839: Meet Me at the Fair

This American Life

Society & Culture, News, Politics, Arts

4.6 • 88.8K Ratings

🗓️ 8 September 2024

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Iowa has three million people and a million come to their State Fair, each with their own goals and dreams for the fair. We hang out with some of them, to see if they get what they hoped for.

Prologue: A big bull, a giant slide, and cowboys on horseback shooting balloons are just a few sights you can take in at the Iowa State Fair. Some people come for the spectacle, and some are the spectacle. (8 minutes)
Act One: Bailey Leavitt comes from a family of carnies. For her, one of the most thrilling things she looks for at the fair is someone who is really good at luring people into spending money at their stand. She takes Ira on an insider’s search for “an agent.” (16 minutes)
Act 2: Motley Crue pledged never to play the fairgrounds. Then they did. We wondered what that had been like for them. They agreed to an interview, but then they flinched. (1 minute)
Act Two: What life lessons can kids learn at the 4-H rabbit competition? A lot. (11 minutes)
Act Three: The Iowa State Fair awarded coveted slots to just nine new food vendors this year. All of them are run by people who already own restaurants or who’ve done other big fairs. All except for an unlikely newcomer: Biscuit Bar. (19 minutes)
Act Four: As the ferris wheel goes dark and the fair is closing down, one game is racing to meet their quota. Ira watches until the end.

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0:00.0	A quick warning, there are curse words that are unbeeped in today's episode of the show.
0:06.4	If you prefer a beeped version, you can find that at our website, this American Life.
0:10.8	org.
0:11.8	The state of Iowa has a little more than 3 million people. American Life. . . . . . . . . . .
0:14.0	3 million people. One million come to the state fair.
0:18.0	I was growing past the swine barn and the kids' talent show stage and the lemonade shake-up stands and the many many
0:24.5	corn dog stands and the Central Iowa Railroad Club Exhibit Building and the
0:28.8	chainsaw art and the live snakes in the vast slowly moving rivers of people every one of those million is here
0:36.0	on their own personal quest for what they want out of the fair stuff they want to do
0:40.6	stuff they want to see. Everybody has their own mission.
0:43.7	Declan and Killian for instance. Seven to nine years old,
0:47.7	brothers from a suburb of Des Moines. They want to see the giant bull.
0:54.0	Killian, the big brother,
0:56.0	talked to my co-worker Diane Wu.
0:58.0	Why are you excited to see the bull?
1:00.0	It's one of my favorite animals.
1:02.0	How come?
1:03.0	They can see red and red is my favorite color.
1:07.0	What? You said I was black like every day.
1:10.0	This little brother Decoyne with the factcheck about Killian's favorite color being black.
1:15.0	Another fact check, bulls can't actually see red.
1:18.0	The boys wander around the outside of the cattle barn
	...

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