Fair it Up! Go to the Iowa State Fair

My family and I LOVE our state fairs! These are the state fairs that I remember: Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. I am sure as a youngster I went to others but I don't feel they 'count' unless I remember them :)

Every year we go to the Wisconsin State Fair because it's the closest state fair and a grand ole time :) It also happens to have my mother's favorite- cream puffs.

Over the past 5 years, I have been lived in Minnesota and Indiana. While in Minnesota, I got a job as a 'runner' for one of the food vending places at the Minnesota State Fair. As a runner, I would pick up or drop off anything the food vendor ran out of during the fair like caramel apples, napkins, sugar, potatoes, etc. I was on-call for the entire two weeks of the fair but got paid for being on-call. I got more than double the pay when they actually needed me. I got to go 'behind the scenes' of being a fair vendor. It was great money for the two weeks.

The Minnesota fair had the most 'on a stick' items that I had ever seen- spaghetti on a stick? yep!

After Minnesota, I moved to Indiana and went to the Indiana state fair with my mother and sister, Julia. We loved this fair! It was set up in a circle so you couldn't miss a thing. They had the world's largest leather boot on display and even Dole Whip (which we thought you could only find in Hawaii)-none dairy dessert.

Over the past few years, my family and I have talked about going to see the Iowa State fair which claims to be the best and largest state fair in the nation.

My parents and I went to the Iowa State fair on August 12th from 8:30am to 5pm- yep 8.5 hours! We walked around the entire fair and saw everything except the chickens and rabbits.

So what did we think? It may be the largest but was it the best? It depends who you ask...all families go to fairs and festivals for different reasons- the food, the atmosphere, the people watching, the music...

As a whole, we decided that we prefer the Wisconsin State Fair to the Iowa State Fair. The Wisconsin State Fair is fair AND music with small stages every where so you can check out the pigs for an hour and then go grab a beer and relax in the sun for an hour while listening to music.

I'm glad I saw the Iowa State Fair but won't go back again. What's next? Texas? Michigan?