Choose Iowa at the 2025 Iowa State Fair

Choose Iowa Favorite Fair Food Contest

Food vendors at the fair are competing for the Choose Iowa Favorite Fair Food. Vendors are invited to submit a food item made with Iowa ingredients available for sale at the Fair for inclusion in the contest. Entries will be featured on a map of Iowa Fair Foods and highlighted in the Iowa State Fair App. Fairgoers can vote for their favorite entry until Wednesday, Aug. 13 at 11:59 p.m. The winning Choose Iowa Favorite Fair Food will be awarded on Friday, August 15 at 1 p.m. when the ISF's Best New Food is also announced.

The Kitchen: Choose Iowa Presents...

In The Kitchen, Choose Iowa is curating the 1 p.m. presentation every day featuring Iowa ingredients and chefs sharing food presentations and cooking demonstrations highlighting a variety of Iowa farmers and producers. You can find The Kitchen inside the Maytag Family Theater building between the Barksdale’s State Fair Cookies stand and the DNR Building on Grand Avenue.

Coloring Calendar Awards Ceremony

Some of the most talented student artists in Iowa will be honored for their artwork’s inclusion in the Choose Iowa Coloring Calendar in a ceremony to be held Tuesday, August 12 at 10 a.m. on the stage in the Agriculture Building. If you are looking to pick up your own calendar copy, stop by the Iowa Department of Agriculture’s booth in the Varied Industries building or the Agriculture Building while quantities last.