2012 Iowa State Fair Photos, Round 2

I've uploaded all the photos I took with my camera. I've been going through them, trying to decide how I'm going to organize them into "storytelling" posts, and I've finally decided what Fair "story" I'll tell today.

Back in June, I posted about how Livie's been entering the Iowa State Fair's children's coloring contest the past few years. And, of course, she entered it again, this year. Click here to see the post about her 2012 entries.

She was really, REALLY excited to enter this year, because last year, she earned 2nd Place out of scores of entries in the "Anything Goes" category. She was hoping to nab that coveted blue ribbon this year for either the age group entry (5-6 year olds) or the "Anything Goes" entry.

So, what was the first thing we did when we got to the Fair on Friday the 10th? You guessed it - we had to go to the Paul R. Knapp Center where all the art entries were displayed, to see if she had a ribbon pinned next to her artwork (either entry).

We got there and . . . nothing! For either category!! She didn't win anything!

In this first photo, she's pointing to her "Anything Goes" entry, on the top row, 5th from the left. Only the top 3 win ribbons, and they're separated from the rest, hanging above the field of entries.

She was disappointed. I think I was even more disappointed, because I knew how badly she'd wanted a ribbon - the blue one.

Since we were in the Paul R. Knapp Center, I knew a way to cheer her up. There were baby pigs with their mama in a set of farrowing stalls (a "farrowing" stall is where a mother pig is put when she's ready to give birth - it's a birthing stall). The piglets we saw were just an hour old and SO CUTE! (I didn't really get a good picture because it was really crowded.)

And then we headed to the giant slide, which she'd been looking forward to sliding down. (Pictures of that later.) That helped cheer her up, too.

Anyway, here are some more items that got her excited about being at the Fair (since she hadn't won anything). Ice cream statues! There were plenty of these statues in various places throughout the fairgrounds. They were all decorated in fun, crazy ways. I had to take a photo of Liv at every single one that we saw, especially since one of her pieces of art was about ice cream. (You may remember my first batch of Fair photos - she was posing next to a different one of these - I'd taken that photo with my phone).

Eating ice cream next to the ice cream statue.

But before we'd left for the day, she was really wanting some ice cream. Hmmmm, I wonder why? So we'd gotten her some "famous" strawberry ice cream from the Bauder's Pharmacy truck. Bauder's is a pharmacy, but they also have an old-fashioned soda fountain within the pharmacy where they serve homemade ice cream, among other tasty treats. And every year at the Iowa State Fair, they have a truck, where they sell their "famous" ice cream (it's famous throughout Iowa, as I understand it). I'd gotten a chocolate shake, and it WAS pretty tasty, all thick and chocolaty.

So, with ice cream in hand, we went back to the art entry display for a final photo or two. She'd wanted a picture of herself eating ice cream, pointing at her ice cream artwork.

And here's her age group, showcasing Barksdale's famous chocolate chip cookie buckets! (More on Barksdale's famous cookies later.) Hers is the one with the yellow background, toward the bottom.  

So, even though she didn't win a single thing, we still had fun at the Fair.

More photos to come, soon!