My First Visit to the Iowa State Fair

Sometimes an early morning odor of dew or the smell of hickory wood smoke will cause me to think of something very special to me, The Iowa State Fair! I can’t remember for sure the year of my first visit, but my best guess would be August of 1954. That would make me three years old and full of curiosity!

Now remember being a small child at the time my recall might not be 100%, but in my later years my mother told me that I heard on the radio a commercial about the event. Included were some comments about a tiny steam locomotive that ran on its small oval tracks just east of the Varied Industries Building. After hearing this, I asked, “Mommy, can I go ride on that little choo choo?” Evidently my parents couldn’t resist taking me after that and in a few days the three of us left early for Des Moines!

The trip to the capitol city in the 1953 Ford must have seemed a long journey to me and I am sure that I asked more than once, “Are we there yet?” I must confess that I can’t remember anything about that first journey to the fair, but I am sure that I got to ride that little “choo choo” at least once! My parents told me later that I didn’t want to leave and I insisted I wasn’t tired. But I was fast asleep in the back of that ‘53 Ford before it even passed through the main gate!

Now in the year of 2005, that little train is long gone, but the fond memories of the fair still cause this 54 year-old to smile. When my dad passed away in March of 1988, I didn’t shed a tear, but months later while visiting the fair grounds I cried!

I plan someday to take my grandchildren to the fair and give them some special memories also. Then someday they may write their own chapter in “The Sasse Files!”