Fairgoers Found Creativity with “Our Iowa Farm Experience”

September 10, 2024

By Lydia Zerby

Whether food, livestock, competitions, concerts or entertainment, the Iowa State Fair found a record-breaking cure for FAIR FEVER, August 8-18, 2024. This year's Iowa State Fair was the largest EVER, with 1,182,682 Fairgoers in attendance. Many attribute the enormous attendance to the mild temperatures and beautiful weather.

The Iowa Food & Family Project’s exhibit in the SE Atrium of the Varied Industries Building also experienced great success and huge crowds. This year, fairgoers experienced food, farming and agriculture with a “digital twist.” Kids and adults of all ages (over 13,000 to be exact!) stopped by to color a farm picture and then watched as their art was digitized and became a part of the large “Our Iowa Farm Experience.” 

The exhibit saw thousands of fairgoers during the 11-day run and added a large amount of Iowa consumers to the already impressive Iowa FFP network of engaged followers.

Visitors took more than 3,000 photos at our “Picture Yourself on the Farm” photobooth, we handed out 15,000 promotional items at the trivia Plinko game, and we exchanged nearly 18,000 tote bags for fairgoers subscribing to our free eNewsletter or “liking” Iowa FFP on Facebook.

Speaking of “likes,” the Iowa FFP Facebook page gained more than 4,500 new followers, an increase of 8.7%, now topping out at more than 51,000 food-minded consumers engaged with Iowa FFP. 

Looking at the overall number of visitors to the Iowa FFP Fair exhibit, we estimate that 2 in 3 were new to the Iowa FFP network. 

A “Fairly” Quick Question
Each day of the Fair, Iowa FFP offered a different “Question of the Day” for fairgoers to vote on. We asked voters about their grocery shopping habits, their views of Iowa agriculture, how far they traveled to get to the fair, their favorite pizza topping and more. The activity prompted thought-provoking discussions and added another layer of engagement to the exhibit. Check out the results!