Iowa Politics with Jeff Stein -- Tue. Aug. 25, 2026

Blue Ribbon Worthy.

I'm Jeff Stein with today's Iowa Politics Report.

The Iowa State Fair ended Sunday night, and according to fair officials, it was another record-setting 11-day run.

Let's start with attendance.

Overall, fair attendance set a new record of 1,218,834 through the turnstiles, topping the old record set in 2024 by 30,000 people.

That includes a new all-time daily attendance record set this past Saturday of 130,654 that day alone.

A sold-out crowd of 17,360 watched country singer Lainey Wilson at the grandstand on the first Sunday of the fair.

That topped the old grandstand record set by Chris Stapleton five years ago by 40 concert goers.

An all-time record biggest ram in that category as Big Bad Joe topped the scales at 568 pounds.

And financially for charity this year's Iowa State Fair was another winner.

The Woodcarver's auction to benefit the Blue Ribbon Foundation brought in $96,000, crushing the old record set four years ago of $79,000, while the sale of champions totaled

nearly three-quarters of a million dollars to benefit the Iowa Foundation for Agricultural Advancement Scholarship Fund.

Fair officials note other milestones from this year's fair, including marking a century of the fair's hog-calling contest, 20 years of the Hot Beef Sunday at the Cattlemen's Beef Quarters, as well as 20 years of the Heritage Farm Awards, and 50 years of the Century Farm Award.

both of those from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.

Oh, and you heard us talk about the Iowa pork producers and their patriotic giveaway of 1776 pork chops on a stick on the first Sunday of the fair.

Well, all 1776 of them were gone in 99 minutes.

You don't have to be an attendee to respect and marvel at all that was on display.

And now, the numbers are there to prove it.

And that's the Iowa Politics Report for Tuesday, August 25 on Twitter, Instagram, Gitter, Threads and Truth Social at Iowa Politics.

I'm Jeff Stein on News Talk 1540, KXEL.