ISF Giant Slide Header Image

Iowa State Fair Sig­nage: Here’s to Changes, Big and Small

Check out a BIG new sign that is slid­ing into the 2021 Iowa State Fair. Along with donor sig­nage updates that hap­pen year­ly and ways you can join in the fun!

Quick His­to­ry

Did you know that the Iowa State Fair is the sin­gle largest event in the state of Iowa and one of the old­est and largest agri­cul­tur­al and indus­tri­al expo­si­tions in the coun­try? Did you also know that it was ranked #1 for State Fairs in Amer­i­ca in 2019?

With great pow­er comes great respon­si­bil­i­ty. Facil­i­ties need updates, new build­ings are built, and so on. This year is no dif­fer­ent, with added antic­i­pa­tion due to the can­cel­la­tion in 2020 due to COVID.


A Big Move Requires Big Signage

ISF Giant Slide Backside 500

In 2015 the Reichardt Fam­i­ly con­tributed to help­ing pre­serve the giant slide and it was also renamed. The Reichardt Fam­i­ly Giant Slide found a new home for the 2021 State Fair. The new loca­tion allows for more room for both ride-goers and onlookers. 

The new sign is big, bold, dou­ble-sided, and proud­ly hon­ors the Reichardt Fam­i­ly. An in-house design in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Blue Rib­bon Foun­da­tion, this sign mea­sures near­ly 30’ wide, 54” tall, and 2’ deep. The alu­minum cab­i­net sign was fab­ri­cat­ed in two sec­tions for eas­i­er (and more cost-effi­cient) instal­la­tion due to the install loca­tion being 50’ in the air. Dig­i­tal­ly print­ed graph­ics on alu­minum for the back-side and the same graph­ics CNC-cut and illu­mi­nat­ed on the slide-fac­ing side. There will be no mis­tak­ing the loca­tion for any fair­go­ers of this his­toric slide.

It took 7 of our installers, 2 lifts, 1 crane, and 7 hours to install this sign. Here’s a video that shows our team and what it took.


Small Sign Updates with Big Impact

It’s the small sig­nage updates that are real­ly impor­tant. The year­ly updates to mul­ti­ple donor walls around the State Fair­grounds are real­ly what helps the fair keep its grounds and facil­i­ties main­tained and grow­ing. The Blue Rib­bon Foun­da­tion has many giv­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties avail­able at any dona­tion level.

Here are a few of our favorites. The Spir­it of Gen­eros­i­ty wall was installed in 2020 and hasn’t had much exposure…yet. Locat­ed in the recent­ly ren­o­vat­ed Bruce L. Rastet­ter 4H Build­ing, this wall was meant to cel­e­brate the Iowa spir­it of growth and gen­eros­i­ty. As a dynam­ic donor wall, it has the abil­i­ty to grow year­ly with new donor names. It’s real­ly a beau­ti­ful wall inspired by stained glass art­work. Learn more here. If you’d like to get your name on this wall, check it out here.

The Grow­ing Our Future donor wall isn’t new. It was installed in 2015 and is an art­ful design that real­ly embod­ies the agri­cul­ture and growth of all things Iowa. This dynam­ic donor wall (names added year­ly) is locat­ed in the Ruan Plaza and is an exte­ri­or instal­la­tion with design and col­ors that real­ly pop. If you’d like to get your name on this vis­it here.

Like What You See?

There are so many ways to be part of the Iowa State Fair, we’re for­tu­nate to be a part­ner on many sig­nif­i­cant sig­nage projects. If you’d like to attend the fair in 2021 it runs from August 12th-22nd. See if you can spot any of the signs men­tioned above. 

Have ques­tions or ideas on sig­nage, talk to one of our experts today.