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!

The 2012 Iowa State Fair Coloring Contest Entries!!

Okay, so for the past couple years, Livie has been entering the Iowa State Fair's kids' coloring contest. (Here's the 2010 entry, and here's the 2011 entry, where she won 2nd Place for her "Anything Goes.")

Well, she's entering the contest again, this year, and she's really excited about it!

Each year, they hold a coloring contest for kids ages 3-10. They have age group categories (3-4, 5-6, 7-8, and 9-10), and an "Anything Goes" category.

For the age group, they are to use crayons, markers, and/or colored pencil to color their coloring sheets (each age group has its own picture).

The "Anything Goes" division (one picture for all ages) is where they can use anything to decorate their sheet - glitter, stickers, crayons, markers, felt . . . whatever they can imagine!

Each year, the pictures' themes change.

Last year, since it was the 100th anniversary of the famous Butter Cow, each division's theme had something to do with the butter cow. (Liv won 2nd Prize for her "Anything Goes" Butter Cow!)

This year, the theme has to do with some very tasty fair treats. For the 5-6 age group, the coloring sheet showcased the Fair's famous chocolate chip cookies.

Here's Liv proudly displaying her finished 2012 age group entry, having chosen to use crayons only (though she briefly considered using either her markers or colored pencils):

Yes, she added smiley faces on the "tablecloth."

These cookies at the Iowa State Fair, by the way, are SO GOOD!! Mmmmm! You can get them by the cup, or by the bucket (as seen in the picture)! When you buy them, they are warm and chewy, and the chocolate chips are gooey, and you can't eat just one. They are the best!! I don't know if it's because we only get them at the Iowa State Fair, or if they are really THAT GOOD, but we've never had better!

(Can you believe that I don't even remember whose cookies they are?! This year, when we stop at the Varied Industries Building, I'm going to take a picture and tell you all about it.)

Okay, enough about the cookies.

Alright, alright . . . back to the coloring contest.

So this year's "Anything Goes" division showcases a delicious three-scoop ice cream cone. Liv used crayons, ink stamps, glitter glue, sequins, and specially decorated art paper.

Here's her 2012 "Anything Goes" artwork (she especially loves the glittery "cherry" on top):

And here's where she wanted to display them both, together:

We're putting them in an envelope and taking them to the post office tomorrow, first thing. They should be in Des Moines by Tuesday (or Wednesday, at the latest); the deadline is July 30th.(Come to think of it, that's a bit earlier than previous years, if I remember correctly. I think the first year, it was early, early August. Oh, well - not that it matters - we'll get it in with plenty of time!)

Wish Liv luck! She's really hoping to top last year's 2nd Place entry by winning 1st this year. (She really, really wants that blue ribbon!)

An Eagerly Awaited Package

As you all know, Livie earned 2nd Place in the "Anything Goes" Division of the 2011 Iowa State Fair coloring contest! Click here to see her artwork and award displayed in the Animal Learning Center. It was displayed with all the other artwork all throughout the Fair's 10-day run, 11-21 August 2011.

Once the Fair ended, the artwork (along with ribbons, including yellow "Participant" ribbons for those who didn't get 1st, 2nd, or 3rd) were sent back to the artists.

Today, Liv's package arrived in the mail. We were all excited when we saw the envelope with the "Iowa State Fair" return address!!

And of course, Liv eagerly held her ribbon and artwork and posed for a photo:

After posing, she proudly hung her ribbon on a knob of her dresser in her bedroom. One of these days, I'll have to take the ribbon and artwork to the art store at the University of Iowa to see if they can frame them (together in one frame, I'm thinkin').

We are very proud of Liv!! We're sure this is the first of many ribbons to come!

"Next year, I wanna try and get the blue ribbon!" 

Highlights from the 2011 Iowa State Fair (Day 1)

Today, Livie and I spent a few hours at the opening day of the 2011 Iowa State Fair! We saw a ton of things, like a stunt dog exhibition, baby animals (ducklings, lambs, piglets, chicks, turkey babies, calves), Percheron horses, elk, and most importantly, we had to check out the winners of the kids' coloring contest! Click here to see the post about her entries, by the way.

Well, guess what?! Out of scores of entries in the "Anything Goes" category (for ages 3-10), she won 2nd place!! The "Anything Goes" category allows kids to decorate the year's entry with anything, like crayons, markers, paint, glitter, and anything else the kids come up with! (She also entered her age group, the 5-6 year-old group - which allows for just "coloring" with crayons, markers, or paint, but she didn't earn a prize for that entry.)

Liv used crayons, mini pom poms, glitter, jewels, and "confetti" which I made by cutting strips of paper out of colored construction paper. The making of the confetti was the only adult help she'd received, because it required my use of scissors; she actually did the placement/gluing onto the paper.

Here's her entry, as well as the ribbon she won!!

Here are most of the entries in the "Anything Goes" category!

So her winning artwork will be displayed in the Animal Learning Center for the duration of the Fair! That means thousands of Fair-goers will see her artwork! How cool is that?!?!

The other highlight was that we saw a piglet being born. Okay, we didn't actually see the piglet as it made its entrance into the world, but we saw the vet just a moment after she "caught" the piglet's arrival, as she rubbed it clean with a towel.

Liv is proudly posing with a new arrival, freshly cleaned!

These are the two big highlights of our day at the Fair! I will be posting more photos soon! I've got a ton that I want to share, such as a photo of this year's famous Butter Cow; this is important because 2011 is the Butter Cow's 100th Anniversary!

So check back soon to see more Fair highlights!

This Year's Iowa State Fair Entries

Last year, Livie entered the Iowa State Fair's kids' coloring contest for the first time. (Click here and also here for the stories.)

There are typically two categories for kids 3-10 years-old: a.) the age group (3-4, 5-6, 7-8, and 9-10), where they use only markers, paints, colored pencils, or crayons when coloring the year's pictures, and b.) the "Anything Goes," where they're free to use anything from glitter, to any other art-and-crafts type things. Parents can help guide their children's work, but all work must be done by the children.

Last year, Livie just did the age group, using crayons to color her picture.

This year, we decided to enter both the age group (5-6 year-olds) and the "Anything Goes." I helped her by giving her ideas on what she could do to glitz-up her "anything goes" entry, and she did the work.

Here are her entries:

Here's the 5-6 year-old age group entry.

Here's the "Anything Goes" entry.

Here's the "Anything Goes" entry up close.

Again, the "Anything Goes," so you can see the "confetti," glitter, and jewels.

And both entries, side by side. Liv says the gray curly-cues by the nose "show that the cow is sniffing the cake."

This year's artwork celebrates the famous Iowa State Fair Butter Cow. This year is the Butter Cow's 100th birthday, hence, the birthday theme.

We are looking forward to seeing how she does in these Fair contests. I hope she wins something. She and I agree that her "Anything Goes" entry is her best work (of the two pieces of art she's submitting).

And, of course, we're looking forward to going to the Fair to do all the fun things, like seeing the Butter Cow, going on the giant green & yellow slide, again, eating all the junk food (the corn dogs, funnel cakes, deep-fried Oreos, cotton candy), and seeing the sights (like the livestock), and all the other fun stuff. But it's not 'til August 11-21, so we've got a while to wait.

An update on Liv's Iowa State Fair Coloring Contest entry!!

So in recent posts, I talked about how Livie entered the 2010 Iowa State Fair coloring contest, 3 - 4 year old division. Check out Liv's Entering an Iowa State Fair Contest! and Reminiscing about the 2010 Iowa State Fair, Part I, for my previous discussions about her coloring contest entry.

Anyway, as stated in this post's title, I have an update.

The mail just came, and among all the envelopes was one addressed to Livie from the Iowa State Fair. Hmmm. I opened it.

And inside was her coloring entry along with a yellow Iowa State Fair "Participant" ribbon. I made a big deal about it, explaining to her that because she participated in a Fair event, she received a ribbon.

I told her that she did a good job with her artwork, and for her efforts, this ribbon is what she earned.

Here she is posing with her first ribbon and her contest entry (still in her pjs on a Saturday morning afternoon):

(She's trying to watch something on TV at the same time, which is why she's not looking at the camera.)

The ribbon and contest entry on display:

(I wrote "3 - 4 year old Coloring Contest, 2010 ISF" on the tag on the back of the ribbon).

And one more photo - she's posing in her 2010 Iowa State Fair shirt:

(It's got a cow, corn dog, tractor, chicken, ice cream and 2010 ISF sign on it).

Liv's entering an Iowa State Fair contest!

The other day, I was looking at the Iowa State Fair website.

As I looked at the kids' section, I noticed there was an Iowa State Fair Coloring Contest for kids ages 3-10. There are four age divisions: 3-4 year olds, 5-6 year olds, 7-8 year olds, and 9-10 year olds.

A-ha! Livie is 4-years-old. She likes coloring and doing art projects. She likes the Iowa State Fair and is looking forward to going to the Iowa State Fair this summer. 

Anyway, each age division has its own coloring sheet that parents can download and print. Then kids color it, and the parents send it in along with the entry form to the appropriate address by August 1st.

So I printed out the 3-4 year old coloring sheet: a picture of a calf and a young farmer out in a field with a big ol' tree in the background.

Well, since I just found out about it, I needed Livie to color it soon so I could get it in the mail before the deadline. It usually just takes one day for 1st Class mail to get from our house to Des Moines, so I could send it in Friday, and it'll get there by Saturday, July 31 - just in time to meet the deadline.

But I didn't want to take any chances, so I really wanted to get it in the mail by this afternoon, just so it has a couple days to get there.

Since we were out of town until Tuesday afternoon, and I printed the page out on Tuesday afternoon, I figured Livie could color it either Tuesday or Wednesday. I also explained the difference between entering a contest and winning/earning a prize, versus being given a prize just because she wanted it.

She was intrigued by the idea, and was almost understanding the concept of winning a prize versus simply getting a prize, just because she submitted an entry.

If she doesn't win a prize, I know she'll be disappointed, but I hope the light-bulb goes on over her head about the concept of earning the prize and not getting one just because.

But she didn't feel like coloring the page either on Tuesday or Wednesday (she was too distracted by the library books she just checked out).

So this morning I got her to color the sheet.

Here's how she colored it:

Yep, you're seeing it correctly - she colored the calf lavender. She also added its tongue sticking out of its mouth, and saliva dripping off the tongue. She would've colored more drops dripping off its tongue, but I talked her out of it. Oh, and as you can see, she added the sun as well as a flower at the farmer's feet.

I'll get it in the mail this afternoon. 

According to the website, all entries will be displayed in the Paul R. Knapp Animal Learning Center during the Fair (August 12-22). It also says that a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winner will be selected for each age division, with each winner receiving a rosette.

Of course, now that I look at the website, it says that entries should be postmarked by August 1st. The entry form says that entry deadline is August 1st, which seems to me like they want it by the 1st. Just to be safe, I'll get it in the mail today, as planned.

So keep your fingers crossed for Livie's contest entry!