DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa State Fair is asking fair fans to help solve a piece of Iowa history.
Fair officials are searching for what may be one of the first known Iowa State Fair trophies. They hope to include it in a museum display at this year’s Fair.
The trophy is a small, engraved silver cup. Fair officials say it was once owned by a family in Perry. They also know it appeared in 2004 during the caravan kickoff from Fairfield to Des Moines for the Fair’s sesquicentennial celebration.
That Fairfield connection matters. The first Iowa State Fair was held in Fairfield from Oct. 25-27, 1854, according to the Iowa State Fair. The Fair later moved from city to city before settling at its current Des Moines fairgrounds at East 30th Street and East University Avenue in 1886…