Our State Fair


Book Description

A pictorial and written history of one of the country's best agricultural fairs, the Iowa State Fair. Started in 1854, the Iowa State Fair continues to showcase Iowa agriculture and draw crowds from across the country. This book shows the old and new, competitions of yesterday and today, exhibits, entertainment and the buildings of the Iowa State Fair. To order a book, please call 1-800-750-6997 (in Iowa) or 1-800-453-3960 (Outside Iowa) and ask for McMillen Publishing. To fax an order, dial 1-515-232-8820, To mail order, send to: McMillen Publishing, 413 Northwestern, Ames, IA, 50010, to order online: [email protected]. or [email protected].




Iowa State Fair


Book Description

More than 150 years old and still going strong, the Iowa State Fair is an American institution that wasrecently selected by bestselling author Patricia Schultz as one of the 1000 Places to See Before You Die. Once an opportunity for country folk to come to town, experience the community of fellow farmers, and show off the fruits of their labor, today the fair attracts more than one million attendees from urban, suburban, and rural locales. They are all longing for an authentic American experience, a celebration of the abundance of our land, and the talents of our people. Iowa State Fair isthe first comprehensive history of this extraordinary confluence of cows and corn dogs, midwestern culture, and classic Americana. Iowa State Fair samples every flavor at the fair, from the fairy tale State Fair of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical to the surreal site of staged locomotive collisions to Norma Duffield Lyons 2000 pound butter sculpture of The Last Supper. Beauty-queen contestants, fans of Kid Rock and Kenny Chesney, 30,000 annual blue ribbon winners, and deep fried Twinkie eaters fill itspages with visual delight. Author Thomas Leslie brings the fair to life, recounting its fascinating background and noting why today it is more popular than ever. Like the fair itself, this book celebrates the state's agricultural heritage and provides a heartwarming portrait of an event that is, quite literally, as American as apple pie. Iowa State Fair will please the fairgoer in all of us. Last year's 1,013,063 attendees can't be wrong.




Carnival in the Countryside


Book Description

More than a century and a half after its founding, the Iowa State Fair is the state's central institution, event, and symbol. During its annual run each August, the fair attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors who make the pilgrimage to the fairground to see the iconic butter cow, to ride the Old Mill, to walk through the livestock barns, and to people-watch. At the same time that they enjoy fried candy bars and roller coasters, Iowans also compete to raise the best corn and zucchinis, to make the best jams and jellies, to rear the finest sheep and goats, the largest cattle and hogs, and the handsomest horses. This tension between entertainment and agriculture goes back all the way to the fair's founding in the mid-1800s, as historian Chris Rasmussen shows in this thought-provoking history. The fair's founders had lofty aims: they sought to improve agriculture and foster a distinctively democratic American civilization. But from the start these noble intentions jostled up against people's desire to have fun and make money, honestly or otherwise--not least because the fair had to pay for itself. In short, the Iowa State Fair has as much to tell us about human nature and American history as it does about growing corn.




This Is Just Exactly Like You


Book Description

"Richly imagined, beautifully written, and completely absorbing. I found myself spellbound, turning pages well past my bedtime. What a fine, fine book." -Tim O'Brien After Jack Lang impulsively buys the house directly across the street from his own, his wife, Beth, has finally had enough. She leaves him- and their six-year-old autistic son, Hendrick-for Jack's best friend, Terry Canavan. Jack tries telling everyone he's okay, but even he's not so sure. When Hendrick, who rarely talks, starts speaking in fluent Spanish, Jack knows he's in uncharted territory. But once Canavan's ex- girlfriend Rena turns up at his door to see how things are going, Jack begins to suspect the world could be far more complicated than he'd ever believed. Set against a landscape of defunct putt-putt courses and karaoke bars, parenthood and infidelity, This Is Just Exactly Like You is a wise and witty debut novel with captivating insights into marriage, autism, suburban fiasco, and life's occasional miracles.




The Iowa State Fair: In Vintage Postcards


Book Description

Each August, the Iowa State Fairgrounds, home to America's quintessential state fair, becomes 400 acres of sights, sounds, and aromas. More than just a showcase for farm machinery, the fair has one of the world's largest livestock shows, hundreds of competitive events, first-class entertainment, and ever imaginable food-on-a-stick. The first Iowa State Fair, held in 1854 at Fairfield, drew 10,000 visitors, and attendance now tops one million each year. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it has been held at its present location in Des Moines since 1886. In the early 1900s, fairgoers could choose from a large selection of postcards, stick on a penny stamp, and mail them to friends to describe their blue ribbon, an exciting midway ride, or the great entertainment. Over 190 vintage postcards provide glimpses of the fair from the 1890s to the mid-1950s in The Iowa State Fair.




State Fair


Book Description

Fresh, often humorous photographs that will invite smiles, chuckles, and favorite memories of a treasured Minnesota experience--the end of summer celebration of farms, friends, food, and fireworks.




Light Up the Sky


Book Description

A look inside show business, set just before and immediately after a Broadway bound play meets its first audience.




Minnesota State Fair


Book Description

Enhanced by more than twelve hundred photographs, a history of the Minnesota State Fair includes recipes from 4-H groups, food stands, and blue ribbon-winning contestants.




North Carolina State Fair


Book Description

Excerpt from North Carolina State Fair: A Division of the State Department of Agriculture, Raleigh; October 14 Through 18, 1947 Once again in North Carolina the harvest season finds our good earth giving abundantly of its fruits. Providence has been bountiful to us, and this is a good time to take inventory of what North Carolina is achieving not only in agriculture but in other major activities, such as education' and industry, which combine to make our State one of the most progressive in the Union. Our State Fair soon to be presented will give us an excellent Opportunity to take stock, because the Fair will have arrayed for us, in concentrated, attractive display, the major accomplishments of which North Carolina is justifiably proud. There all North Carolinians can see the glory in the products and activities that make our State great. There they can catch a vision of tomorrow and the further progress and growth it will bring to our citizenry. One of the most pleasurable aspects of the State Fair is the opportunity it gives us to see and talk with our fellow North Carolinians, and to enjoy the fellowship which makes our State one grand and glorious community of neighborly people. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.




State Fair


Book Description

(Vocal Selections). USA Today says of State Fair, "This may be what the Golden Age of Broadway was really about!" Our deluxe revised Vocal Selections features 11 beloved songs by Rodgers & Hammerstein, a biography, plot synopsis, history of the show and photos! Includes: It Might as Well Be Spring * It's a Grand Night for Singing * Our State Fair * You Never Had It So Good * more.