A few iconic Iowa State Fair items in a Washington, D.C. museum are giving state fair officials some ideas.
Iowa State Fair CEO Jeremy Parsons told Radio Iowa it’s fascinating to see a replica of the Butter Cow inside the Smithsonian Museum, “but professionally displayed in a museum setting. We definitely need to up the bar on how we display things.”
Parsons, though, isn’t ready to say what display changes may be in store on the fairgrounds in Des Moines. The Smithsonian’s year-long exhibit features what are described by the museum’s curator as “works of art” from state fairs around the country, including some quilts entered in Iowa State Fair competitions. There’s also a huge pyramid of 700 glass jars holding canned goods that earned a Coralville doctor Iowa State Fair blue ribbons. Forbes magazine includes the life-sized butter cow as one of the exhibit’s “show-stopping spectacles.” Parsons agrees. “Seeing the butter cow in the round, for lack of better words, in museum lighting is phenomenal,” Parsons said.
By comparison, the Iowa State Fair’s refrigerated display case for the butter cow is along the east wall of the Agriculture Building. People wait in line to look through windows at the butter sculpture of a life-sized dairy cow. The Smithsonian’s exhibit of State Fair folk art runs through next September and is one of many events to mark America’s 250th anniversary. The 2026 Iowa State Fair will mark the occasion, too. “We’ve got all sorts of cool things we’ll be announcing soon about how we will be celebrating,” Parsons said.
And Parsons and his team are making big plans for the 2029 Iowa State Fair. “That’s the fair’s 175th anniversary. 2029 is not very far away in some ways,” Parsons said, “so we need to look at what we’re doing in terms of ag education which, of course, we have a new ag education facility coming on line.”
The $15 million center will be built near the north entrance to the fairgrounds and will explain crop development, Iowa soils and farm equipment as well as jobs in agriculture. Parsons said it’s about thinking strategically about the Iowa State Fair’s role in the future, since data suggests the number of Americans who have no connection to agriculture will continue to grow. “Inside the fair gates here, we are always looking ahead,” Parsons said.
Parsons recently released a study suggesting year-round activities on the Iowa State fairgrounds in 2024 had a $629 million statewide economic impact. Parsons said while the economic impact “is massive,” the State Fair is still about the people. “It is a cornerstone of the cultural fabric of our state,” Parsons said, “and it’s universally recognized for food, fun, livestock and family memories.”
Parsons grew up in Leon and was a high school English teacher before he was hired to direct the Missouri State Fair Foundation. Parsons was director of the the Clay County Fair in Spencer for 12 years before he took on the role of Iowa State Fair CEO in 2023.