By Matt Kelley (Radio Iowa)

The gates of the Iowa State Fair will open at 8 o’clock this morning and early birds are encouraged to join the 10th annual Iowa State Fair Historical Walking Tour.

State curator Leo Landis says the goal of the tour is two-fold, to entertain fairgoers with interesting fair facts, and to start the day with a little exercise.

“We’ll begin with some opening remarks at 8:15 at the DNR Courtyard, so just off of Grand Avenue on the west side of the fairgrounds,” Landis says. “We’ll start the walking tour at about 8:30. It’ll be about a 1K walk. We’ll go from the DNR Courtyard and wrap up for the opening ceremonies at the Sheep Barn at nine o’clock.”

Several of Iowa’s top leaders will be on the tour, including Governor Kim Reynolds, State Historical Society of Iowa Administrator Valerie Van Kooten, and Department of Natural Resources Director Kayla Lyon.

Landis notes the fairgrounds in Des Moines weren’t always the site of the Iowa State Fair, as the location shuffled around to several cities in its first few decades.

“The State Fair began in 1854 in Fairfield, and then it moved around the state — being in Muscatine, being in Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, at different times,” Landis says. “It moves to that location in 1886. The city of Des Moines and the state legislature appropriated funds to purchase the Calvin and Armenta Thornton farm.”

Landis says guides from the State Historical Society of Iowa will share stories about a host of historic sites along the walk.

“We like to remind people of the history, buildings like the permanent building of the Agriculture Building, opening in 1904,” Landis says. “Those first buildings were just wooden structures, but we also talk about things like the Varied Industries Building. When it first opened, it was Machinery Hall in 1911.”

Walkers will learn about the importance of Iowa’s wool industry in the Civil War, and about role of Mary Beaumont Welch of Ames in promoting domestic economy, later called home economics, in the late 1800s. They’ll also hear about Iowan Jay “Ding” Darling, a national leader for wildlife habitat protection who earned two Pulitzer Prizes for his political cartoons in the Des Moines Register.

Today’s event is being co-hosted by the State Historical Society of Iowa and the Iowa Healthiest State Initiative, and the historical walking tour is included with fair admission.