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With school winding down, summertime is around the corner, and many people have already started planning how to spend it. Last year, much of the summer was spent in quarantine with many summer activities being canceled altogether. With summer only a month away, here are some upcoming events Iowans can look forward to.

The Iowa State Fair

When talking about summer in the state of Iowa, one event that stands out among the rest is the Iowa State Fair. The State Fair is widely popular throughout the entire state, attracting over one million visitors each year. The fair is filled with different attractions, that people of all ages can enjoy. They have amusement park rides, baby animals, concerts every night and delicious fair food. 

While normally the State Fair is filled with more than one million guests each year, it was canceled this year due to COVID-19. This was the first time the fair had been canceled since World War II and the fifth time overall in the 165-year history of the fair. The good news is the fair will return from August 12 through August 22. Losing the fair in 2020 was a big blow to many summer plans and was also a major blow to the fair itself. In 2019, The State Fair broke its attendance record with 1,170,375 visitors, and it consistently has over one million visitors each year.

Some things to look forward to are the concerts going on at the grandstand every night, with this year bringing in country music mega stars such as Blake Shelton, Sam Hunt and Keith Urban. There are also livestock shows, food trucks and many different contests to enter.

One popular contest that is set to return this year is the Bill Riley Talent Search, which will include the semifinalists from ongoing local talent shows. The fair will also highlight many different animals from livestock to petting zoo animals. There will be amusement park rides in the Thrill Ville, and the kid-friendly section, Thrill Town.

Blank Park Zoo

Another place to attend this summer is the Blank Park Zoo. The Blank Park Zoo is the only zoo in Iowa, home to around 1,500 animals. It was closed last summer but is now operating at 50% capacity. This is a fun place to enjoy the animals, and with the zoo being closed all last summer, the animals have not gotten to experience visitors in some time.

Ryan Bickel, chief marketing officer, said that the animals have been affected from the zoo closure and lack of visitors.

“Any time the animals go from having a lot of visitors to no visitors, they feel a difference, and this also affects their behaviors,” Bickel said. “With visitors, animals are more likely to take note of people, maybe follow them or interact with guests. But anytime we go from having visitors to not having any, they are affected.”

There are different sections of the park, such as the Kids Kingdom Experience and the Discovery Center, for people of all ages to find something to enjoy. The zoo has also lost a significant amount of revenue through the last year, and it costs around $19,000 a day to take care of the animals, so every visitor this year helps.

Adventureland

Something else to look forward to this summer is Adventureland, which will open May 8 in Altoona. Now that it will be returning, Iowans can look forward to the new roller coaster called “The Dragon Slayer,” which is set to open in June. This new ride is replacing the “Dragon” roller coaster, and according to Adventureland spokeswomen Molly Vincent, it is an S&S 4D free spin coaster that can spin forward and back independently throughout the course.

The park has six roller coasters and other rides such as the ferris wheel, which is currently being refurbished, or “The Space Shot.” It also has a water park section, Adventure Bay, which holds a wide range of waterslides, a wave pool and other water activities. 

Along with all the rides, Adventureland will also host concerts during the summer. The lineup includes groups such as The Spazmatics, a band that covers songs from the ’80s, and the Prince Experience, a Prince tribute group. There will also be a Labor Day Poolooza concert at the Adventure Bay Waterpark with rapper Shaggy as the headlining artist.