Iowa PBS celebrates the spirit of the Iowa State Fair online

Join Iowa PBS in honoring the tradition and memory of the Iowa State Fair online — and in recreating some of the fair fun at home! Fair fans are encouraged to share their favorite memories, participate in creative contests, explore the fairgrounds virtually and relive fairs of years past with Bill Riley. Use #iowapbsfair and join the fun on iowapbs.org/fair, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Participating households have a chance to win prizes from Iowa PBS’s Fair Fun at Home drawings!

Iowa PBS is sharing the incredible stories and memories Iowans have of the state fair. Fans are encouraged to answer questions about the fair found at iowapbs.org with a photo and description or submit a quick video. Some submissions may even be featured by Iowa PBS online!

True fair fanatics know that one of the best parts of the Iowa State Fair is all of the fun competitions. Iowa PBS is excited to offer contests that you can participate in from home — some classic competitions, some with a twist and even some new, timely ones! Contests include butter sculpting, pet tricks, ugliest cake, kid joke telling, ode to the fair, sidewalk chalk art and face mask decorating. 

Each household can enter the contests and share their stories with Iowa PBS for a chance to be featured online. For each contest entered or question answered, a household will be entered for a chance to win, giving up to 13 entries in the prize drawings. All entries must be submitted using Iowa PBS’s special Fair Fun at Home forms. More information can be found at iowapbs.org/fair.

Experience the sights and sounds of the Iowa State Fair from the comfort and safety of your own home! Available soon, Iowa PBS’s new interactive map allows users to explore the fairgrounds, featuring decades of clips from Iowa State Fair events, contests and experiences from the fair’s most memorable locations. Fair fans will be able to take part in a virtual scavenger hunt, gaining another entry into the prize drawing if completed.

Iowa PBS will livestream episodes of Celebrating the Fair, a special series of programs featuring fair fun from the network’s 49 years of coverage. Programs will air on statewide Iowa PBS Monday, August 10 through Friday, August 14 at 9 p.m. and repeat at 10 p.m. The first broadcast of each episode will be livestreamed on iowapbs.org/fair, Facebook and YouTube. Host Bill Riley will join viewers on Facebook, responding to comments and questions in the livestream chats.

For viewers who can’t get enough of the Iowa State Fair, an archive of Iowa PBS’s coverage from recent years is available to stream on demand on iowapbs.org, YouTube and the PBS Video App. After each night’s premiere, Celebrating the Fair episodes will also be available on demand.

Viewers can find Iowa PBS programs and extras on their favorite video platform with the PBS Video App, iowapbs.org, Facebook or YouTube, or stream Iowa PBS .1 live on YouTube TV. The PBS Video App is available on iOS and Android devices, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV and Google Chromecast.