The Iowa State Fair will begin an 11-day run that likely will draw more than a million visitors to the fairgrounds in east Des Moines.
The fair will start Thursday morning, with most buildings open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and the midway open from 10 a.m. to midnight. The fair will run through Aug. 21.
The fair saw its largest attendance last year, when 1.1 million people attended.
There will be plenty to see and do, with hundreds of performances, a giant livestock shows, Iowa’s biggest art exhibition, the midway, more than 75 kinds of food on a stick and, of course, the butter cow.