What They’re Thinking: Iowa State Fair takes precautions against bird flu

The Iowa State Fair, which begins Aug. 8, has made changes to protect fairgoers and livestock from bird flu following recent outbreaks of the disease in dairy cattle.

There have been 13 detections of avian influenza in Iowa dairy cattle herds, with the latest ones being confirmed June 27, according to a news release from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.

Last month, state Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig issued a statement requiring all dairy cattle exhibitors at any fair in Iowa to do additional testing on their cattle before showing. This testing must be done a week before moving to the exhibit.

This requirement will apply to the Iowa State Fair, according to Jeremy Parsons, the Iowa State Fair’s chief executive officer.

  Buy Photo

In addition to navigating the risk of bird flu on fairgrounds, the Iowa State Fair has also sought ways to balance inflation and increased costs with giving fairgoers the best bang for their buck, Parsons said.

The Gazette spoke with Parsons about these challenges and how the state fair has tackled them. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: What is the Iowa State Fair doing to protect those who attend this year’s fair from the bird flu?

A: The Iowa Department of Agriculture … put out some guidance for all fairs in Iowa that basically outlines some additional testing for all fairs in Iowa … that has to be done for dairy cattle before they can exhibit or show at a fair, so we obviously are following those guidelines here. Our dairy cattle shows are going to happen as scheduled like normal, so no changes. Obviously, the exhibitor is going to have to have some additional testing done for their cattle, but to the fairgoer perspective, the dairy cattle shows are the same.

However, besides the dairy cattle show, we also have educational aspects of the fair. One of those educational aspects is a milking parlor where you can sit and watch dairy cattle being milked. Well, the thought is that (the bird flu) is transmitted between dairy herds by equipment. So therefore at this year’s fair, there will be no milking parlor because we don't want any exhibitors, any livestock to inadvertently transmit high pathogenic avian influenza between herds.

Q: What is new at this year’s fair?

A: There are really two focuses this year. One focus is on improved value for the fairgoer. We understand inflation affects everybody, including their discretionary spending, and that's really what the fair is ― it's vacation, it's a fun time. … So how we're doing that this year are with some new things. One of those is free horse shows every night at the Iowa State Fair. Historically, the fair has charged a separate admission price to go to those ― this year, they're free. We've doubled the amount of free entertainment in one of our entertainment areas. So those are just some ways we're trying to improve the value for the fairgoer ― that when you when you purchase that admission ticket, there's more to see for free.

The other angle for us this year is a lot of changes not in programming, but in what we're calling “creature comforts.” We just want the fairgoers to feel more comfortable while they're here at the fair. So some of the things we've done: We have remodeled restrooms, we have built a brand-new restroom in our campgrounds. We spent roughly $100,000 on shade structures and picnic tables and benches so people have more places to sit while they're at the fair. We've doubled the amount of paved ADA accessible parking to make the fairgrounds more accessible. In all of our major buildings, we've converted some of our water fountains into water bottle filling stations. So just really a lot of things like that ― improved lighting ― just things I think that will make the experience better for the fairgoer.

Q: How is the fair admission cost determined each year?

A: Like any business in Iowa, we're facing inflation as well, whether that's higher wages, higher costs for services, all those types of things. For us, though, we were able to hold the line, so there is no admission increase at this year's fair ― we were able to keep the admission the same as last year. We're able to do that because on the backside, we've just made some adjustments to our business operations to operate more efficiently. So again, we're pretty pleased that we were able to hold the line and even this year offer some additional value to the fairgoer. But we ― like anybody else ― we have a budget. We have to look at how we operate, ways we can operate more efficiently (and) still provide all the great services that the fairgoers expect.

Comments: (319)-265-6849; isabelle.foland@thegazette.com