A Fair Comparison

For decades now, my family and I have been big fans of the Iowa State Fair.  This includes not just attending it (we usually attend more than one day), but also competing in it (usually in food / baking categories).  The sites, sounds, food, etc. continue to entertain us annually each August.

Meanwhile, we've always wanted to personally compare it to other well-known American state fairs.  The list of other fairs that would qualify is short, maybe only Minnesota and Texas come to mind.  I've always been a bit skeptical about Iowans' claims to having the greatest state fair, without having attended any others.

After many years of talking about it, I recently spent a day at the Minnesota State Fair in St. Paul.  So here, I now give you the definitive guide comparing the Iowa State Fair (ISF) with the Minnesota State Fair (MSF).

Size

MSF is larger, both in terms of grounds area and attendance -- daily and overall attendance is roughly double the size of ISF.  A big plus for MSF was the flatness of their grounds, whereas about half of the ISF is on the side of a hill.  Parking can be an issue at both places, although both have park and ride options along with side street parking (both more expensive at MSF).  Advantage MSF.

Midway

Very similar.  Both fairs have midway rides, including separate areas for children.  Both have thrill ride areas.  Both have giant slides.  Both have sky glides.  Both have Ye Olde Mills!  MSF had what looked like a permanent, very large Ferris wheel structure, as well as a tower up which one could ride in a rotating, external compartment and see the fairgrounds.  Advantage MSF.

Grandstand

Again, very similar.  They also attract basically the same national concert tours.  Advantage no one.

Livestock exhibits

MSF has the usual cattle / swine / horse facilities, but the livestock area at ISF is larger, maybe by half.  This is part of an overall trend of the ISF being much, much more focused on farming and agriculture.  A related example would be that MSF had no area devoted to farm equipment displays, while ISF has a huge area for that.  Also, there were no pork or beef producer food tents at MSF, but there was a turkey federation tent.  Advantage ISF.

Agricultural / food exhibits

ISF is much more robust in terms of competing / displaying vegetables and horticulture.  One notable exception is honey / honey production, where MSF devoted more space.  ISF also appeared to have more had a greater number and variety of food competitions / displays.  Advantage ISF.

Cultural exhibits

There wasn't much difference in how much, but there were differences in how.  For instance, MSF showed more painted art, but little photography, which is the inverse of ISF.  Also, MSF had cultural displays in more buildings, where ISF basically sticks to a single building, maybe two.  Advantage no one.

Food and beverage

Basically, you can get any deep fat fried thing you might want at either fair.  Both also have buildings devoted to selling chocolate chip cookies in a bucket.  While ISF has pork chops on a stick, MSF has walleye on a stick.  (Curiously, there seemed to be no one selling pork tenderloins at MSF, which are a veritable staple at ISF.)  ISF does have a much, much larger craft beer tent, which is probably due to Iowa's encouraging craft beer laws.  Another oddity:  MSF has a lot of vendors still only accepting cash as a form of payment.  Advantage ISF.

Free stages / entertainment

Both have numerous free stages / amphitheaters for thrill shows and music.  While the ISF tends to have more shows and limit the live music until the evening, MSF had live music starting by noon.  Conversely, MSF holds its statewide talent competition in the evening, while ISF presents theirs during the day.  Advantage no one.

Environment

A big trade-off here.  The ISF is cleaner, partially due to golf carts and other small 4-wheeled vehicles moving supplies and collecting trash all day, making for traffic which visitors have to constantly dodge.  At MSF, you rarely see any motorized vehicles, but you also tend to see more trash receptacles and a bit more uncollected trash on the grounds.  (I later learned that MSF has both external and underground avenues with which to transport supplies and trash -- do not know if this is true.)  Advantage no one.

Rest rooms

Need a separate paragraph for this.  MSF had at least four separate, huge, clean, restroom only buildings on the grounds, to go with other one-off facilities.  Since they have many more people on the grounds on any given day, maybe this is more of a necessity, but it was still nice.  Advantage MSF.

Conclusion

MSF is more diverse, both in the people attending and the things to do.  ISF is more focused on farming and competitions.  Both the ISF and MSF are wonderful state celebrations that I would recommend attending multiple times.  No one could reasonably say one was 'better' than the other, so don't believe anyone who does.

Caucus Of Death

Disaster.  Debacle.  Embarrassment.  Fiasco.

You may think I'm talking about the current presidential administration.  While those words definitely all fit that, I'm actually referring to another political item:  The 2020 Iowa Caucuses.

This isn't going to be a review of what went wrong. [Technology.]  Nor will it be a prediction about the future of Iowa's first-in-the-nation presidential election year event.  [Terminal.]  It's to clarify something the national media doesn't cover:

Most Iowans do not give a damn about preserving their first-in-the-nation caucus status.

The only folks who really ever cared were / are mainly political activists and wonks, who constitute a very small percentage of the population.  I'll also throw in the hotel and restaurant industry and a few other small main street businesses, which enjoyed higher sales from all of the extra people roaming the state off and on for months.

Yay for the economic growth of a few, on a quadrennial basis.

So for anyone who thinks Iowans will be universally sad to see the caucuses abandoned, no worries!  We're actually looking forward to having fewer political commercials bombard us on both traditional and digital media platforms.  We're looking forward to having more elbow room at the Iowa State Fair.  We're looking forward to the calm.

The Iowa caucuses have always been a slightly goofy anachronism in the privacy-challenged digital age.  It may well be time for them to die.

In which case, not that many Iowans will be crying at the funeral.

August And Everything After

August has always been a month of mixed feelings for me.

As a youngster, it was always important to me as my birth month.  If fact, I always considered my mid-month birthday as the pinnacle summertime event of my childhood.  Unfortunately, because of its close proximity to the start of a new school year, the immediate aftermath was a huge letdown.  It was like coming off of a sugar high.

As an adult, August is still an important milestone month, because now my wedding anniversary is also included as part of it.  But while the school year has no direct impact on me now, it’s still a negative mental marker of the summer ending, with the daylight hours getting shorter, and the temperature getting colder.

This year, my August attitude has been the same as usual.  There have been many highs in the first half of the month to go along with the birthday / anniversary attention, including family gatherings for weddings, and the always-important Iowa State Fair.  (Not just attending the fair, but once again competing and judging.)

But now here we are at month’s end, with the Labor Day holiday at hand, and the melancholy feeling is taking over.   The more leisurely summer days and evenings are ending, and everything you told yourself you’d wait to do until the Fall is now staring you smack in the face.

One good thing about getting older is, I can at least enjoy the usually beautiful September / October weather.  That wasn’t the case in my younger years, when the hours of helping work on the farm were even longer.  It wasn’t the case in my young adult years, either, because those months typically brought with them a vast array of kids’ school and sports activities.

Farewell, August.  I look forward to seeing you again next year – at least your first 20 or so days.

Judgement Day

Until this month, I can only think of one other time in my life when I was asked to judge some type of contest.  That was at least 20 years ago, when I judged written essays in a small scholarship competition.

I got to experience another form of judging this month at the Iowa State Fair.  For over two decades, my spouse and daughters have been entering food baking competitions there.  This year, we decided we wanted to see what it was like on the other side of the table, so we sponsored our own category.  This not only allowed our family to choose the category, but also choose the judges -- us, of course.

Months ago, we decided our competition would be chocolate raspberry dessert, and we provided our clever category name:  Death By Chocolate Raspberry.  This choice was largely based on my own bias for that type of dessert.  To ensure we'd have some entries, we put up $100 in prize money -- $60 for first, $30 for second, and $10 for third.

Judgment day came, and we were pleased to have 14 state fair entries with plenty of variety.  There were chocolate raspberry cheesecakes, cupcakes, brownies, and more.  As with most food categories, the entries weren't judged solely on flavor.  We had decided to use three criteria: 50% of the points were based on taste, 25% on appearance, and 25% on creativity.

Influenced by both time and a desire to not get sick, we judges divided the items among us, selected our favorites (the highest point-getters), and then got together to determine the best of the best.  In the end, a mocha chocolate, raspberry-filled cupcake came out on top, and a great time was had by all.

I hope to be a judge in the future for this or another Iowa State Fair food category.  Like anything else, after having experienced it for the first time, I'd be much better at it the next time.  Knowing what to look for in the recipe / item, what to say (or not to say) on the entrant comment cards, and how to consistently score different types of entries will all be more second-nature to me.

Also, I like eating.

When Being Close Counts

I attended another Iowa State Fair this year.  It’s only a small exaggeration to say every time I go, my dozen or so hours there are segmented into roughly 30 minutes each, during which I visit the same exhibits and venues that I do every year.

However, I do try to take in something different every year (besides new fair food).  Last year, it was arm wrestling.

This year’s new thing was spending about an hour watching horseshoe pitching.  Not just any horseshoe pitching, mind you, but the Iowa State Fair Women’s Horseshoe Pitching Championship.

After acquainting myself with the scoring (3 points for a ringer, 1 point for being within six inches – you’ve heard the phrase about close only counting in horseshoes, right?), I settled in to watch a few simultaneous matches.  And then it hit me.

Horseshoes is the more rudimentary ancestor to today’s popular ‘bags’ game that so many can be found playing at picnics, or tailgating events.  Other people probably figured that out a long time ago, but only now did I gain enough insight to make the connection.

You stand about equally as far away from the target.  You throw two shoes (bags), and the other person throws two, with more points for shoes around the ringer (bags in the hole).  Missing the target, but still being close, may get you points.  Winner is the first to a certain number of points.

The only real difference in the two games, other than the horseshoe pit being dirtier, is that horseshoe pitchers are better athletes.  I’m serious.  It takes almost no effort to toss a lightweight beanbag, but it takes a measure of strength and effort to toss metal horseshoes for a while.  It’s more like bowling, in that regard.

Except close doesn’t count in bowling.