography has to be my all time favorite exhibit, though. From the 4-Hers to the adults, I was awed by the images they captured. Who woulda thought wooden clothespins encased in glassy ice could be so beautiful? And the shots of scenery from exotic to homey transported me to places I’ve never been and places I will never tire of.
There are some very talented people in Iowa.
And speaking of talented people...you must go here tomorrow Friday 8-24-07 (after coming here to read Mark Mynheir's interview, of course.)
I'm doing a regular gig at NovelJourney blogspot(usually every Friday) and I had the opportunity to interview Kevin Alexander from Writers Digest Magazine. Now Kevin isn't exactly a household name, but he's dang funny. And Writers Digest is pretty much THE writing magazine. I so enjoyed bantering with Kevin and I think you'll love his slightly sarcastic answers.
3 comments:
What fun!
The Minnesota State Fair has opened today...and I hope to be wandering through the Fairgrounds soon....with a stick of any food in my hand. There's just something about State Fair food...that can't be missed. Forget the calories, forget the grease....it's the State Fair!
Have you been affected at all by the rising waters? Such tragedy for so many families. I can't even imagine.
Diane
Kelly, I envy you. I do! No one can decribe things like you do. I was at that fair as I read, and I was having so much fun! Gotta go wash the cotton candy off my face... I can smell the manure.
Love you!
Janet, You are the best ego stroker in the whole, wide world. Or since writers don't have enough confidence for ego - maybe actually you are an angst deterrent... Yeah. The best angst deterrent in the whole, wide, world. Now if you could just bottle that.: )
And I love you, too.
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