Des Moines, Iowa — Donald Trump has said his first act after he’s sworn in on January 20th will be appointing a task force to plan for the country’s 250th anniversary in 2026 — and he picked Iowa as the spot for a major exposition.
A video Trump posted on social media back in May of 2023 is recirculating online after X owner Elon Musk commented on it. Trump said he’d work with all the nation’s governors to create pavillions for each state that will be set up on the Iowa State Fairgrounds — for a year-long expo.
Governor Kim Reynolds, in a post on social media today (Thursday), said Iowans know the Iowa State Fair is the best fair in the country. And she said we stand ready to host the Great American State Fair. Reynolds was in Florida Tuesday night at Trump’s Election Night party. The manager and CEO of the Iowa State Fair says the world’s greatest state fair is in Iowa, but no formal request or inquiry has been made for use of the Iowa State Fairgrounds at this time.”
Trump has visited the Iowa State Fair twice. He also held a rally on the fairgrounds in October of 2021 and in 2016 Trump spoke at a fundraiser for Senator Joni Ernst that was held in the livestock pavilion. Trump’s first State Fair visit was in 2015. He flew his helicopter over the fairgrounds, then walked through the throngs of fairgoers on the same day Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders were at the fair. In 2023, Trump visited the State Fair on the same day as Republican rival Ron DeSantis. Trump stopped at the Iowa Pork Producers’ grill, walked down the fair’s Grand Concourse and spoke to supporters who’d gathered inside a beer hall.
