State Fair Finale

"A Steam Antique," wc, ~6x8

The Iowa State Fair ends soon but last Wednesday was my final visit for 2018. This year has been a great one, with pleasant weather , good crowds, engaging contests and exhibitions, and the usual fair food-on-a-stick. The Iowa State Fair is quintessentially American and quintessentially Midwest. As noted in other posts, a visitor is likely to overwhelmed by the "Iowa nice" effect, not to mention all of the activities.

Posted here are the final three sketches of the Fair for this year. The first is an antique steam tractor parked on the grounds. There are quite a number of these exhibited every year, hearkening back to the days of steam reapers and threshers, before gasoline power. Many of these engines are not only attractively restored, they are still functional. The other two sketches are figure studies of folks I saw while rambling around. The heavy-set fellow was nodding off in the shade, waiting for the tram to come by. The other fellow was practicing for the Seniors Horseshoe Pitching Championship on the horseshoe courts just up the hill from the Hall. Everywhere you look, something is happening--someone is doing something.

"Waiting for the Tram," wc, 3.5x6

The Fair is an astonishing hive of activity--competitions, exhibitions, sales, family outings, kids riding rides, radio stations broadcasting, politicians wringing hands and blowing smoke, tractors pulling all sorts of things. There are animals enormous to tiny to be seen and admired; corn dogs, turkey legs, deep fried candy bars, peppermint ice cream and all manner of food-on-a-stick to consume. The Grandstand hosts famous acts and the smaller stages scattered everywhere host amateurs and professional musicians, famous and not-so. There are fiddlers and pickers galore in Pioneer Hall, arts and crafts on display in the Cultural Center, antiques to consider, new home gadgets and new farm equipment to ponder. The wine industry hosts daily grape stomping competitions, or you can go elsewhere and compete throwing cow chips or rubber chickens. The sheer number of people, animals, activities, events, food and the rest is nearly overwhelming. The Fair is more than its parts, though. The Fair like fairs everywhere provides a kind of continuity, dating from the mid-19th century, and although there are changes people in Iowa still come together for days of friendly competition, music, tale-swapping, overeating and general fun. Everyone comes, if only for a day or an evening. It's the largest event in Iowa every year, and draws

"Horseshoe Championship," wc, 3.5x5.5

over a million people total. (You can do a lot of people-watching at the Fair.)

Sketching at an event like the Iowa State Fair offers so many opportunities to draw that it can be bewildering. Without a plan you don't know where to go next. One of the problems for me was simply not realizing what was happening at any single time, so that I could take time to visit the event. There's no question I missed a lot of opportunities. A good plan would actually be to set up a personal itinerary ahead of time. In any event, sketching at a fair requires some paring down of equipment, unless you want to carry a great deal. I only took along a small watercolor set, a few pencils, two waterbrushes and a couple of pens plus two sketchbooks. That small outfit was plenty.  

Now it's back to my usual subjects, but I'll go back next year, for certain.