2012 Iowa State Fair!

Another busy day...

Deep fried twinkie
Greek Gyros sandwich
Roasted Leg of Lamb sandwich
Corn dog
Hot Lips (boneless chicken breast breaded, fried and dipped in buffalo hot sauce)
Breaded pork loin sandwich

...four interviews...

Official Iowa State Fair photographers
Autorama RV/Camper owner, Ed Garner
Greek Gyros employees
Steer N Stein owner, Stan Kanovich

... 8 bands/entertainment

Craig Swallwell Blues Band
Gimmik
Sugar Creek Cloggers
Haywire (karaoke band)
Hearts Desire (karaoke band)
Mike Aceto
Marshall County Hangmen
Mark Cruise's Rockin' Tribute to Country

There was a film crew wandering the grounds checking out all of the fried foods. A good acquaintance, John Busbee was on hand. I will have to get more info today.

Getting ready to venture out on the last day!

good luck!!!

The last day of the fair had to be a record breaker. It is always half price admission. I have not seen as large a crowd at the Iowa State Fair. I was busy saying "See ya next year!" to all of the vendors that I know and catching some great music!

3 interviews...

Radio station Lazer 103.3 dj Murph
1 juggalo, 1 juggalette
Civil War reenactment people

...7 food ...

Sausage egg and cheese sandwich
Cajun chicken on a stick
Bacon wrapped egg
Pork chop on a stick
Brisket sandwich
Cheese curds
Deep fried oreos

...15 bands

Matts Family
Misfit Toyz
Maximum Ames All Stars
Sydney Lett
Smalltown Superheros
Fat Tuesday
Double Barrel
Milk Drive
Exit 113
Standing Hampton
Joe Inman
Shadowchaserz
Here Come the Mummies
Boyz II Men
WAR

I am calling this years Iowa State Fair attendance a record breaker.


Fair Day2011 2012
Day 1 91,001 88,219
Day 2 104,622 108,881
Day 3 112,542 115,787
Day 4 100,159 94,292
Day 5 90,369 91,267
Day 6 87,611 93,513
Day 7 103,155 90,525
Day 8 79,864 86,783
Day 9 93,468 97,008
Day 10 108,518 111,113
Day 11 109,650 ?

I always take the shuttle bus. $1 for a round trip ride right up to one of the main gates.

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The ride is about 12 minutes. After arriving I always hot foot it over to the nearest info booth to pick up the daily schedule of events.

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Looking north on the first sky-glider. I do not take this because it covers flat ground. The other sky-glider takes you to the top of the fair.

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Nearby is my favorite foods of the fair.

Ollie's Crab Fritters

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The crab fritters were crazy popular.

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Ollie kept busy all throughout the fair.

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Quesadilla Junction

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Oliver Regal | Facebook

Off to find a beer to go with the crab fritters!

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Ah yes, Jalapeno Pete's!

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The fritters were a perfectly seasoned with flakes of crab meat. Very tasty!

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Off to find some friends that work at the Pork Tips and Beef Tips.

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oooooh yeahhhhh

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With their blend of seasoning.

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Off to find the Double Bacon Corn Dog!

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This is a hot dog on a stick, wrapped in bacon and fried. This is dipped in corn dog batter with bacon bits and fried again.

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Off to find a beer!

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A Keg Creek Brewing Company red ale went well with these

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yummm...

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Animals!

Biggest Ram

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meh!

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Biggest Boar

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OINK

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Nice rack!

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MOAR animals!

Prepping for show.

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Baby Moos

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The Big Steak

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That boar hog needs to update its Google maps. Wrong state, don't they have their own fair?

I want to see more about of that boer goat though. Suspect some nubian bloodline.

I noticed the Wine tent had moved, to the top of the hill, ugh!

Some of the sights on the way up.

Steer N Stein

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The Bud Tent.

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I noticed something was missing. They had a custom concrete tabletop made with an image of a tapper with beer flowing out, the Budweiser logo inside the beer. About two weeks before the fair, someone used a cutting torch and stole the table. The original cost was $3500. The spot where it stood.

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Getting closer to the wine tent.

Pioneer Hall

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Antique tractors outside Pioneer Hall.

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Getting closer! Grape stomping.

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Yay! I made it!

Iowa Wine Growers Association – Iowa Wine & Cheese Garden at the Iowa State Fair

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I bought some Maytag Dairy Farms: blue cheese, wheels, wedges, white cheddar, swiss, Iowa cheese and went off to try a few wines!

Maytag Blue with some reds.

This was my favorite.
Cedar Ridge Vineyards, Cedar Rapids, IA
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This was a little too oakey.
Iowa Wine | Jasper Winery
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This was too sweet.
Cedar Ridge Vineyards Wines
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Maytag Muenster with some whites.

This was delicious!
Santa Maria Vineyard & Winery - Iowa Vineyard, Iowa Wines
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This was my favorite.
Snus Hill Winery – Award Winning Iowa Vineyard & Winery
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Too sweet.
Snus Hill Winery – Award Winning Iowa Vineyard & Winery
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Deep Fried Pickle Dawg

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This booth had a nice article in the local paper promoting their new Deep Fried Pickle Dawg. They did more business the first two days of the fair than they did all of last year! This is a dill pickle spear wrapped in a regular or spicy cream cheese with a choice of pastrami or ham. This is battered and fried.

I chose the spicy fried dawg with pastrami.

YUMMM....

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They have regular dogs too.

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I noticed a local tv station was setting up to do a live spot.

WHOTV.com

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The guy in the truck said he did not know what he was doing. lol

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I saw one of the reporters nearby and decided to interview him!

Ed’s Weather Journal | WHOTV.com

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Ed's favorite foods at the fair are the pork chop dinner at the Pork Tent, Deep fried snickers and the Pickle Dawgs. He had an app on his phone that listed the nutritional facts of all of the fair food. Ed said there is a person that will eat 4 Jennie Grinders every day of the fair. That's 44 grinders at 65 grams of fat (27 grams saturated fat) each!

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Off to the AE Stage at the top of the hill.

The Birds Nest

The Bird's Nest at the Iowa State Fair - Des Moines, IA - Arts/Entertainment/Nightlife | Facebook

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The Gigantor. This was $9.75 last year.

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The Diablo. This is new. I did not try this.

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There is also a bacon wrapped egg. That is coming up later in this thread.

Channel 8 news broadcasts from the AE Stage everyday.

Iowa News, Des Moines, Iowa News, Weather, and Sports - KCCI NewsChannel 8

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Oliver Regal of Ollie's Crab Fritters and Quesadilla Junction was interviewed during the news broadcast. We went for a few beers afterwards.

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On the way back to his booths we stopped The Rib Shack The Rib Shack - Knoxville, IA - Barbecue Restaurant | Facebook

Joanie gave us some great bbq

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The sun sets on my first day at the fair.

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Walking down Grand Ave.

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On the way out I caught Strawberry Fields - The Ultimate Beatles Tribute Band in Full Costume at the Budweiser Stage.

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