It’s August, and that means one thing in the
state of Iowa: the state fair is coming!
Iowa State Fair 2003 runs Aug. 7-17 at the Iowa
State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. The University of
Iowa’s booth in the Varied Industries Building
is filled with displays; demonstrations; interactive
exhibits; representatives from academics, athletics,
administration, admissions, and University of Iowa
Health Care; and volunteers from all areas of campus
and Des Moines area alumni.
Every day, fairgoers will be able to order athletic
tickets, photograph themselves with a life-size cutout
of head football coach Kirk Ferentz, send virtual
postcards, buy Iowa t-shirts, sign up for giveaways,
get temporary Hawkeye tattoos, and view demonstrations.
All this fun is the result of a great deal of planning.
Linda Kettner, director of University News Services,
and George McCrory, booth coordinator, have worked
with Jerry Best and Diana Brayton of the UI Audiovisual
Center and a board of campus advisers since the 2002
fair closed. Additional University News Services
staff are involved in media relations and planning.
In late July, the completed booth was unveiled at
a party at Gilcrest Jewett Lumber Company in Coralville,
which has donated a large space for booth construction
for the past two years. Now the booth will be broken
down, packed carefully onto dollies and carts made
especially to protect each section, and transported
down Interstate 80 to the fairgrounds for reassembly.
When the fair opens, the booth will showcase different
University departments each day. But Kettner says
the booth will offer much more.
“One-third of the total booth will have displays
and information and people from health sciences,” she
says. “The Hawk Shop will be expanded from
last year, so fairgoers can browse through racks
of Iowa clothing for sale.”
Athletics will provide the ever-popular Hawkeye
football posters and schedule cards. Appearances
by athletes and sports broadcasters, such as former
Iowa basketball player Matt Bullard and former Hawkeye
broadcaster Jim Zabel, will be a big draw, too, McCrory
says.
“We’ll be highlighting sports,” he
says. “The booth will feature the new Iowa
Athletics Hall of Fame. You’ll be able to see
Floyd of Rosedale, the trophy that goes to the winner
of the Iowa-Minnesota football games, as well as
our Big Ten football cochampionship trophy from last
year and softball trophies from the 2002 Big Ten
championship and tournament.”
Drawings are planned for each day, featuring such
prizes as Hawkeye football tickets, Hancher Auditorium
tickets, a stay at the Iowa House, a package from
KSUI-WSUI radio stations, and a grand prize that
includes tickets to two Big Ten football games and
one nonconference game.
Additional highlights include a feature on Old Capitol’s
restoration; a chance to dig in sand to find fossils
that span millions of years of Iowa’s natural
history; live broadcasts of WSUI’s Iowa Talks;
and appearances by Herky and the UI cheerleaders.
For a complete schedule, check out the University’s
state fair web site: www.uiowa.edu/statefair.
by Anne Tanner
|
