We FINALLY went to the IOWA STATE FAIR!!!

I’ve wanted to go to the Iowa State Fair for about a decade, but while I worked in higher education I wasn’t allowed to take vacation days in August. Last year we left Florida at the beginning of August and went to Alaska at the end of August, so we didn’t have time to make it to Iowa. But this year was the year!

The Iowa and Minnesota state fairs are only a week apart, so we waited until the last weekend of the Iowa State Fair so we could go to the first weekend of the Minnesota State Fair, and the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in the middle.

The weekend we came for the Iowa State Fair there was a heat wave and an excessive heat warning, because of course there was, but that didn’t stop us from having fun.

This fair is so giant, like I expected it to be big, but this was next level, couldn’t have imagined this scale of fair, and I was blown away. It was like being at a fair from a movie.

We got some swag from the Varied Industry building, it was basically a trade show. We got fans from PBS Iowa and gave a cell phone company a fake name and info so we could make a beaded bracelet. Because we’re grown. 

Our first snack/drink stop was lemonade, the most fair beverage of them all, and then on to get one of the foods voted best of the fair, a deep fried bacon brisket mac and cheese grilled cheese. It was the most over the top thing I think I’ve ever tried and it was delicous. It came with a chipotle raspberry dipping sauce that was a little spicy for my delicate palate, but tasty, and the sandiwch wasn’t greesy. It had a nice balance of smoked meat and creamy mac and cheese flavors. The texture was good, and it was just all around a delight to eat.

To balance out our epic sandiwch experience, we got a cup of watermelon and a refill of lemonade next.

Then it was off to see the animals. We saw horses, including some of the most gigantic horses I’ve ever seen, goats, sheep, and cows. We didn’t see any pigs though. Their building was full of goats, so maybe they only come to the first part of the fair? Who knows.

We watched some goat and cow showing.

After hanging out with the animals and petting any that would let me, we headed off to the agriculture building to see the beautiful veggies, Christmas trees, and flowers.

We shared a free hard boiled egg from the Iowa Egg Council while we waited in line to see the ice and butter sculptures. Yes, BUTTER sculptures.

At this point we were so sweaty that more fair food was absolutely out of the question, so we each got a large frozen apple juice to help us cool off.

We saw some police officers having a nice day working at the fair. I mean is that just the most fair sighting or what?!

We watched the University of Iowa Hawkeye Marching Band perform, and watched people ride the terrifying carnival rides.

Our final stop of the fair was Barksdale’s State Fair Cookies, for a cup of warm chocolate chip cookies that may have changed my life. Ok that’s dramatic, but they were so good.

We missed the city bus back to downtown by about 10 min, and the next one wasn’t due for almost an hour, so we got an Uber back to the hotel, and I have never been so grateful for air conditioning in my life.

I wish the weather had been better so we could have spent a little more time at the fair, and enjoyed some more deep fried foods, but we got to see everything I really wanted to see and had some good snacks. I don’t know if we’ll ever come back again, but if we do, I know it will be incredible.

Have you ever been to the Iowa State Fair? Or your state fair? What are your favorite fair activities or snacks? Let us know in the comments.

*Iowa State Fair logo used without permission. Sorry, Iowa.