"Our State Fair is a great state fairDon't Miss it, don't even be late"
I live in Iowa and in the month of August everyone...EVERYONE...becomes obsessed with the Iowa State Fair. Iowa's state fair has such renown that it was OUR state fair which Rogers and Hammerstein immortalized and NOT the Texas State Fair (contrary to the 1962 movie version). It took Hollywood to move the locale so the story was someplace they thought was "big" enough to impress people. I guess Iowa is boring to those folks. I would dispute that though.
Iowa is a nice little state (even if our politician are looney from time to time). And indeed, our state fair is a GREAT state fair. The Iowa State Fair has animals in plenty-from the Super Bull to sheep to pigs. This year the big news is a record breaking Angus Bull named "Big Black" weighing in at a whopping 3404 pounds.
(Steve Pope/Iowa State Fair)
Food is a very big deal at the Iowa State Fair. You can get anything you want on a stick. Pork chops, lamb, chocolate covered bananas, apples, cheese, deep fried twinkies...you name it - and it can be purchased on a stick at the state fair.
I admit, this column doesn't really have anything to do with shapeshifters or writing or anything paranormal, so I'm not sure why I'm writing about it except... August is fair time and whether you attend or not, conversations and thoughts invariably involve the state fair's highlights, so if you ever set a story in Iowa in August be sure to mention the fair.
Are other states as obsessed with their state fairs? Tell me. What's the attitude where you live?
