Of Funnel Cakes and Mini Cows

The Iowa State fair is one of the largest in the country. It pulls in over one million visitors each year and as been going on since 1854. You can purchase over 20 food items on a stick there. I had been pretty excited to see it, simply because of all the hype surrounding it. Plus, there were to be butter sculptures of a cow and Superman. The cow, well, because they do a cow every year, apparently, and Superman, because the latest Bulletproof man is an Iowa native. Only in the midwest could you find a lifesize cow fashioned entirely of butter. How could I miss such an event?

For a month or so I had looked forward to this fair. When we found out that Phil was going to be putting in a few days of work at the booth for RVP1875 (he was demonstrating the "old" ways of furniture making) I was very excited. We had another excuse to go.

There was a twist- however. The original "Butter Cow Lady" would not be sculpting this year. No, her apprentice of 15 years, a 29 year old Iowa native, would be at the helm of the ship this year- on her own for the first time. Concerning? Yes. But a deal breaker? No.

After winding our way through traffic and the maze of rides and games we found ourselves headed toward the many exhibition buildings. There were multiple livestock barns - one for attle, one for pigs, another for sheep and goats. There were four or five buildings dedicated to crafts, tradesmen, and contests. It was quite the production. Upon our entry to the Agriculture building (the butter cow building), we saw fifty or so flowers lined up. Though all were beautiful, they had been judged and ribboned accordingly. There were squash and pumpkins and a hundred other produce items with their rating pinned for all to see. This was the butter cow barn, however, and my eyes searched for this exhibit more than any other.

I suppose it can be chalked up to media hype. For all I knew listening to the ads this cow had its own building, and Superman himself was going to stand next to his creamy-image admiring the likeness. (On a side note, can you imagine having someone carve your likeness out of butter for the one million fair visitors to gawk at?) I envisioned the woman painstakingly working with her chisels as onlookers oohed and ahhed at her skill and patience. The cow, three times the bulk of a living heifer would be so real you could almost hear it's "moo."

Alas, as I walked around the building there were a scant three windows, with the sculptures already completed, unspectacularly set for the viewing. Don't get me wrong, it was very cool to see the butter all worked up in the shape of a cow or Superman. But the cow's head was a little small. And Superman was a bit short. I snapped my picture in between the crowds closing in to see the projects that took a week and over 55o pounds of butter to complete. But, not to be dismayed by the fact that it was "only" made out of butter and didn't really dance or sing, one had to be pretty impressed that the woman actually scuplted something so large and lifelike out of the stuff. Besides, it has been an Iowa fair tradition since 1911!

We decided that we should keep the "newness" alive and buy a funnel cake. Neither of us had ever had one, and you only see those at the fair. For a mere $5 we purchased the fried sweet treat (really though, a large, prettily-shaped donut) and enjoyed the ongoing feeling of new endeavors. We did, however, pass on the porkchop-on-a-stick and the giant roasted turkey leg.

All in all, the fair was huge, but it was not so abnormal. Although we did see abnormal things, like a 3000 pound cow as well as a dwarf cow (those are REALLY neat, by the way). We spent the day walking through throngs of people and felt the frenzie of the fair. And then, we retreated to our car, and drove the hour and a half to the country, where things were quiet once again, and the chirping of the crickets faded our memories of the swarms of people. Ahh, it was good to be home.