We stayed in the Iowa State Fair Campgrounds when we arrived in Iowa. We had never stayed in a Fair Campground before and this was a surprise.
The fairgrounds are composed of 435 acres (176 ha), of which 275 acres (111 ha) are devoted to the fair proper and about 160 acres (65 ha) are campground. It basically was a little city.
The Iowa State Fairgrounds are located in Iowa’s capital city, at the hub of Interstates 80 and 35 – just 10 minutes from downtown and 20 minutes from the Des Moines International Airport. While we were not there during the fair, the internationally-acclaimed Iowa State Fair annually attracts more than a million people from around the world. The Iowa State Fair was held in a different community every two years after it was first established. The first fair was held in Fairfield in 1854. We hope that one day we can return during the fair.
Guess we will have to drive another 24,901 miles to get 27 Beer (which we were not able to taste anyhow)
Sesquicentennial Fair (150th Anniversary)
We only paid $20 a night with water and electric. Unfortunately, we were on grass as there are no cement pads here and everyone parks in the grass. The issue with the grass is that is can get soft and with a 22 ton RV sitting on it, you can get stuck. Luckily, the fair crew was able to pull us out of the mud. Here is the results of that. The staff at the fairgrounds were outstanding. They say they have done this before. With all of the RV/trailer/5 wheel parking on slopes and grass, you would think they would think of adding pads. However, with 2,300 sites that could get expensive.
Before all of this, of course, we were able to tour Davenport and look at the murals and sculptures.
Pearl Clutcher/Snatcher – The blonde woman represents “the overall American consumer” or a “more traditional” Des Moines citizen reacting to downtown’s rapid growth. Partially hidden among the graffiti tags are Dopey from Disney’s “Snow White” and a pair of Smurfs, whose woodland habitat is threatened by development.” The artists “spray-paint[ed] black outlines on the two-story, 100-foot long wall, with help from a forklift, a video projector and a few buddies from Minneapolis
No Action Too Small – seems right since this is painted on the East-facing wall of Metro Waste Authority, East Village. Meaning No recycling action is too small.
“It was a collaborative thing between Metro Waste and myself,” Vance said about choosing the design for the mural, as well as promoting its cause of educating good waste disposal and recycling habits,
One of the other things we find it that as tourists you need to look beyond the regular tourist attractions and find things in that represent everyday life in the city. With that in mind, we also went to the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park. This is 4.4 acre park which is supposed to create a pedestrian friendly entranceway to downtown Des Moines. We didn’t take pictures of all 25 sculptures frankly because we didn’t like some of them. You can always check them out at
Pappajohn Sculpture Park Guide.
Moonrise – January and Moonrise – August – childlike and awkward faces that depicts an exaggerated expression and is named after a month of the year. January is the toothy grin while August is sympathetic. Fingerprints covers both pieces.
