March 28, 2024

‘Iowa in the Summertime’

Iowa State Fair gets underway in Des Moines

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DES MOINES — Andrea Frier and her 12-year-old daughter Kirsten, of Colfax, finished a rainbow sprinkled vanilla ice cream cone as they walked through the dairy cattle barn Thursday on day one of the 2016 Iowa State Fair.

Kirsten said ice cream from The Daily Barn is not only her favorite food but her favorite part of the fair. For Andrea and her family, a trip to the famous Dairy Barn is rooted in tradition.

“My dad always bought us the first ice cream cone of the fair,” Andrea said. “Now that he’s gone we still always have the Dairy Barn ice cream. That’s our family moment.”

After Wednesday’s wet kickoff parade through downtown Des Moines and a rainy start Thursday, the sun came out for day one of the Iowa State Fair by lunchtime.

The first day of the fair featured the twins and triplets contest and talent show on the Anne and Bill Riley Stage, a dairy cattle exhibitions and, of course, every food you can think of fried and on a stick.

Rachel Tigges is co-founder of a tech start-up in New York City, but she’s originally from Caroll. She came home just to go to the Iowa State Fair and hasn’t been in 15 years.

A bit windblown after a trip down the Giant Slide with her infant niece Marion Tigges of Urbandale, Rachel said there are a few things that are must-see before she heads back east.

“The slide was very fun, but the corn dogs and seeing the Butter Cow are on my list,” she said.

Corey Popp and Cory Schmidt were two other out-of-staters who traveled in for the Iowa State Fair.

At the dairy barn the 22 and 16-year-old two dairy cattle producers from St. Cloud, Minn. were spraying sheen on their Ayrshire cow before Thursday’s dairy cattle show in the pavilion.

Besides a blue ribbon or purple ribbon, the young showers hope to take home a bit of “Iowa Nice.”

“The people, they’re just really nice,” Popp said.

“A lot of people come up and say hi, that’s what I like. A lot of good times and good people,” Schmidt added.

At noon Mike Collum of Grinnell sits on a wooden bench for a date with an ear of corn from the Mexican Sweet Corn stand near the Iowa State University Discovery Garden. The son of a Maytag retiree, Collum said he always tries to make it to the state fair at least twice during its 10-day run.

“I want to see the tractor pull. There’s all kinds of stuff to eat. It’s a good time. This is Iowa in the summertime.”

The Iowa Sate Fair continues on Des Moines’ east side on Friday through Aug. 21.

Contact Mike Mendenhall at mmendenhall@newtondailynews.com