The Iowa State Fair — Part II
Let me be the first to tell you … there’s NOTHING healthy to eat at the Iowa State Fair. No – I take that back. I saw a PB&J Sandwich (on a stick, of course) available at the Agriculture Building. Other than that most everything else is fried, re-fried, glazed or smothered in cheese, gravy or frosting. Or occasionally all three.
For a foodie like me, it’s Mecca. But you have to be judicious in your food choices as you traipse around the Fairgrounds. You don’t want to fill up on gigantic turkey legs or uninspired nachos when there’s so much more to choose from right around the corner. I myself am partial to the cinnamon rolls the size of your head. And for the first time ever, I waited in line for a funnel cake. Not just any funnel cake, you see. It was a red velvet funnel cake. It was the closest thing to nirvana I’ve ever experienced on earth. Every time I tell that story, half my friends are repulsed by the idea, the other half drool at the picture on my phone. Random strangers would stop me on the street and say, “What is that?” or “Where do I get one of those?” No wonder there was a line.
My friend Heather was a good sport when it came to eating. She’d placate my appetite by asking me if I was hungry every fifteen minutes. (I was.) Since I was only spending two days at the fair, I wanted to consume as much as is humanly possible. Heather had a teeny nibble off everything I consumed. She showed amazing restraint.
Heather is a well-known DJ in Des Moines. She has the distinction of being the only female on-air personality working at the station. She’s learned to play up her femme fatale-ness and yet still be one of the boys. She also scored killer seats for the Def Leppard/Heart concert that evening. I’ve seen Heart blow the roof off amphitheaters before, but never had the chance to see Def Leppard. Imagine my surprise when Heather also had backstage passes for a meet-and-greet with the legendary rockers.
Joe Elliot and Rick Allen could not have been nicer or more congenial. Chatty, engaging and cracking jokes the entire time. Once they hit the stage, though – all bets were off. They whipped the crowd in to a fevered frenzy and kept us rockin’ for nearly two hours. By the end, I was tired for them. Keep in mind the group founded in 1977 and have kept on rockin’ in the free world for nearly 35 years.
All in all, my Fair weekend was a chance to hang with my friends, my relatives, my old classmates and about 200,000 other Iowans. If you haven’t tried it, put it on your to-do list in 2012.
To me, the Fair is a homecoming. Not only do I see countless random friends … I get to indulge in all the things that make me a proud Iowan. This year was a strange assortment of fried food on a stick … combined with a media blitzkrieg. When I was there on Friday, there were nine (count ‘em – NINE) Republican presidential hopefuls running around the fairgrounds trying to connect with voters. I literally bumped in to Newt Gingrich walking down the grand concourse. And I spotted Sarah Palin talking to a rabid group of newbie reporters. Imagine my surprise when I turned around and noticed hubby Todd Palin was standing behind me. He seemed shocked when I asked for a photo with him. After I took the pic … I was surprised I’d asked him too. Probably just wanted to record the moment for posterity. (That and no one would believe I would do such a thing without proof.)
I traipsed around the fairgrounds with my dad and a couple friends. We managed to score a golf cart to maneuver around the fairgrounds with ease. A golf cart makes you soooo A-list, it’s not even funny. Why walk the fair when you can be shuttled around like a VIP dignitary? I think my dad put it best when he said, “Wow! We saw everything I wanted to see AND ate a corndog in under 90 minutes.” I can’t even wrap my brain around all the things we ate before lunch. A cinnamon roll the size of my head. Two scoops of ice cream. A Maid-Rite. And deep-fried Oreos. It’s a veritable smorgasbord of unhealthy food.