Another Iowa State Fair is in the books. The attendance did not top the 1 million mark, but it was close.
We also know many of you were watching our Iowa Public Television coverage of the Fair.
I remember as a kid watching the coverage, now I get to be a part of it. I truly enjoy going to the Fair as I’ve mentioned before.
My stories ranged from the Butter Cow to Wood chopping event at Pioneer Hall.
Here’s a rundown of my stories this year:
Before the Fair even started, we got a look inside the new Jacobson Exhibition Center. It is the new crown jewel of the fairgrounds. Fair General Manager Gary Slater gives John Torpy and myself a tour of the new building.
Noah inspects the Butter Cow.
John Torpy, Steve Carns and myself took a couple of stops inside the John Deere Agricultural building to see Sarah Pratt in action sculpting this year’s Butter Cow. We tried to show how the various times look different in the Ag building and how the cow looks in various stages. Let me know what you think. Did it work?
The Goodman family of Rose Hill was one of 6 Iowa farm families honored with the Way We Live Award. Rick Fuller, Josh Buettner and I visited the farm earlier this summer. A big thank you to their hospitality for the crew. Amber wrote the nomination letter about her family and she was right on about her father Mark, mother Linda and brother Daniel. Did I mention the kids were the cutest ever? Here’s the link to story. Also, thanks to Marlin Schram for the video of the ceremony when the Goodman’s were presented their plaque in the Knapp Animal Learning Center.
4-H project from Carroll County.
I was a 4-H member for the Shady Grove Super Stars. I was even a charter member of the group. One year, I refinished a chair that won a blue ribbon at the Iowa State Fair. So, this next assignment was fun. I got to do a feature on the 4-H building. I decided one of the stories not known about the building is the day all the exhibits come to the fair for judging and display. Here’s our look at the organized chaos as told to us by Mitchell Hoyer. I did run into an old Wartburg friend Andrea Flater while on the shoot with Rick Fuller. Also Eric Allen‘s mother in from Montezuma. John Torpy got some great pics of the fair ribbon dress. We also saw the dinosaur from Carroll County.
Wood chopping in the rain.
During the rain on Tuesday, Phil Blobaum and I were at the Pioneer Hall Wood Chopping event. Here’s the YouTube link if our IPTV site doesn’t load for you. The event did have a new element of danger with the water and the axes. Now, that’s entertainment.
I did do a little live blogging of this day that included a visit with my parents and all that rain. It also included a visit with Iowa Public Radio’s John Pemple. A link to the video interview is here.
Pie Eating.
The last event was the pie eating contest at the Bill Riley Stage. Lots of fun there for sure. Here’s the YouTube link. One of my favorite moments includes a girl from Indianola winning her round of the contest. Her reaction captured by John Torpy is great. Maybe we’ll see that in an open to the show next year.
Again, the video page with all the IPTV videos is here.
Paul Berge and Chris Gourley.
One fun story is the look behind the scenes at the production of the IPTV Fair program. Paul Berge and Chris Gourley did the work on this piece. They showed a lot of my co-workers who put in endless hours to bring the coverage into your homes, now in high-definition.
Paul Yeager
