Carnival in the Countryside

More than a century and a half after its founding, the Iowa State Fair is the state's central institution, event, and symbol. At the sametime that they enjoy fried candy bars and roller coasters, Iowans also compete to raise the best corn, to make the best jams, and rear the finest sheep and the handsomest horses. This tension between entertainment and agriculture goes back all the way to the fair's founding, as Chris Rasmussen shows in this thought provoking history.