Yes, that's real gold on the dome! We were unable to find a place to park, so we didn't go in and tour the building. Maybe another day. The Visitor's Parking lot is being used as a parking lot for the shuttle bus taking people to the State Fair, which opened on Thursday.
Taking a long way home we found the Dallas County Courthouse in Adel, IA. Patterned after a french castle, it was built in 1902 and remodeled twice since.
It's complete with curved glass windows in the turrets. A tour of the inside led us to the court room, where we entered on the wrong side of the railing!
Fortunately, court was over for the day, and we were able to take a couple of photos and skeedaddle. The interior of the clock tower had a wonderful treatment.
On Saturday we got to the fair about 11:30 am. Our daughter and her family had been delayed several hours by an airplane fuel fiasco in Minneapolis, so didn't get in until late. They slept in a bit on Friday, but then we hit it! We had planned to park at a private lot run by the VFW, but by the time we got there, they were full. We found a nice place at a gentleman's house a bit down the road, and off we went.
Entering at Gate 10, one of the first things we saw was the machinery exhibit. Now, I gotta tell you that the midwest does farm equipment very well! I won't bore you with pix of some rather arcane stuff, but here's Donna next to one of her favorite machines.
We walked up and down the Grand Concourse, where only some of the food vendors are located. This is about 1/2 of the crowd we saw as we left in the early evening!
I wanted to try a "Walking Taco", but decided to wait and see what other goodies were available.
On the way to the Pioneer Pavilion to see some 4-H judging, we passed the iconic Iowa statue:
We sat down in the Pioneer Pavilion in time to catch the last of the 4-h judging for milk cows of a certain age. There are so many kids and animals that the classes are broken down into many subcategories. The judging evidently goes on and on, but as soon as your animal has been judged, you go home. If the animal is good enough, it stays for the auction next week, but if not, it goes to market or home as breeding stock. The almost empty barns are then filled with another round of animals, and we go around again…A whole lot of kids and animals!
After the 4-H'ers, the FFA kids set up shop in the arena, with the National FFA Officers being brought in by wagon.
FFA had a "Parade of Champions" from the judging done this last 3 days, starting with restored farm tractors. Yes, that's a young lady driving her tractor! (The one with the Supreme Ribbon on it). These machines are from the 40's and 50's, and have show-car quality paint jobs. They're wonderful to see for an old farm boy!
Cows of all colors and sizes, horses both big and small, the parade went on for an hour and even included a Llama!
Sheep, pigs, chickens; it was Old MacDonald's Farm!
Bred for show, and groomed like media queens, this girl decided to tuck her head just as I snapped the photo!
Before we left the animal barn area, we had to get a picture of a very contented pig!
The Horse Barn has had the least updating of all the animal buildings, and it shows. The wood frame structure is old, dusty, and warped, with stalls that may be older than the Pony Express Stables we saw a few days ago!
As we wandered the aisles, we came across some miniature horses. This little guy is under 32" tall according to the sign!
And right next door, some Belgians!
A short distance away (seemed like miles) we went into the John Deere Ag Building. This is where a variety of local crops are entered and judged. We saw field and sweet corn,
"Strawberry" Popcorn,
and even some ice sculptures. That's a working clock in that sculpture!
And in the same refrigerated case as the ice sculptures was the Butter Cow. Sculpted from real butter, it is indeed a work of art. This is the latest in a tradition of Butter Cows done for each fair that dates back to the early 1900's.
Forgive the crummy pic, the line was moving fast and I couldn't get the lighting at all correct.
On the way to the gate, 'cause it was getting on into evening on a Saturday night at the Fair, we stopped at the Threads and Fabric exhibit. A fantastic display of handmade clothes, knitted scarves, hats, sweaters and such, but the most impressive was the quilt area.
This black quilt caught my eye for the exquisite detail it had. No wonder it was a blue ribbon piece! Here's a close up of a quilt that Donna and Teresa and Olivia liked.
But then, the next one was beautiful too!
As we neared the exit, we couldn't help but stop for a few minutes to watch the judging for Western Pleasure horse riding. The competition started with a group of tandem riders that walked, jogged, loped and reversed. While this was cool to watch, the best part happened when the judge asked the two riders to exchange positions! One tandem rode to the fence on the edge of the arena and climbed off and then on. Another rider layer down on her stomach across the horse while the other rider climbed over! An yet another Mom and young daughter won the competition when Mom simply picked up her daughter and moved her!
Men and women competed on horses short and tall; kids rode horses so big that they looked like they were doing the splits up on the back of the animal. It was a fine show in a magnificent facility.
Tomorrow, SIL is going back to work, so our daughter Teresa and her two daughters and Donna and I are off to the fair again! The G-Girls have unlimited midway privileges for the day, so us "older" people will probably walk the rest of the exhibits (and, of course, eat). The fair has rv camping for 1000 campers, I'm told, and parking for another 1000 or more. I'll try to get a photo.
This thing is huge!
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