By Dar Danielson (Radio Iowa)

The opening of the Iowa State Fair is getting closer and the search is on for people to fill jobs during its 11-day run. State Fair spokesperson, Mindy Williamson, they hire around 16-hundred people with a range of ages.

“Some of them are 16. And older, and some of them are 14 and older. It also depends on how many hours you can work and how late you can work. So definitely check out those particular jobs on our website,” she says. Williamson says they will host an open interview day on July 6th form 2 to 7 p-m at the fairgrounds where you can learn more and apply for jobs. She says the jobs bring money and other perks.

“They are paid positions and we offer free admission into the fair, some of them have even better incentives, you know, if you work a certain number of shifts, you get an increase. And some of them have if you work, you know the full fare, you get incentives,” Williamson says. The pay ranges between 12 and 17 dollars an hour. Williamson says there have some people who have worked for more than 40 years, and others who are kids just starting out.

“We love those people who come back year after year. And we also love those people who try it out for the first time,” Williamson says, “and so there’s something for everyone out here, if you want to work a few days if you want to work a few hours, or if you want to work the whole fair.” She says you could work this year and see another job you might want to try next year.

“Maybe you didn’t work in maintenance, you know, when you were working, but now that’s something you’re interested in doing or same with, you know, working in our admissions and working with our concessions. So, all sorts of different fun things that you could do here during the fair,” according to Williamson. To find out more about the jobs, go to IowaStateFair.org.