Iowa State Fair, a celebration of rural life and a must for presidential candidates, is on; voters get up close, personal

The Des Moines Register's soapbox draws a crowd. (Photo by Salwan Georges, The Washington Post)

The Iowa State Fair began today, and every Republican presidential candidate is expected to attemd, seeking support for the caucues that will see the first votes for president in 2024. It's a celebration of rural life in an agricultural state that has trended Republican under Donald Trump, who will attend but will not join other candidates in conversation with Gov. Kim Reynolds, "whom he has recently criticized as being too close to a rival presidential candidate," Dylan Wells of The Washington Post reports. DeSantis and Trump, both coming Saturday, will both skip the Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox, where candidates make brief speeches "and answer questions directly from fairgoers."

"The Democratic National Committee voted in February to replace Iowa as the party’s first nominating state, rendering it irrelevant to securing the party’s nomination," Wells notes. "Still, both of President Biden’s long-shot challengers — Marianne Williamson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. [here's a FactCheck on him] — plan to attend the fair. . . . Most candidates hope to make common ground with working-class people. They will flip pork chops and sample Iowa’s notorious fried foods while trying to avoid awkward photos of themselves eating. . . .The fair offers candidates a unique opportunity to showcase their skills in retail politics, gain national recognition and prove themselves as relatable people — or just the opposite, should they make a gaffe or become a meme for their behavior at the event."

Wells offers examples: "In 2011, Mitt Romney told someone while being heckled during a speech, 'Corporations are people, my friend' — a line that came to haunt his campaign. . . . Candidates are under a microscope at the event, given the large amount of face time with Iowans and the constant presence of news media. Candidates also have suffered from ordering the 'wrong snack': John F. Kerry went for a smoothie . . . Although good politicking at the fair isn’t an indicator of who will become president, a strong performance can refresh a struggling campaign or lift political underdogs into the national spotlight."

Next pandemic could come from pigs at county or state fair

A researcher takes a 'snout out' sample at a fair.
(Photo by Maddie McGarvey, The New York Times)

A state or county fair can be all sorts of fun, but when there are pig shows, there's often swine flu, and the next pandemic could start there. "But there is real risk in our own backyards — and barnyards. Since 2011, there have been more confirmed human cases of swine flu in the United States than anywhere else in the world," reports Emily Anthes of The New York Times. "Outbreaks of zoonotic diseases, which can spread between animals and humans, have become more frequent in recent decades, and animal pathogens will continue spilling over into human populations in the years ahead. . . . Most have been linked to agricultural shows and fairs."

Americans often see pandemics as something that comes into the country and not something that happens here. But considering the number of swine cases in the U.S., the next pandemic could as easily come from within. "Although flu is often mild in pigs, the animals are renowned for giving rise to novel flu variants. In 2009, one of these new variants, which originated in pigs in Mexico, set off a pandemic that killed at least 150,000 people, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," Anthes writes. "Dr. Andrew Bowman, a molecular epidemiologist at Ohio State University and his colleagues have been documenting the dangers and seeking ways to make swine shows safer. Meaningfully reducing the risks will require looking past the pigs to creatures on the other side of the spillover equation. What needs to change, Dr. Bowman said, 'is an awful lot of human behavior.'”

Anthes notes, "Pigs play a key role in the evolution of influenza. They can be infected by swine, bird and human flu viruses simultaneously, serving as mixing vessels in which different strains can reshuffle their genetic material, yielding new versions of the virus. When the 2009 swine flu pandemic hit, influenza surveillance in pigs was limited. [Bowman] began swabbing pigs at swine shows, ultimately uncovering a national network of events that resulted in human infections in a predictable annual cycle. Starting every spring, regional and national 'jackpot' shows, which attract serious swine competitors, bring together pigs from far-flung farms, causing new flu variants to spread across the country."

"Over the years that followed, the researchers worked to identify what made these shows risky. They found that although most fairs had hand-sanitation stations, few had signs explaining how to use them — and almost no one did," Anthes writes. Researchers also found that fair "line-ups" where pigs are one behind speeds transmission. "The researchers, who have shared their findings with show organizers and health officials, say they have seen some changes, with many shows moving away from mandatory mass weigh-in. . . . Still, some health recommendations, such as the advice to avoid eating or drinking around the animals, have been a tough sell. For many families, some of whom bring crockpots into the barn with them, sharing a meal at a show is a way of building community. . . . It is hard to determine how effective the team’s efforts have been overall; the surveillance is still fairly new, and some flu seasons are naturally worse than others." Bowman told Anthes: “But I think we have moved the needle. . . .There is change happening.”

County-fair season in U.S. is country-fair season in England

The Economist used this Getty Images photo, which had no caption
but may be from Bath and West, with its story about country fairs. 

It's country-fair season, and not just in the United States. "Britons love a fair," and seemingly more so lately, The Economist reports from across the pond:

"No one is sure exactly how many fairs there are, but at least 400 days of such rural events happen annually. A parliamentary briefing last year suggested that roughly one in 10 Britons attend them each year. It appears their popularity is rising. Events that sell out all their tickets, as happened at the Great Yorkshire Show last year, could become more common."

Why? "Nostalgia is evidently a big draw," the Economist ventures. At "England’s oldest and grandest" fair, Bath and West Show in the southwest county of Somerset, "Bunting flapped, the visitors formed orderly queues, bought cream teas and listened to a military band that played wartime hits. . . . As well as a fiercely competitive livestock parade, it features Morris dancing, sheepvshearing and a vintage fairground. Its pony-chariot races, meanwhile, are second-to-none. Many contestants on a recent afternoon had first given generous custom at the nearby cider tent. They performed vigorously before a large crowd."

But fairs have other raisons d'etre. "Many fairs were founded in the 18th or 19th century to spread knowledge of new farming technology among rural populations. Some of that mission continues. . . . The 600 trade stalls offered at least as much interest as any Morris dancing."

Most Britons are urbanites, so the fairs try to "educate urban visitors, who make up a decent share of those who turn up. Some consumers also come armed with formidable knowledge of food-supply chains—as well as sometimes complicated personal preferences for organic, local, animal-friendly, vegan, fair-trade and environmentally sound products. Laura Williams, of the Royal Welsh Show, notes that visitors these days are 'much more invested in farming and interested in where their food comes from' than in years gone past."

Goat's 9-year-old keeper didn't want her slaughtered, so Mom saved the animal; then the law came with a warrant

Jessica Long’s 9-year-old daughter with her goat, Cedar.

(Photo courtesy of Advancing Law for Animals)

A mother saved her daughter's goat, sold at auction, from the slaughterhouse. County-fair officials took offense and sent detectives to apprehend it.

"Thus began the legal saga of Cedar the goat, a 7-month-old white Boer goat with chocolate markings framing its face who is now the subject of a federal civil rights lawsuit naming Shasta sheriff's officials, Shasta County, the Shasta District Fair and other defendants who are accused of involvement in the apparent slaughter of Cedar for a community barbecue," reports Sam Stanton of The Sacramento Bee. 

"Every day for three months, Jessica Long's young daughter walked and fed her goat. . . But when it was time for Cedar to be sold and slaughtered at the Shasta District Fair last year, the 9-year-old just couldn't go through with it," Stanton reports. "The animals are then entered in an auction to be sold and slaughtered for meat in hopes of teaching children about the work and care needed to raise livestock and provide food."

Once Long realized her daughter was not ready to part with her goat, she "decided to break the rules and take the goat that night and deal with the consequences later," reports Salvador Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times. Long wrote Shasta District Fair Chief Executive Melanie Silva, offering to reimburse the buyer the winning $902 bid and saying, "Our daughter lost three grandparents within the last year. . . . I couldn't bear the thought of the following weeks of sadness after the slaughter of her first livestock animal." Silva replied, "Making an exception for you will only teach [our] youth that they do not have to abide by the rules. . . . This has been a negative experience for the fairgrounds as this has been all over Facebook and Instagram."

When Long did not return Cedar, B.J. Macfarlane, livestock manager for the Shasta Fair Association, called the cops. "Armed with a search warrant, detectives drove more than 500 miles across Northern California in search of the goat," Stanton writes. "Echoing language used when law enforcement searches a home for drugs, the warrant allowed deputies to 'utilize breaching equipment to force open doorway(s), entry doors, exit doors, and locked containers' and to search all rooms. . . . any kind large enough to accommodate a small goat'." 

Cedar was found, "taken and slaughtered," Hernandez reports. Long's suit claims fair officials and the county "committed an 'egregious waste of police resources' and violated her and her daughter's Fourth Amendment and 14th Amendment rights protecting them from unreasonable searches and seizures, and due process. Long and her attorneys allege the dispute was a civil matter she was willing to resolve."

Officials declined to comment. Ryan Gordon, an attorney with Advancing Law for Animals, told Hernandez, "A child can't be held to the same standard as an adult can. When she wanted out, she had an absolute right. . . . It's shocking. It's a little girl's goat, not Pablo Escobar."

Some state fairs cancel again, or delay, while others forge ahead, many 'requiring' masks but not enforcing mandate

Thousands, few of them masked, packed the Iowa State Fair. (Des Moines Register photo by Bryon Houlgrave)

Most state fairs are back on this year after 2020 cancellations, but with the Delta variant driving record coronavirus infections across the country, things looked a little different than usual.

Many fairs trimmed down on rides so attractions could be spread out in the service of social distancing, and introduced options for buying food without cash or contact. Most Midwestern fairs offered opportunities for people to get vaccinated, David Pitt reports for The Associated Press.

Pharmacist fills syringe at the Iowa fair (AP photo by Charlie Neibergall)

Some states required fairgoers to wear masks, but anecdotal reports are that such mandates weren't enforced much. Midwestern states such as Minnesota and Iowa encouraged but didn't require masks (Minnesota fair officials said it was because they couldn't figure out how to enforce it). After the Wisconsin State Fair, which clocked 841,000 visitors and had no pandemic restrictions, 46 coronavirus infections were confirmed in connection with the fair and eight more were suspected to be connected.

Kentucky's state fair requires masks indoors, but the mandate is toothless since they aren't enforcing it and most people aren't obeying it anyway. Fairgoers get unlimited free rides if they get a coronavirus vaccination at the fair, though.

California and Washington delayed their fairs for months in an attempt to duck the worst of the Delta variant surge, and Ohio closed its fair to outside visitors altogether, only allowing in agricultural and educational competition entrants.

More major agriculture events canceled due to pandemic

"The ongoing covid-19 pandemic claimed two more agricultural-related events on Monday. For the first time, events slated for early 2021 were canceled," Russ Quinn reports for DTN/The Progressive Farmer. "The 2021 National Western Stock Show and 2021 World Ag Expo were both canceled due to health and safety restrictions. The events were called off as organizers of both shows said they were not able to figure out plans to allow for large crowds and still follow local and state health and safety restrictions, according to separate news releases."

The NWSS will resume Jan. 8-23, 2022, in its normal home of Denver, according to event organizers. They considered holding a modified show with a reduced capacity, but couldn't figure out a way to do it safely. They note that the event draws more than 700,000 attendees and had an economic impact of nearly $120 million in the month of the show alone.

The cancellation of the World Ag Expo will be the first in the event's 52-year history, organizers said in a press release. It is scheduled to resume Feb. 8-10, 2022, in Tulare, California.

Read more here for a list of many North American agriculture events that have been canceled because of the pandemic, including the Calgary Stampede, the World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin, the World Pork Expo in Iowa, and at least a dozen state fairs.

Pandemic threatens county fairs; most ineligible for aid

The pandemic has disrupted life in uncountable ways; county fairs are one. "Without the annual events, vendors, hotels and other small local businesses miss out on income they rely on. School-age children who spent the past year raising a pig or cow have no place to show or sell their work," April Simpson reports for Stateline. Many state fairs have also been canceled.

This year's cancellations or attendance limitations could put some county fairs' future in question. "Some fair operators fear for their fair's long-term survival, as many organizations are shut out of federal pandemic relief and receive little to no state money," Simpson reports.

Fairs generate about $4.7 billion annually, including money made on the fairgrounds for non-fair events such as RV shows, Simpson reports. Some fairs were able to get federal Paycheck Protection Program funds, but others were ineligible because they're quasi-governmental organizations or the wrong type of nonprofit. Only one-third of International Association of Fairs and Expositions members are eligible for federal aid. About 17 states provide some kind of financial aid to county fairs, often by subsidizing prizes for agricultural and other contests.

"A bill in the U.S. House, introduced by U.S. Rep. Josh Harder, a California Democrat, seeks $5 billion to create a new emergency grant program to help offset state and local fair losses," Simpson reports. "States would be able to apply for aid directly through the U.S. Department of Agriculture and then distribute it to fairs."

County fairs have been a linchpin of rural life. "Predating the founding of the United States, fairs began as markets designed to sell products. In the early 19th century, agricultural fairs became events for farm families to gather and share methods for improving crops and livestock," Simpson reports. "With educational and child labor policy changes, and other social shifts, fairs gradually became venues for agriculture education as more farmers in the 20th century went to college." Fairs also often serve as a platform for politicians to roll up their sleeves, glad-hand and give speeches.

In a nation with an increasing rural-urban cultural divide, county fairs help educate city dwellers about rural life. But more than that, "they’re celebrations of community where church dinners and stock car races provide opportunities to bump into friends and neighbors," Simpson reports. "Although the number of farmers has declined and fewer young people are choosing agriculture as a career, experts say fairs have become increasingly important."

Farmers and fairs should work together to keep, enhance agricultural elements, experts say

Small-farm experts said during a workshop in California that fairs need to return to their agricultural roots, Tim Hearden of Capital Press reports. University of California's Small Farm Program director Penny Leff and California Department of Food and Agriculture official Diana Poluszak said during a workshop at the Shasta District Fair that regional fairs were centered around agriculture for more than 100 years, and that entertainment has only been the focus for the last 30 years.

Both said the state's "fiscally strapped fairs could help themselves by doing more to highlight their region's specialty crops." The story of fairs facing financial hardship could be true in other parts of the country where local and regional fairs once were a showcase of the region's agriculture. Leff and Poluszak planned the workshop, and others like it, to get ideas about how farmers can better market their products at local fairgrounds, and how both could help promote each other. (Read more)

State fairs' money, ownership issues raise concern that agricultural tradition might be at risk

In mid-May, Virginia's state fairgrounds were auctioned off to the highest bidder. The right to run the fair was sold to a for-profit firm, a trend becoming more popular as financially squeezed fairs look for ways to keep a tradition alive -- and agricultural interests worry about their future role. (Bob Brown photo)

Maggie Clark, staff writer for Stateline, the daily news service for the Pew Center for the States, reports that while the majority of state fairs are still government-operated, as "state budgets have shrunk, so have the fortunes of the historically revered state fair. The fairs have lost much of their government subsidy, while still having to cope with a significant amount of state regulation. But the fair’s new ownership has not come without controversy."

The Virginia fair's new owners are Tennessee-based Universal Fairs, which owns five other state fairs and festivals. Clark writes that Universal "isn’t very much interested in the animal exhibits, crop displays and crafts projects that have marked the fair since its inception. In transitioning to a for-profit model, the Virginia agricultural community is concerned that the new owners will abandon the scholarship offerings for youth in agriculture education programs like 4-H and Future Farmers of America. The already-promised scholarships will be given out this year; beyond that, nothing is guaranteed. The youth livestock competitions have been relocated from the state fair to the Rockingham County Fair in Harrisonburg, in north-central Virginia."

A similar situation has occurred in Georgia, where a two-fair system has been created. There, the Georgia State Fair also sold out to Universal Fairs but youth livestock competitions and arts and culture shows are run at the Georgia National Fair in Perry. Some think the latter fair is what matters. Jim Tucker, president and CEO of the International Association of Fairs and Expositions, told Clark that "wherever the agricultural community meets to identify the best livestock genetics or swap tips about how to make the best jams will be the home of the true state fair."

Cattle fitters or 'show jocks' are busy at fairs

California rancher Darrell Hansen (right) and partner James Vietheer are among many state fair competitors who go to great lengths to groom livestock before judging. Called "show jocks" on the circuit, cattle fitters take their jobs very seriously. "Show champion animals can fetch auction prices that are double those that fall short of the winner's circle," P.J. Huffstutter of the Los Angeles Times reports. (Photo by Huffstutter)

Presentation is so important during competition that some people cheat. People have been caught drugging bulls with Clembuterol to add muscle and "injecting vegetable oil between their skin and muscle tissue to give them a smoother look," Huffstutter reports.

Horse breeders' incentives will exclude those who intentionally injure Tennessee Walking Horses

Breeders who intentionally injure their Tennessee Walking Horses will no longer be eligible for benefits from the Kentucky Walking Horse Association's breeders incentive fund. The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission's new standards seek to eliminate the practice of "soaring," intentionally injuring a horse to exaggerate its showy gait, reports Janet Patton of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

The new guidelines will allow the fund, suspended since February, to be reinstated, but also call for inspectors from one of three anti-soaring activist groups to be used in determining eligible recipients. The Herald-Leader and state investigations discovered that despite assurances from Earl Rogers, head of the KWHA incentive fund, a dozen fund recipients had been cited for violations of the federal Horse Protection Act in 2008. Rogers would not comment to Patton about the new regulations.

Donna Bennefield, administrative director of the Horse Protection Council, told Patton, "I think this is going to be a huge, huge incentive to fix a very long problem." Kentucky Horse Racing Commissioner Ned Bonnie said, "It [new rules] puts Kentucky in the leadership position with respect to how you treat horses." (Read more)

A story that will make you want to visit a state fair

"Louisville may be the state's largest city, but for 11 days each August it becomes the center of rural Kentucky at its best," writes Lexington Herald-Leader columnist Tom Eblen. "You will find farm families from across the state, showing off the bounty of their hard work, rich land and considerable ingenuity." (Read more)

But if you go, don't touch the pigs. Not to keep yourself from getting H1N1 ("swine") flu, but to keep you from giving it to them. Monica Davey of The New York Times reports on new safeguards at state fairs.

Creativity can be a big part of rural economies, but you might have to look a bit harder for it

Reports by the Regional Technology Strategies and its partner in the Alliance for Creative Advantage, Mt. Auburn Associates, have found that rural areas in at least some states boast a booming creative economy, contrary to many urbanites' expectations.

Dan Broun reports for the Daily Yonder that “creativity” is defined as “a select group of businesses that produce and distribute goods and services and for which the aesthetic, intellectual and emotional engagement of the consumer adds value to products in the marketplace.” The study in Arkansas, Colorado, Wyoming and North Carolina indicated that creative enterprises are vital to helping rural regions develop effective economies.

Creative economies are often under-reported since they can be difficult to quantify and analyze. “Much of the wealth that the creative economy produces falls just under the radar screen of conventional economy analyses,” Broun writes. Microenterprises, proprietorships without employees, part-time businesses and supplementary sources of income are often the structures that house creative economies in rural areas.

When someone goes to the trouble and expense to count them, though, creative enterprises such as arts and crafts take on more significance than many observers might expect. In Arkansas, the study found that without artists and design workers, the estimated employment would have increased by only 15 percent between 1990 and 2000 instead of the 24 percent growth that actually occurred.

The research may refute or at least downplay notion that the “creative class” exists only metropolitan areas, with high concentrations of advanced-degree holders. To stimulate creative growth, RTS wants rural areas to recognize arts and creativity as an economic-development engine. Broun says chambers of commerce, tourism promotion agencies and city officials are in positions to publicize the success of rural creativity and its contribution to the economy. (Read more)

N.C. State Fair works to be more eco-friendly

With their bright lights, cooking grease, and energy-consuming rides, state fairs are not traditionally easy on the planet. But one state is attempting to alleviate some of its fair's environmental impact.

The North Carolina State Fair, which started yesterday and runs through Oct. 26, has set up four recycling stations at the fairgrounds, in an attempt to reduce the trash created by aluminum cans and drink bottles. Many of the lights on rides will use light-emitting diodes, which use 1/200th of the energy used by regular lightbulbs. There will also be a "Green NC" exhibit, writes Martha Quillin in The News & Observer of Raleigh, to show visitors "ways to reduce their carbon imprints and invite them to promise to be better environmental stewards."

"I'm kind of proud of us," said Bill McClure, facilities engineer for the fairgrounds. "We're trying. Some of the stuff that we're doing now, we've been talking about for 20 years." One of the more interesting initiatives started on the fairgrounds was the underground installation of three 1,000-gallon tanks to collect used cooking oil. The oil will be converted to biodiesel and used to fuel farm machinery on state-owned research farms and tractor-trailers that deliver commodities to schools. (Read more)