♪♪
Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Iowa State Fair.
I'm Dan Meyer.
This is my first time here in 15 years.
And if this is your first time here,
maybe my experience will help you feel
like it's your experience.
I grew up here in Des Moines, and I wanted to come back
and see what has happened to this place
since I've last been here.
So we're gonna take a look around at some things,
and I want you to understand
sort of the history of this place.
So we're gonna go talk to a woman named Reagan,
who's bringing a hog to competition,
and we're going to learn a little bit about that.
And then I'm hoping to look into the future of the rides,
the camping, the scooters, and a couple of other things.
Can I come get a picture with you?
Absolutely.
Iowa State Fair!
-Whoo! -You'll have to push the button.
So, when I was growing up in Iowa,
this was the kind of community we were trying tog et away from.
We just wanted to hang out at the skate shop
and go to punk shows,
go, like, steal key chains from the mall.
The only time we'd come to the fair
is when our parents would make us.
When you leave for a long time and you come back, it's like,
"Wow, this is a really unique sort of American culture."
That's a beautiful horse.
So this main street is kind of the thing that made me hate
this place growing up, because it's so hot.
It's really hectic.
I can't even talk about anything 'cause there's tractors
full of old people going by, and that's not much fun.
Hello!
-What are you guys doing here? -What are we doing here?
We're enjoying the Iowa State Fair,
all the way from Florida.
You came from Florida? Just for the fair.
How'd you get here?
We drove a car to get here.
A car? I didn't know if you took an RV...
Oh, we did that a few years ago.
No, now we're into cars.
And you got the scooters here?
And we got them here.
And it's worth it, because at the end of the day,
my legs are still good.
What's your favorite thing to do here?
Well, now we're going to start down,
and we just work our way around every single building...
Just see everything? ...in and out,
graze with food along the way.
Sounds perfect.
It is.
All right. We love being here.
Well, I'm glad.
This is why I like this place,
because you get to see people that just look cool...
at least to me.
So, this is the line for the butter cow,
which is a cow sculpted out of butter.
And it seems to be the only thing
that people outside of Iowa know about this fair.
It's so boring to me.
You got people that, like, sculpt out of stone or ice.
It's like the easiest thing
I can possibly imagine sculpting with.
So we're just not gonna film it.
If you want to see it, you just Google it.
It's the livestock that started this whole thing.
You know, the way that the agricultural history
worked in this region is that they have county fairs.
And in Iowa, there's 100 counties.
And every pig or chicken or sheep
that would win in each county comes here to compete.
So you find out who the best pig breeder is in the whole state,
who the best chicken breeder is, the best egg, the best corn.
The whole thing is a big agriculture contest.
All the fairway rides and the food and the attractions --
they all came after the livestock competition.
So, everyone's in there eating smoked turkey legs,
and everyone's over here moving cows into a barn.
It's kind of a summary of the whole deal.
[ Cows mooing ]
So, I've never been in here
'cause I've always been afraid of it, ever since I was a kid.
And I'm pretty afraid of it right now.
I don't understand exactly what this is.
But, I mean, I see hand sanitizer.
Am I supposed to just go up and milk
any old cow that I want?
This is already very intense.
There's a lot of machinery here.
Can you tell me what this is?
It's a steer.
Well, but what is this contraption?
That's a grooming chute with lights,
so when you're clipping and fitting,
you can tell what you're doing.
She's getting it ready for showmanship.
He's coming up right away?
2:30. 2:30?
Yep.
Is it a pick, you said?
They call it a stall pick.
It's a fancy name for "pitchfork."
And is it for...
Shoveling the waste from cattle
or whatever you're gonna do.
But when you grow up on the farm,
it's the first thing you learn how to run
when you go to the barn. All right.
Dad always backed the spreader up to the barn.
Then you had to fill that up,
and then he'd come home at noon and run it out.
If it was too little, if it wasn't full enough,
it usually wasn't the best idea.
It's always best to get it full,
even if you had to fluff it up a little.
All right.
♪♪
Ugh! I forgot how it smells in here.
It's pretty crazy.
It's kind of an earthy smell.
It's not exactly what you think of.
It's not bad.
It's just kind of like...
earth.
It almost smells like some good French wine, in a crazy way.
♪♪
Oh!
So, this pig contest has kind of always been a curiosity of mine.
And just walking around the barn is fun,
but I'm not learning that much.
So we're gonna go talk to contestant.
Her name is Reagan, and I'm gonna see
if she can help me understand this thing.
Hi, Reagan. Hi.
How are you? I'm good.
How are you? Good.
How did you get into this?
Both of my parents showed,
and so I've been showing since I was 3.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, I've been showing a really long time.
That's amazing.
They're kissing!
Is that kissing, or are they just fooling around?
They're just fooling around.
They're friends.
Well, should we go on a walk?
-Sure. -So, you're in high school?
Yes, I will be a sophomore this year.
What's the size of your class?
I have about 75 in my grade,
but we're the biggest grade in the school.
Really? By far.
The rest have about 50.
And what do you do besides this?
Do you have any other hobbies?
Um, I am a huge dancer.
I'm on livestock judging.
I'm in FFA, too.
I'm a cheerleader.
So you're very busy. I am very busy.
[ Laughs ]
Do you brush them really clean before the competition?
Mm-hmm.
We'll brush them, and we'll wash them,
and we'll put conditioner on their skin.
Oh, he's peeing.
Yeah.
Man: This is a good-looking barrow
that's got a good balance.
Let's give them all a round of applause
as they head back in the barn.
[ Applause ]
♪♪
Meyer: So, the pig contest itself was pretty weird.
It was just, like, a bunch of kids running around
a green zone with their pigs.
And I couldn't tell who was in charge or what was happening,
and then eventually it was just over.
Woman: As they head back to their pens.
[ Applause ]
All right, well, I just watched my first competition.
And I saw you got third place.
How do you feel?
It's a really big deal to get third place here.
Really?
Yeah, it's a huge deal to get even a pen.
It's an even bigger deal to get weighed.
Wow. So I got weighed
along with two other people.
Yeah. So it's a huge deal to get weighed.
So you knew then. When they were weighing it, you knew.
Yeah, if you weigh, it's a huge deal here.
Well, congratulations. Thanks.
Uh, I don't think I've ever won anything.
[ Laughs ] So I'm just basking in your glory with you.
[ Both laugh ]
♪♪
All right, so I'm standing here
on the main drag of the Iowa State Fair
with someone who I consider
a local celebrity here of Des Moines.
He's Ed Wilson, longtime weatherman for Channel 13.
I remember the first time I saw him in person.
I was working at a movie theater
when I was about 16, and he came in.
I served him popcorn, and I was star-struck.
We're gonna try to get on camera with him.
And, in fact, it is starting to rain just a little bit.
Little bit of light rain.
Guys, cover up your food, okay?
Cover up your food. It's gonna rain.
They don't believe me, I don't think.
Uh, we also have a camera crew. Look at these guys over here.
And you are? I'm Dan Meyer.
And you're from Des Moines originally?
Grew up, born and raised in Des Moines.
Well, born in Texas, raised in Des Moines, and I'm --
And what do you do?
I'm equipment manager for a TV station
and media company called VICE Media.
Our TV station is called VICELAND.
Excellent.
And we brought some cameras out here this year
to the fair to show some of the people in New York
and the rest, through the world,
what the Iowa State Fair really is.
This is what it's about.
Yes. Now, I've seen --
I've met people this week from New York...
Yeah. ...from California...
Yeah. ...from Virginia.
They fly in for this. Yeah, they do.
I mean, it's... Yeah.
It's kind of a big deal to us,
but it's fun to watch the reactions of people
that have never been here before.
Yeah. Is this the biggest state fair in the country?
Do we know that? Uh, I don't think so.
Like, Minnesota has a larger state fair.
Texas, you know, but...
We're always gonna have rivalries with those states.
But we actually made it on the top-10 list
of bucket lists to have... Okay.
...you know, for Iowa State Fair.
So that's a good day.
Amazing. [ Laughs ]
That's good. I do have to throw to a tease,
or a break, really quick, okay? Of course.
We'll be back -- We'll be back with the seven-day forecast
in a minute, guys. All right.
Bye, Iowa.
Woman: Attention on the grounds, attention on the grounds --
Would Martha or Benjamin Dorman return to your vehicle
and meet with the police officer?
Martha or Benjamin Dorman.