Iowa State Fair: 2021 Edition

Of all the Iowa State Fair commericals on TV, I like this one the best ------> Link

My reason is at the 20 second mark:

There aren't any pictures of the 2020 Iowa State Fair because it was cancelled. The ISF sent out a call for people to submit their favorite fair photos from past fairs as a way to get promotional material. That picture of Char eating a Fair Square is from 2014, and she is almost five years old. We received some free fair tickets because her picture was chosen.

Not going to the fair wasn't an option. We did set some rules for ourselves to be as safe as we could: 

1) We'd only attend one day.

2) We'd wear masks indoors and in long lines.

3) We'd bring water to drink and water to spray. 

4) We'd go on opening day when it was forecasted to incredibly hot and humid in hopes that we'd miss the huge crowds.

Our day started out at the Center Street Park and Ride. The buses started rolling at 8:30, and we were first in line for the first bus. 

The bus filled up pretty quickly, and the fairgrounds were very busy when we arrived at 9:00 am. 

Char couldn't get poffertjes from the Breakfast Delights stand at the Downtown Farmers' Market because they didn't return for the 2021 season. Luckily, the Wooden Shoe at the fair sells poffertjes, and they are made by the same gentleman who makes them at the famers' market. 

They were exactly the way Char remebered, "YES! These are sooo good!" 

Grabbing a free egg-on-a-stick from the Iowa Egg Council is a tradition.

So is cotton candy. The stand that Char really liked in 2019 didn't return, though. This is a bit of a cotton mess made by a first-time employee. It still tasted like melted sugar, though.

The Big Slide moved locations, but it was as fun as always.

We stopped by the Turkey Federation's Grill for a couple of turkey sandwiches. You can see that Char couldn't muster up much of a smile. That's not the turkey's fault. It was noon, and we were baking in the heat. The heat index was nearing 100 degrees. Sitting under a tent with no air flow did not help us any.

The Exhibition Center is air-conditioned, so we watched an indoor horse competition while we tried to cool down. Our masks must have been working well. We had no idea how strong the manure smell was until we lowered the masks to drink our water. We then crossed the street to walk around the newly renovated 4H building which also had AC.  

We were feeling better, so we stopped by Iowa Craft Beer tent. The tent had been relocated it to the west side of the fairgrounds. The space was much more open and comfortable. There were also some really nice breezes blowing through. Daphne and I shared a couple of brews, and Char had milk and cookies. 

I thought the beer tent was going to be our last stop, but I got my appetite back. I asked Daphne if she'd share a Gizmo with me. Her end has the banana peppers.

We sat on a shaded bench near the Bill Riley Stage to eat. It was weird. That area is usually full of people, but it was like a ghost town. Both Daphne and I wondered if there had been some kind of storm warning that we had missed. We checked our phones, but didn't see anything. Maybe 4:00 pm is low tide?

Char was a little disappointed that she didn't get a PB&J-on-a-stick at the fair. So, Mom made her one for dinner.

We didn't go home hungry, but this was the first time we didn't eat anything fried. No corndogs, cheese curds, or Grater Taters were consumed. I also didn't take many pictures. I think it was just to too hot. The heat index had reached 104 degrees when we got back to our car at 4:30 pm. We were all ready to go home.

Our plan to avoid the biggest crowds did work. The Day 2 attendance was 26,477 more people than on Day 1.

This wasn't exactly the Fair 2021 experience that I was hoping for, but it was a whole lot better than no fair at all.