Iowa State Fair allows state universities to showcase their programs

The Iowa State Fair is all about showing off artwork, animals, fried food and - at least this year - organ transplants.

The University of Iowa has invited more than 2,000 families from across the region who have been touched by its Organ Transplant Center to attend a celebration Saturday at the fair.

The reunion, of sorts, is meant to commemorate the UI Hospitals and Clinics' more than 5,000 organ transplants in the last 46 years.

'The central location of the State Fair gives us the opportunity to celebrate the transplant program's achievements with the entire state,” said Alan Reed, director of the center. 'We are celebrating what transplantation has meant for the recipients, live donors and families of deceased donors.”

The State Fair, which kicks off Thursday and continues through Aug. 23, will feature exhibits from each of the state's three public universities among its 700-some exhibitors and concessions.

The university booths will be stationed in the Varied Industries Building, where Saturday's organ transplant celebration will provide donors and recipients a chance to meet members of the transplant team, receive a wrist band and sign a 'bucket list” documenting what organ recipients have done since their transplants.

Of the UI's transplants since 1969, 431 - or 8.6 percent - involved veterans receiving care at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Iowa City. The UI's 5,000th transplant occurred in March and was a liver - the second most common type performed at the center behind kidney transplants, which account for 66.4 percent of UIHC transplants.

Iowans account for 85 percent of UI transplant patients, coming from 96 of the state's 99 counties, said Jean Robillard, vice president of medical affairs for UI Health Care, interim UI president, and pediatric kidney specialist who has cared for transplant patients.

Iowa State University's fair exhibit this year also will highlight the institution's reach.

Partnering with ISU Extension and Outreach, 'Camp Cy: A Statewide Adventure” will feature interactive stations demonstrating ways ISU impacts Iowans.

Displays will include a virtual-reality roller coaster, 3D-printed replicas of Cy the mascot, a conservation station featuring a rainfall simulator and several guests, including ISU graduate and retired astronaut Clayton Anderson.

'Everything we are doing with the exhibit this year has to do with how the extension is taking knowledge and research from Iowa State out to the state of Iowa,” said Carole Custer, ISU's director of university marketing.

In addition to its main display, Iowa State's Extension and Outreach is behind thousands of 4-H exhibits, presentations and competitions. About 2,800 young people will bring 3,900 4-H projects and performances to the fair, and another 2,000 will show a combined 6,000 animals and horticulture entries.

ISU also helped design a State Fair Food Finder mobile application.