Discover the New DNR Cave at the Iowa State Fair
The DNR Building is taking fairgoers on a new kind of adventure! 🌿 The all-new Conservation Discovery Area—nicknamed the “DNR Cave”—is an interactive display inspired by Maquoketa Caves. Inside, visitors can explore tactile exhibits, discover hidden creatures like bats, and even check out a miniature in-floor river.
Transcript
[Kayla Lyon, Iowa Department of Natural Resources Director] So welcome to the DNR Building. When people come see the DNR exhibit at the state fair, they naturally think about the aquarium. That is kind of our flagship. The aquarium itself has about 40 different species of fish on display. We bring about 200 and some fish in for the week to show off the fisheries across the state of Iowa. And it's actually the original DNR Building at the state fair.
And next year it will be 100 years old. We wanted to create a new experience where Iowans could come and learn about some of our state parks and have an interactive experience. And so this last year, we built a new structure here showcasing two of our flagship parks. We have Maquoketa Caves State Park and Pilot Knob State Park.
So over 15 weeks, we had a contractor in here building both the cave and the tower. There's about 20,000 pounds of concrete and 5,000 pounds of steel here, and 13 family members actually worked on it together. So it's been really cool.
[Child 1] Look at the enclosure.
[Kayla] So as you walk into the cave, you'll experience sounds of a cave. It looks like it's wet like a cave. There's the stalactites in there. We've got some creatures in there, including some bats and a skink. And then there's also a smaller cave that kids can crawl into. And sometimes we have a little trouble getting the kids out, but it's really cool. It feels like you're in a cave at Maquoketa Cave State Park.
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Look down and you'll see the little cave that you can go through, but then also look up. You're going to see bats, you're going to see lights, you're going to see all kinds of little nooks and crannies that feel like the inside of a cave.
So in the floor we have a river scene. And then also there's a couple of cutout spots where next year we're going to bring in creatures and put them in the floor so you can walk over the top of them. So it'd be an experience like you're going over the top of a stream.
We also have a backdrop from another one of our flagship state parks, Pikes Peak, and it shows Bridal Falls, and that's the waterfall that you can see in the park at Pikes Peak in Northeast Iowa.
We also have a shooting range experience where kids and adults alike can come and do archery. We also have programming throughout the week, three times a day, so folks can come out and learn about opportunities outside.
This is going to be here for a while. It was built here. It's concrete, it's heavy, it looks super cool. It's visually appealing, it's interactive. I'm a mom of two little kids and they loved it.
So I think it's also important to note that it's ADA compliant, so you can take wheelchairs through there, you can take strollers through there. It's a very accessible opportunity.