Visit Camp Cy at Iowa State Fair

AMES ? Iowa State University will hold ?Camp Cy ? A Statewide Adventure? Thursday through Aug. 23 at the Iowa State Fair in the Varied Industries Building.

Under cardinal and gold tent tops, special guests and activities will showcase the many ways ISU Extension and Outreach takes Iowa State to every county in Iowa.

?At Camp Cy, state fair visitors will see how ISU Extension and Outreach is at work in their neighborhoods ? it?s an Iowa State experience. They will meet our people, participate in our work-in-action and have fun,? said Iowa State University Vice President for Extension and Outreach Cathann Kress. ?ISU Extension and Outreach puts Iowa State?s research to work throughout the state ? we give Iowans a 99-county campus.?

The Cyclone version of an out-of-doors camp has a stream table that demonstrates ISU Extension and Outreach?s work with Iowans in the agriculture and natural resources areas.

Under a second Camp Cy tent, Forward Learning Experience ? FLEx ? activities illustrate the university?s capacity to thrill students and adults with portable, tech savvy education.

While at Camp Cy, visitors are invited to ride a virtual roller coaster, print miniature Cy statues, play in a stream, go on a bug hunt, save monarch butterflies and find the treasures on all the county campuses.

Meet special guests each day

Along with traditional Iowa State favorites ? Cy tattoos, football posters, Cyclone merchandise and sports trophies ? Camp Cy hosts special guests each day. These guests routinely take Iowa State to all parts of Iowa.

Demonstrations of games that teach will be on the special guest stage. The 4-H Cyclone Survivor Game will be Thursday, and the C6 BioFarm will be Aug. 20 and 23.

Clayton Anderson, retired NASA astronaut, is coming to Camp Cy Friday; and on Saturday and Monday, Allie Lansman, a Biggest Loser guest and champion of moving youth toward healthy living, is guest.

Iowa State plant doctors are bringing the best of their bug and disease samples on Aug. 19; and the Insect Zoo crawls onto the special guest stage Aug. 21 and 22.

The camp experience is made complete with visits from Cy and Iowa State coaches and athletes throughout the fair.

Camp Cy around the fair grounds

Visitors should begin the Camp Cy adventure at the check-in tent near the Iowa State football poster station. They can pick up a letter-to-Cy card containing spaces that must be filled in using clues at Camp Cy and other Iowa State venues across the fair. The card is a guide to discovering Iowa State all across the fairgrounds.

Fair visitors who deposit their completed cards in the Cy mailbox in the 4-H Exhibits Building are entered into a drawing for daily prizes and the grand prize of an APPLE Watch.

4-H Youth Development is a huge part of the Iowa State Fair. Fair visitors will see the work of Iowa 4-H?ers in the 4-H Exhibits Building as well as the livestock venues.

Other places to find Iowa State at the Iowa State Fair include Grandfather?s Barn Wine Experience, the Master Gardeners? Discovery Garden and the Conservation Station.