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Justin Brady: From the Jethro’s BBQ studio, I’m Justin Brady and this is the Iowa Podcast. Years ago, I was on WHO Radio and I did a show called State Fair Live. I did 11 shows for the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, and I learned, I, I was kind of like at this stage where I was like, “Eh, I don’t know if I care about fairs, county fairs, state fairs anymore. I don’t know. I really don’t understand.” I did this 11-day thing and I learned so much about the Iowa State Fair, our county fairs. It made my brain hurt. The complexity, the logistics, how active this is across the whole state. It’s, it’s a bit cra-it, like, built my, um, my, I don’t know what the right word is. It built up my respect for county and state fairs to a very large degree that I didn’t even know, uh, I had. So I, I, I like the fair system. I like how it works. I love the local community aspect of it. And to dive into that topic today is Thomas Barnes, the executive director of the Association of Iowa Fairs. He joins us in studio today. Tom, thanks so much for coming on the Iowa

Thomas Barnes: thank you much for the invite. This is gonna be fun

Justin Brady: It will be fun. And like I said, I, um, I, I’m ashamed to say this truthfully, but not until my 30s, um, my mid-30s, did I start to understand… This sounds stupid, so don’t, you know, don’t come across the table and hit me. I didn’t really understand that there’s this really major county fair ecosystem. I kind of was like, it’s the Iowa State Fair. That’s the really the only real one that exists, and it’s this annual thing, and people just get together and show stuff off, and that’s kind of it. Like, I didn’t

Thomas Barnes: didn’t understand

Justin Brady: the full complexity of how this thing works. So for people like me that are just like, there are a few fairs and they happen, and there’s some relationship with the Iowa State Fair, and that’s all we know, break down what the Association of Iowa Fairs is all about? How many fairs are there? Where are they located? How does this all work? Give us like a 30,000-foot view.

Thomas Barnes: The Association of Iowa Fairs is, is basically the organizational body of the fair industry in Iowa. Uh, our membership includes 106 fairs, including the Iowa State Fair, and, uh, the rest are county and regional fairs. So quite obviously, there’s two fairs in some counties. Um, the association provides, uh, I would say, um, educational opportunities. We provide a, a conference or convention every year. We have district meetings spring and fall. We, uh, we work in the–with the state legislature on legislation that benefits the fair industry in Iowa. Um, we offer sometimes conflict resolution. Um, it’s just the, the association is just basically the, the glue that holds the fair industry together in Iowa. Um, years ago, in, in listening to your lead-in, when I grew up back in the ’70s, ’60s, 60s basically, my buddies were showing at our county fair, and I went out there and had fun with them in the barn and that, and basically the county fairs were not as, I wouldn’t call it well-known, but were not as thought of as they are today

Justin Brady: Hmm.

Thomas Barnes: Um, fairs have grown, um, from that kind of, “Well, let’s mow the grass, uh, two weeks out. Let’s get some white paint, let’s get some nails and fix up the barns. We’ll have the fair, and then we’ll shut the gate and go home.” Um, many of our county fairs now are, uh, year-round facilities, provide, um, a lot for their communities. Uh, they’re a major economic–They have a major economic impact on the state of Iowa. We d-with the Association of Iowa Fairs did an economic impact report, uh, with a company out, based out of Chicago, to see exactly what the fairs of Iowa do have and, and do provide the state of Iowa. And it was quite amazing that, uh, the data that we provide them on, um, the We collect a lot of data from every one of our fairs, financial and other things and, and sent that in to th-this company, and they came back with, uh, the fair industry in Iowa provides, like, $1.35 billion economic impact on the state of Iowa every year.

Justin Brady: Goodness.

Thomas Barnes: It’s, um, 1.35 billion. It’s And you think, “How?” Well, you look at it, and it, and the, the money being spent not only locally with the county fair and, uh, you know, fixing things up, the local, uh, the, uh, local clubs selling their products, but the, also the out-the travelers that come in. You look at what it does for your own, uh, community. My own fair up in Cresco, the Mighty Howard County Fair, did one, and we just got the results back a couple weeks ago. Our fair is, I would call, the good standard I-uh, county fair in Iowa, 38, 34, 39,000 people every year. Um, our economic impact on, uh, Cresco and Howard County was $9.4 million. Throughout the whole year, we have a community center and a racetrack and that. Our economic impact on Cresco and Howard County was 13.4 million. So they are They do generate a lot of, uh, financial impact on the counties and, and the state of Iowa

Justin Brady: So when you say the, um, $1.3 billion of economic impact for the state of Iowa, people mostly think, “Well, that’s just like, you know, one, that’s just like one week in each county,” in, uh, obviously 106, but that’s generating all that. But you’re like, “No, no, no. That’s, it’s not just that one week,” or 11 days in the state fair’s case. It’s, um, actually these fairgrounds are running year-round and providing economic value all year. Can you give people an example of what that looks like outside facility rentals?

Thomas Barnes: Well, you look at, um, not only facility roles. There’s a lot of fairs in Iowa that have, for instance, a community center, they call it, where there’s local events, wedding receptions, graduations, and things. But they’re also host to community events, um, chamber of commerce events, uh, local fundraising. Uh, there’s quite a few stock car tracks. As we know, Iowa has a lot of dirt tracks. Um, and it’s just been a… It, it’s a major gathering spot for the community. Um, so, you know, when you look at that, that people are utilizing their county fairgrounds more than the five days, typical five days of the county fair, uh, you can s-soon see that if you, if you really look at the data and you, you know, think about things, they do p-it is a major impact on the community. It’s a County fairgrounds are looked at in the community like a safe place to go. Um, it’s a w-uh, they’re inviting, uh, well-kept. Um, yeah, so i-it’s easy for people to say, you know, “We’re going out to this event at the county fairgrounds,” ’cause they’re used to going there. They know the people. They know the, they know what it’s like. It’s just, um, it’s an assumed thing, and I th-I don’t think, uh, um, people totally understand the impact unless you’re in the fair industry.

Justin Brady: Sure

Thomas Barnes: But it is, uh, it is a major, it is a major part of each community

Justin Brady: So explain how the Association of Iowa Fairs works with all these county fairs. And you mentioned that for those counting here, of course there are 99 Iowa counties, and you mentioned there are actually 106 fairs. So I guess two questions then. What are the bonus fairs, and how does the Association of Iowa Fairs oversee or help or organize or structure all these county fairs?

Thomas Barnes: First I’ll address the, the duplicates. Um, there are several counties in Iowa that have two fairs. Keoka County, one in Sigourney and one in What Cheer. Cherokee County, um, the Cherokee County Fair, and then Marcus Community Fair. Black Hawk County has Cattle Congress and the Black Hawk County 4-H and, and 4-H and FFA Fair. So that’s, that’s an example. There’s, uh, there’s several like that. Uh, the o-the association is a membership-based, uh, organization. It was founded in 1907. The county fairs are membersh-are members of the association. With that membership, um, there are some benefits for our fairs, and as I said earlier, we, we do provide educational opportunities. We have a three-day conference in December here in Des Moines. Um, draws usually 1,300 through 1,400 people to that. Every county fair is usually there. Also at-attending our conference is our associate members. We have roughly, uh, 140, 150 associate members, which is carnivals, concessions, booking agents, music acts, tractor pulls, uh, you name it. And they come to our conference, and they set up, uh, in dis-hospitality rooms or in the courtyard, and they sell their wares, you wanna call it. So the county fairs will come to our conference, book a couple acts. They’ll book their grounds entertainment. Um, they’ll get some ideas from, like, uh, the thing now, of course, you know, is online ticketing and, and things like that and, and, uh, social media. Um, and we have workshops. The three days are comprised of workshops, uh, with all kinds of different topics from cybersecurity. We–this year we, we, uh, had the, um, uh, chief of police from the Iowa State Fair give a workshop on s-security on your grounds and what to look for. ‘Cause as you see large events and you see what the national news is reporting, it’s… You just don’t know. Right. So these are things that we try to provide our fairs so they’re made aware of this. Um, we give them the, the resources that they can, they can take back home and share with their fair boards and say, “Hey, I learned that this count-this county fair over here did a great job with sponsorships. This is how they structured their programming. Uh, let’s try to duplicate that here in our county.” Um, so it, it’s a ma-it’s one of–It’s our biggest event of the year, of course. Um, we also provide two meetings a year, one in the spring, one in the fall. They’re spring and fall district meetings they call them. It’s just that there’s six districts in Iowa. So all the fairs get together at their own district. Uh, usually in the fall, we elect a director to our state, to our association board. And then, uh, we have a business meeting and just provide, try to provide some, uh, maybe a half an hour, three-quarters an hour, uh, educational opportunity at the district meetings. We have updates on our legislative process. Um, and then, uh, so it… And then, of course, in the summer, Sue and I call it our fair tour. And every year we, we both still work, so we take off on early Saturday morning. We’ll tour fairs Uh, for the weekend, and we try to accumulate, uh, 30, 35 fairs through the summer months. Just we visit them. Yeah. It’s, it’s, uh, it’s a lot of driving. But we try to, we try to structure our tour so that we’re not driving three or four hours. We’re trying to drive half an hour, an hour between each one. We’re in the northeast corner of the state, so no matter where we’re gonna start, we got a drive ahead of us. Yeah.

Justin Brady: Yeah, yeah,

Thomas Barnes: But, uh, so we try to structure our drive that way, and we don’t stay, you know, several hours. We’re there an hour, maybe an hour and a half talking to the fair board. If we know some people there, like the carnival or something, we’ll go say hi and see how their thing’s going. It’s just kind of touching base. We really like this fair tour aspect because we’re, we’re there when they’re, they’re doing their biggest thing, and if there’s issues or, or comments or good things, you see them, and it… You’re, you’re catching them right when, uh, right when the… It’s fresh on their mind. So usually what happens, uh, we try to do then is, uh, from our tours, we take ideas that we’ve learned from the summer and, and put them together on, on workshop topics for our conference in December

Justin Brady: You mentioned, um, uh, I know there’s like m-most of these county fairs operate similarly in that, you know, people can apply, they can show animals, n-you know. But I think what a lot of people don’t understand is that the county fairs all kind of, I don’t even know how to say this, are kind of the first round for most of these 4-H and FFA programs, and then the state fair, don’t people move on to that? And it’s almost like a championship of sorts, or can you explain how that whole thing works?

Thomas Barnes: Yeah, I, that’s The No, no, you’re, you’re, you’re on the right track, and that’s very true. Um, you do not have to, um, um, in static exhibits, let me start there. That’s the 4-H projects in the building. You go see the, the woodworking and all that. Um, they’re judged at a county fair in wherever in Iowa, and then e-each county, uh, the extension office, uh, in it, in the county kinda takes care of that part of it. They say, “Well, this county, you can send 12 exhibits to the state fair.” So the judges pick the top 12, and those that go on, they go on to the state fair. Um, same with presentations and work and, uh, working exhibits and things like that. Livestock’s a little different. Uh, it used to be years ago you had to go through your county show and show to go to the state fair, but it’s more relaxed now. Um, I know at our fair we do our weigh-in, of course, early because our, my fair’s next week. So there they nominate their animals at the same time for state fair, and sometimes it’s usually different animals, but they have to nominate by a certain date to get into the state fair as well. So really the… If you talk to Jeremy and the folks at the Iowa State Fair, they’re mi-very much in tune that the county fairs are a big part of the state fair, and they pro-they provide the, the youth aspect to the state fair. They encourage the youth aspect of the state fair, and they encourage, uh, the fairs of Iowa to participate in the Iowa State Fair

Justin Brady: Yeah, I mean, especially through, you know, for those that don’t know, when you’re going to the fair and you see the FFA, um, Future Farmers of America, and you see the 4-H programs, all of those, I think, at least the wide majority, are pulling from the county fairs. That’s where

Thomas Barnes: That is correct.

Justin Brady: like the first round. I don’t know if you use that terminology.

Thomas Barnes: good way to put it. Yeah it, it, the county fair, I don’t wanna call it the warm-up. It’s the, it’s the, it’s the, the premier event of the county. Uh, but then from there, the top people go to the state fair

Justin Brady: Yeah. So have you seen… ‘Cause this is, this is really fascinating for, you know, ’cause we, we see the FFA, um, students there and the 4-H students there, and most people don’t know the inner workings if they’re not in the FFA or if they haven’t done a 4-H program there. They don’t understand the nuance of how that works. Um, have you seen, and it kinda sounds like the answer’s yes here, but have you seen a growth in these programs, uh, as of late? Have they flatlined? Are they maybe going, like, decreasing in growth a little bit? What have you seen in the last, like, 10, 20 years?

Thomas Barnes: I would say Sue and I, my wife is our extension office executive director in Howard County, so she’s very well-versed on the, on the extension side of it. But we collect that data every year with a, by a report that the fairs have to give us. It’s how many kids showed livestock, how many kids showed exhibits, how many beef did you have, you know, and all the whole thing. We track it, and I would, I would say, it’s, it’s hard to say. I would say in 4-H the numbers are, are even or less.

Justin Brady: Mm-hmm.

Thomas Barnes: FFA I would say is probably growing a little bit, uh, but not a lot. Um, the thing I know our school did up at Crestwood in Cresco is they opened it up to junior high, so that brought more kids into their FFA program. But what we’re seeing in the fair industry, and I’m s-sure other people say the same thing, is we’re fighting the schools. The,

Justin Brady: Really?

Thomas Barnes: the, they’re keeping the kids busy year-round. You got school softball, baseball, uh, all those summer activities, plus you got AAU sports. So when the, when our kids are getting to that 14, 15 years old, all of a sudden there’s a lot of things pulling at them. And the parents, you know, they, they want their kids to be in everything, but quite frankly, they can’t be in everything. Right There’s that, there’s that commitment you have to make, whether it is your 4-H project or whether it’s your softball. You have to make that commitment. So we’re struggling. I wouldn’t say struggling. We are emphasizing the fact of what 4-H and FFA does for our kids, um, but it is, it’s a tough ball to crack. We’ve had, uh, in past up in our way at our fair, remember we were trying to get some girls wanting to run for our state fair, or for our county fair queen, which okay, which goes to the state fair. Mm-hmm. Um, and coaches said, “If you’re not here the week of the county fair practicing, you’re not gonna play at all.” And we went to them, we went and say, “Hey, can you practice at a different

Justin Brady: Can you work with

Thomas Barnes: give them a little leeway. Yeah. Mm-mm.

Justin Brady: Ah

Thomas Barnes: So, you know, that’s very frustrating. Yeah. And I, I wanna be careful how far I go with my comments there, but that’s the biggest thing we see, and I think that’s… You, if you look at anybody statewide at any of the county fairs, they’ll tell you the same thing. It’s, it’s difficult. Um, youth numbers are decreasing. Hate to say that, but we’re we’re tracking it, and it’s just because of this outflow towards the pr-the prominence on, uh, sports and school.

Justin Brady: This is a theme, by the way, um, on this show. We’ve heard this theme several times for other programs, uh, both business programs, agricultural programs. Uh, for better or for worse, it seems like local schools and athletic schedules are starting to dominate everything else. And that’s interesting that some of the local athletic programs are like, “No, we’re not gonna work with you. We’re, you know, this is how it is. Too bad.” Um, sometimes, I mean, my personal bias here is sometimes I feel like the emphasis, uh, our communities put on sports has gone a little too far. Uh, and that’s just my own opinion. I’m sure people will scream at me. But, um, I’m like, you know, there’s more, more to life. There’s a lot more career in the future of our state than just sports and athletics. But I don’t

Thomas Barnes: I would agree with that wholeheartedly. I think, I know, let’s put it this way. You think of a county fair. How many of these kids that are in sports, and I’m not degrading the sports. Right. It’s a great deal.

Justin Brady: I watch sports. Yeah

Thomas Barnes: too. Um, but when they’re done with their sports, other than, you know, learning how to play softball real well or, you know, being on a team, what have that done for your life? When you’re in 4-H or FFA, and you take that beef, you raise it from a calf, you sewed that dress, um, you know, you f-you took care of that milk cow all year, and you bring that to the county fair, and you work with it, you’re learning a life skill. And this is… I’ve always said that county fairs are the last bastion of ag-production agriculture education in the state of Iowa.

Justin Brady: Mm-hmm.

Thomas Barnes: It i-it is the one place where you can bring the whole community together, and county fairs and the state fair is very good at this. They focus on ag education in Iowa. And we try to make sure the public knows that, number one, what these kids are doing, they’re shaping a life. They’re shaping a skill, uh, you know, what they’re gonna do for the rest of their life. They’re gonna… They’re shaping what they’ll do for their communities. Um, it’s the only place anymore that you see youth being brought together, uh, on this type of a, a platform.

Justin Brady: Right. And it’s… Sorry, go ahead

Thomas Barnes: no, I… No, that’s fine. I just… It’s when we get talking about this, I could talk for quite a while, so I better… But, you know, I’ve always felt that w-people forget that what that county fair does for our youth. At our fairgrounds, I’ll give you an example. We have an ag education center. We have a true swine production facility on our grounds, and then the other side of this big, large building we built in ’16 is a large, uh, housing facility for the larger animals. And in that side, we have, uh, dairy heifers that we loan out to kids. Same with the pigs. A local producer brings in pigs, and we cleared this through Iowa State because it’s an ownership thing. And these kids go through these two programs. My wife takes care of making sure that the schedules are done. Uh, f-they have educational opportunities for these kids. They have 10, like six workshops a year, uh, throughout this program, and it starts in March. It ends at our fair next week. And, uh, as, as they get through this program then, you know, they’ve learned something from this, uh-The value that they’ve received from this, and we’ve had several of our kids, especially that have gone through our swine program, that are in Iowa State going through vet med.

Justin Brady: Hmm. Mm-hmm

Thomas Barnes: There’s a lot of our kids that are going into agricultural related, um, careers, not just vet med, not just going back home and being a, being a farmer, which is what we need, but they’re also into the other sides of agriculture. There’s a great opportunity, uh, for kids to get into agriculture in a wide variety of ways, and we feel that, you know, the county fairs bring that to these kids to give them opportunity to understand what’s out there for them

Justin Brady: Especially now, because in the last several years, there has been an emphasis on trying to get people into agricultural programs because, um, you know, organic and regenerative and sustainable agriculture and agricultural practices are starting to evolve really rapidly. And it’s kind of funny because, uh, I, I’ve been having this conversation several times with p-not, you know, politicians, but other, um, agricultural advocates, and I’m, I’m like organic and sustainable and regenerative and a focus on getting back to the land and different practices are, are kind of the national conversation now. And Iowa, uh, could have been or should be the center of that conversation, and we need talent leading that conversation and innovating. And meanwhile, at the same time, you’re telling me that the very talent and the students we need to drive agriculture, maybe we’re at threat of losing them entirely in this state, or at least in the future through these programs.

Thomas Barnes: I, it’s a mindset, okay? Yeah. Uh, and it, mindsets start at home. Um, you know, the, the, the whole thing of, of what you’re gonna do in your life starts at home. I would say the fairs are doing a lot more than we’ve done in the past as far as bringing that mindset back to their community and saying, “Hey, this is what we offer. We are the, we are the last place that these kids will get this valuable education and experience, hands-on experience.” We show people that are not connected to agriculture where their food comes from. Right We’ve got a milking parlor in our ag ed center at home, and most county fairs do, and it’s just fun to stand there and listen and watch as, um, people watch our cows being milked at our county fair ’cause they said, “Oh, I never…” I’ve heard this more and more and more-Mm-hmm and from adults, I never knew that’s how they got milk out of a cow.”

Justin Brady: Oh, wow

Thomas Barnes: I’m from Iowa, grew up in Cresco, 4,000 people, 10,000 in our county, and there are still people in our county don’t understand that, and that just boggles my mind. What are we doing wrong?

Justin Brady: Right. And it’s so vital to understand that, especially today. Um, have the… Over the years, have you seen the projects that the students are doing at 4-H, at FFA, have you seen these evolve or change? Like, what are the students seemingly focused on now? You’re looking I look,

Thomas Barnes: look, I looked over at my wife-Yeah ’cause she takes care of it. I’ll-

Justin Brady: can come over here and talk in his ear if you want. That’s totally fine. One thing we’re losing

Thomas Barnes: and Sue will tell us this, is we’re losing the home ec stuff. Really? ‘Cause it’s, it’s not in the schools anymore. I mean, when I was in school, the girls, quote, remember back in the ’60s, all took home ec.

Justin Brady: Mm-hmm

Thomas Barnes: And we used to have clubs that focused on… We used to have girls bo-clubs and boys clubs, F-4H clubs many years ago, and the girls clubs did that. The boys club did livestock. Well, that’s blended, which is great. They need to blend together. But you don’t see… If that push isn’t there for doing home economics, taking care of your house, learning how to wash clothes, learning how to darn a sock, sew a button on, uh, make a dress, make a blouse, make a shirt at home, are you gonna do it for your 4H club? Your leaders are key.

Justin Brady: Uh-huh.

Thomas Barnes: If you have a good 4H leader, you can have a strong club. You don’t have a good 4H leader, you’re not gonna see the success that you want out of that club. So that’s kind of the, the crux of it,

Justin Brady: Mm-hmm.

Thomas Barnes: is a lot of stuff starts at home, and that’s why fairs are trying so hard to see, to try to make sure that all opportunities are there. I kinda went around about on this, but going back to it, we’re still seeing a strong emphasis, a good emphasis on woodworking. Okay It’s, it’s a fun project. Welding’s big in ours. Um, you know, the photography usually, that’s one thing when we go to county fairs, we go in the 4H building and, and there’s always a lot of photographs. Yeah It’s a big deal. You know, it’s fun to, fun to look at all those photographs and the handmade stuff. Uh, but you’re not seeing a lot of the home ec type things

Justin Brady: That’s interesting. Uh, and that’s, that’s super funny because, um, my-someone in my family was touring some new houses recently, and they’re like, “Uh, none of these houses have hoods that work. Like, do people not cook in their homes anymore?” And I responded, “No, they

Thomas Barnes: know. Mm-mm.

Justin Brady: my wife and I cook every… Pe-this blows people’s minds, which I don’t know why it blows people’s minds, but my wife and I cook from scratch every night. We rarely go out anymore. But we, I almost see that skill, uh, like k-kids don’t know how to cook. Some of the basics elude people these days

Thomas Barnes: You made that a good point, that skill is lost. Cooking is lost. If you-And

Justin Brady: really bad bec-

Thomas Barnes: out all the time is

Justin Brady: out all the time is extremely expensive and not very healthy

Thomas Barnes: That’s true. Uh, but, you know, we see that a lot even in our smaller communities where, um, people aren’t cooking anymore, and it just kinda blows my mind. It’s, you know, you got that opportunity to sit down with your family and over a meal, and, uh, you made it. You know, you serve it. Yeah, one night a week we’ll go out for whatever, pizza or sandwich someplace. But the, you know, to, to hone that skill. Um, and that’s, uh, I think that’s, that’s a j-just a challenge for everybody as to how do we get our younger generation to, uh, get back into the basics of life? You know, cook your f-meal, uh, do your own washing, uh, take care of your home instead of hiring somebody to come and fix something. You know, learn how to take care of it. Learn how to fix a faucet. The whole… You know, we’re going way off here, but I mean, that’s, it’s, it’s part of, it’s part of what life is today, and, and that’s why going back to the, the, the fair industry in Iowa, that’s why it pushes so hard to promote self, uh, gratitude by getting things done with your own two hands, no matter what it is

Justin Brady: Yeah. I mean, I, I do see, I’m wondering if this, if this, uh, affects 4-H programs and FFA and county fairs, because I am starting to see, unlike YouTube, some of the trending YouTube channels now are like, um, like agricultural and make it yourself and make soap and, and sew your own clothe-Like we, uh, is, is, is… I don’t remember what one of… It’s someone of all trades or something, and she has like a, a farm channel. It’s a major YouTube channel, like millions of subscribers. And then there was this other show, More Than Farmers, that we found through that, and it’s just this homestead. And all they do, they’re just YouTubers, and all they do is record all the stuff they’re growing and how they’re doing their own agriculture and their own… And this is… And like they get, they have I don’t know how many hundreds of thousands subscribers they have, and now we’re getting served up all these agricultural and make your own food and make your own soap and ma-We’re seeing tons of channels like this. There’s clearly some kind of trend happening there. I don’t know where this trend comes from, but I am curious, probably our final question is, is, is the mindset starting to change, or is it just a YouTube thing? Um, or is that mindset starting to change at the county fairs? And if not, what do people need to focus on?

Thomas Barnes: It is changing. Everything in life is cyclical, okay? When I grew up in my younger years, my wife and I, you know, things were, everything was hands-on and, you know, what we were talking about, everything was involved. Um, as we, as, as, uh, the world got away from do it yourself and hire it out, um, you know, that was the low point, I call it. You’re seeing a very good job of promotion of, of agriculture in Iowa. You look at, uh, uh, Mike Naig and his department, what they’ve done to promote agriculture in Iowa, and you look at what the county fairs and now a state fair has done. A lot of county fairs are doing ag education, um, type hands-on learning.

Justin Brady: Hmm.

Thomas Barnes: Uh, and what that does, it just, it, it’s hard to measure exactly what it does, but when you start seeing what you just said, where now we’re seeing people outside of the fair industry, outside of agriculture, in basically the entertainment side, focusing more on agriculture, I think they’re seeing exactly what the value of that is for their lives

Justin Brady: sure. Yeah, maybe we should invite all these people to Iowa and say, “Come to the agricultural capital of the world.” I’ll put them in touch with you, Tom. Uh, Thomas Barnes, the executive director of the Association of Iowa Fairs. If people wanna learn more, they wanna connect with you, they wanna ask questions, what’s the website?

Thomas Barnes: Iowafairs.com, I-O-W-A-F-A-I-R-S.com Easy Easy

Justin Brady: Tom, thank you so much for coming on the “Iowa Podcast.”

Thomas Barnes: thank you for having us

Justin Brady: pleasure