"Fair" Thee Well

So what does one do on a Saturday in Iowa? Go to the County Fair! Saturday I drove to Cherokee, IA, the county seat of Cherokee County to check out the fair. Given my years of experience at the Washington County Fair growing up, I was well-suited for the task. Cherokee County has a population of 13,000 but the fair did not disappoint, with plenty of fried food, carnival rides and livestock to check out.


Upon arrival, I headed straight for the food and settled on mini-donuts (which were tasty…they come with sugar and cinnamon on top) and some tacos. After that, I headed to check out the animals. I can report that the 4H is alive and well in Cherokee County. For those that aren’t familiar, 4H is a youth organization sponsored by the USDA that encourages interest in agriculture (apparently the H’s are head, heart, hands and health). All the Cherokee youngsters had their green 4H t-shirts on, and you could tell they had spent a lot of time caring for their animals. There were chickens, lambs, rabbits, ducks, cattle and LOTS of pigs (this is Iowa after all).


I arrived just in time to see the award ceremony for the Advanced Cattle Feeding category. Congratulations to Kirk Stowater for winning Grand Champion for his steer pen!


And as with any county fair, it really brings out the characters. Here’s a pic of a woman whose poodle was a big 4H supporter...and yes, the dog's head and tail have been dyed green.