Iowa State Fair fans can get food-on-a-stick fix at Fair Food Days

The 2020 Iowa State Fair may be canceled, but fans of the fair's iconic food aren't out of luck

The fair will host two Taste of the Fair weekends, July 24 to 26 and July 31 to Aug. 2.

From 4 to 9 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday for those two weekends, 20 Iowa State Fair food vendors will be open in the main midway, Thrill Ville area near the north parking lot off University Avenue at the fairgrounds in Des Moines.

The events will be following social distancing guidelines, according to a news release. Admission and parking are free.

Vendors include Applishus; Bauder's Ice Cream; Campbell's Corn Dogs; Completely Nuts; Koepp's Nut Rolls; Pickle Dawg and Footlongs; El Slider Loco; Deep Fried Twinkies, Oreo Cookies & Candy Bars; Fyfe's State Fair Grinders and Pizza Bread; Chicken City; Tot-chos & Turkey Legs - Hardenbrook's; Iowa Honey Producers Association; Barksdale's State Gair Cookies; Dipped in Chocolate; Buni's Cinnamon Rolls; Grater Taters; Patinella's Gyros; Smith's Smoothies, Wafle Chix and Pioneer Wagon.

A full of list of food they will serve each weekend is at iowastatefair.org/food/what's-new.

4-H and FFA showcase

The Iowa State Fairgrounds also will host a stand-alone event to showcase work from Iowa's 4-H and FFA youth. It will be open to Iowa 4-H and FFA exhibitors who have nominated livestock projects for the 2020 Iowa State Fair, and will take place Aug. 6-22, with exhibitions spaced out to allow for social distancing.

Exhibitors will each receive three wristbands for supporters to attend. Social distancing, hand washing and sanitizing guidelines will be followed. More information is at iowastatefair.org/participate/competition/how-to-enter.

Other 4-H competitions will be held virtually, with students submitting photos or video of their work. A public showcase of all entries will be released during the originally planned Iowa State Fair dates, Aug. 13-23.

There will be additional virtual fair events those days as well. Details will be announced on the Iowa State Fair social media pages and at iowastatefair.org.

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