8-03-98

Contacts:
Carole Custer, University Relations, (515) 294-3134
Steve Sullivan, News Service, (515) 294-3720

ISU STATE FAIR EXHIBIT SHOWCASES CARVER LEGACY

AMES, Iowa -- Iowa State University will celebrate one of its most famous alumni at the Iowa State Fair, Aug. 13-23.

Two ISU fair exhibits -- one in the Varied Industry Building and another in the Agriculture Building -- will feature displays honoring famed scientist George Washington Carver. The displays will help launch Iowa State's yearlong celebration "The legacy of George Washington Carver: Inspiring students to become their best."

More than 100,000 people are expected to visit the university's exhibit, "Working To Become the Best," in the Varied Industries Building. The Carver exhibit will honor the former slave who became Iowa State's first African American student and faculty member, and at Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, one of America's most famous scientists. Carver discovered hundreds of products that could be made from peanuts, sweet potatoes and other native plants.

The College of Agriculture's exhibit, on the second floor of the Agriculture Building, will pick up on the Carver theme with a demonstration of how peanuts are grown. Handouts will include a packet of peanuts visitors can take home to plant, activity sheets for children, and Carver's peanut recipes. Children also will have an opportunity to make "rubbings" of an etching of Carver.

A daily door prize of the recently issued George Washington Carver stamp made into a pin will be awarded, and the grand prize will be two tickets to see the Bill Cosby performance on campus Aug. 30.

In addition to viewing the Carver display, visitors to the Iowa State exhibit in the Varied Industries Building can have one of the popular, non-permanent Cyclone tattoos applied. Prospective students will have the opportunity to speak with admissions counselors and use "College View," an interactive CD-Rom that will help them learn about Iowa State. Also, there will be drawings for tickets to Iowa State Center events, autographed footballs and university T-shirts. Football schedules and posters will be available.

While in the Varied Industries Building, fair goers also can stop by the Ames Laboratory exhibit and learn about an environmentally friendly alloy that heats up when placed in a magnetic field and cools when it is de-magnetized. The alloy process was discovered by Ames Lab scientists and may someday be used in large-scale refrigeration and air conditioning.

Ames Lab's traditional souvenir magnets will be handed out.

Next stop for fair goers might be the east end of the grandstands, where the ISU Extension and WOI AM/FM radio will have an exhibit. WOI's "Midday" show, featuring Doug Cooper, will be broadcast live from the fair each day, and several of the "Talk of Iowa" shows will originate there.

Other WOI personalities will be on hand at the exhibit on various days, including WOI weather guru Elwynn Taylor. Many of the music programs on WOI-FM also will originate from the fair grounds.

Extension will ask fair goers' opinions on such questions as "What's your favorite food?" Results of these surveys will be broadcast on the air.

As in past years, ISU Extension will be all over the fair, through thousands of 4-H displays, presentations and animal and horticulture exhibits. More than 3,500 exhibits will be featured in the 4-H Exhibits Building. One of the highlights will be "Share the Fun," where 1,000 4-H'ers will showcase their musical and dramatic talents and another 1,300 will do educational demonstrations and presentations. In addition, nearly 7,500 entries have been made this year in the horticulture and livestock competitions. State fair also provides an opportunity to educate 4-H'ers through conference judging and workshops.

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