Ladies Rubber Chicken Throwing: A Wild Iowa State Fair Contest

[Hayley Schaefer] We're here at Pioneer Hall for the Ladies Rubber Chicken Throwing Contest, a longstanding tradition at the Iowa State Fair. And while not every competitor will throw their chicken the farthest, everybody will experience the simple joy of throwing a rubber chicken.

[Regina Pirtle] Rubber chicken throwing at Pioneer Hall began because we had rolling pin toss, and we had very heavy old rolling pins that actually went a great distance. And so I was thinking of something that we could use instead of the rolling pin that would be similar but not quite as harsh and painful.

And so rubber chicken, for whatever reason, came up, and that is what we have been using ever since. This is an example of our rubber chicken, and our participants must not use the neck, must not use the legs. They must throw it by the body. This one is a little bit abused. I'm trying to replace them for next year, but so far so good.

All ladies can participate. We have a division for 51 and over, and then anyone younger than that, from 16 on up. We'd love to have you.

[Hayley] All right, so tell me a little bit, what brought you here and what were we doing today?

[Woman 1] So today we're doing the Rubber Chicken Throwing Contest, and I'm from Boston, Mass. So a couple weeks ago I saw someone randomly post about the Iowa State Fair, and I said, “I think I'd like to go to that.” It’s my first time here and I'm having a lot of fun.

[Hayley] And for you?

[Woman 2] I am from Illinois, but my boyfriend's from Iowa and always brags about how great the Iowa State Fair is, so I checked it out last year. I came—this was the first time I did it last year, and I placed fourth. It was fun.

[Hayley] Can you show me your best chicken dance moves? There we go, I like it.

Hi, I'm Jean Stallander from Manning, and I actually did this for the first time last year. I didn't have any idea I won 3rd place till I had people text me and say, you won 3rd place in this contest. And these are my two friends. They didn't want to, but I've talked them into it.

[Hayley] All right, so tell me what brought you to the Iowa State Fair today?

[Woman 3] We've gone to the Missouri State Fair for 30 years and we decided to try the Iowa State Fair instead. It's our 3rd year, so I think this is our tradition from now on.

[Hayley] And how did you decide to do Ladies Rubber Chicken Throwing? Had you seen it before or what did you think?

[Woman 3] We watched PBS the first night at our hotel before we came the first time and we saw the whole backstory about it, and my husband said, “You've got to try it.” But I've never thrown a chicken in my life, so I think I did okay.

[Hayley] I didn't throw the longest distance, but I did get to throw a rubber chicken, and I still got a ribbon.

[Regina] I especially want our fairgoers to enjoy themselves. I want them to feel a part of what we do here, and it could be any of our contests. This is just one of them, but it's a fun one.