A day (ok evening) at the Iowa State Fair

I'm usually stuck in my "world" of backstage so I rarely get to venture out to see the fairs I visit.  I really never get time to get out of the 3 block radius that I usually stay in here and see the city.  This year I had the opportunity to do both!  We don't have concerts in the grandstand on Monday and Wednesday because they have track events with cars and tractors.  I typically stay at the hotel and work on the computer and phone advancing shows for the New York State Fair.  I will then venture out at night to see the free stages, shows that's I've assisted in booking.  Monday I had the opportunity to head to downtown Des Moines to have dinner with a few friends that are performing here at the fair.  It was a wonderful dinner and good company.  Last night I wanted to make it a point to be a tourist or normal fair goer.  In the six years I've been coming here I haven't been in most of the main buildings and even when people mention the buildings I couldn't tell you where they were.  

I started my trek visiting the new Budweiser venue.  My friends Gladys and Leroy VanDyke were with the Country Gold Tour and were the perfect fit for senior day.  Old school country at it's finest!  Next I made my way to the Varied Industries building.  It was full of booths from colleges, to people selling stuff, to just informational booths.  I saw where all the seniors were camped out, the massage chairs. :)  I walked among the hundreds of food vendors offering up everything from deep fried everything, pizza, walking tacos, and salad on a stick (yeah I guess they can do that too).  I headed to the Cultural Center but first stopped off at several other buildings peeking my head inside to realize, from the smell, that it was show rings.  I've been in enough of those that I was just fine bypassing them.  The Cultural Center featured photos and paintings, they had balloon art, jewelry for sale.  There was someone making pottery right there in front of you and a lady teaching a couple of ladies a painting technique.  Definitely the building for me!  I then headed over to the Animal Learning Center to find my favorite, the birthing center.  They have pigs, ducks, goats, cattle, etc.  that are about to deliver their young.  If you're lucky (or not depending on how you see it) you can be there when it happens.  They film them and play it back throughout the day.  The photos below are basically my walk through of the building.  I also finally got to see the famous Butter Cow.  This has been a tradition for the Iowa State Fair for YEARS!  They choose a different sculpture to make every year as well.  Unfortunately, one of the animal rights organizations broke into the fridge Sunday morning and spilled red paint all of it and wrote a message on the window.  The fair called in the sculpture at 4AM and by the time the doors opened it was as good as new.  Had the organization not reported what they did to the media, no one would have ever known. 

Some people don't like to read...or listen

Baby ducklings

Her neck must hurt in that position

Baby calf born at 10:10AM

I always find the monkey :)

The infamous Skyglider

The Butter Cow- A Tradition of the Iowa State Fair

Beautiful orchids

Abe Lincoln made of butter

Excited for the hypnotist show

Next I got to experience something that I never thought would happen.  I've had the pleasure of knowing the, we'll say famous, hypnotist, Ron Diamond.  He is one of the most sought after performers in the industry.  He just GETS the fair scene and knows exactly how to put on a show that is great for all ages, is safe, funny and clean.  I've tried to even just see his show in the many years and had yet to see one.  Not only did I get to see the show...I was in the show!  There are always more people that want to be a part of the show than he has seats.  Doing hypnosis in a crowd like a fair is nearly impossible.  So he keeps the crowd of participants to 30.  I was thrilled to receive one of those tickets!!  I've never been hypnotized before so I had no expectations as to how it should feel, etc.  I remember everything that happened, it was just a sensation that I couldn't move drastically.  I could talk, blink, smile, laugh but at one point he asked the crowd to clap.  I thought I should be clapping too but I couldn't.  It was a very relaxing feeling and was even better and different once he woke us up.  He never made us to anything to silly or embarrassing.  He told us we were going to the fair petting zoo.  He said get up, go out into the crowd and pet the animals.  You'll see the rest in the video below.  I'm wearing a blue tank top and khaki shorts.  

On stage, I'm on the back row three in from the right

Hilarious!

After the show we all went to see the free shows with Jana Kramer, Ben Taylor (son of the great James Taylor).  My day at the fair couldn't have been better!

Susan Knapp Amphitheater 

Jana Kramer on stage- she loved her fans