Every now and then, you just need to absorb the culture around you. It has been a little challenging adjusting to the Iowa Mindset coming from Michigan. (I’ll never be a Hawkeye fan! Or work three jobs!) but Cheryl and I have managed to blend in without actually showing too much effort. But, sometimes, even I get the feeling that perhaps there is more to Iowa than Just Corn, Soybeans and Hawkeyes….
Enter: The Quad County Pork Festival In Wellman Iowa…Our own back door! Well…we simply had to go. I like bacon as much as the next guy who is not Jewish or Mormon. And everyone loves ham! If there was nothing else I could glean from this, At the very least, I could get some Delicious Pig!
For being a festival that had 4 counties participate, I was surprised how small it was. The entire festival fit pretty much in the parking lot of the rec center. However, there was more to the even than meats the eye! ( Intentional misspelling there! Get it?…Meats? Pigs? Pork Festival? I got Two DEGREES!)
The entire place was not set up to be a Giant Eating Competition like I first thought. Nope! It was actually quite educational! I became certified as a Poop Investigative agent! I never knew how important poop could be. My investigations have added yet another chapter to my already overeducated brain.
After the poop certification ceremony, We learned about the pigs themselves. I found out that the make sure the pigs are eating healthy Corn and Soybeans! 
There is a part of me that is a little suspicious about the politics behind that statement. I mean, Who cares if the pig is healthy if we are only going to eat it? Don’t we want them nice and fat? And where do they get the corn and soybeans…Hmmmm? Ah well, Who cares really? I’m gonna EAT IT!
And then to the Birthing Sow. I was prepared to be a little disturbed for this part, however, the piglets were already hatched and cute as a honey bee on a dandelion! ( I just made that expression up! What do you think? Think it will catch on?) 
Eventually we had to eat! I mean, that was the whole reason I wanted to go in the first place. There were only two booths there to choose from so the selection was rather limited. But I decided that I wanted to try the BBQ Pork Nacho's! I elected to have them without the ladle of cheese sauce. There were delicious with just the pork. And…My heart and arteries will thank me someday. I just know it.
It was not all about pigs though! Even a pork festival has to have something else for the few people who are not as fascinated by pigs as I am! Enter: the petting pen, the tractor Show, the Puppies, the Lama, the Pony Rides, Rabbits, Fire Rescue, Children Games, And Petal Tractor Pull!
With Vendors and sweets in the main building and a guy on a unicycle juggling! It was almost like a circus instead of a festival! But the BEST was yet to come…..
Enter: THE COMBINE! Yes! The AWESOME SCOURGE of IOWA! Many a person has felt the bite of this AWESOME creature! Whether it be Its AWESOME SIZE;
its AWESOME PRICE!
Or Its AWESOME DANGER!
I have always wondered why so many people in the mall have leg braces, crutches, or casts on various extremities. 
Now I know…..Harvest time! 
Whether playing with, Playing on , or being unfortunate enough to just be in front of it, it looks like a rather unforgiving MONSTER! I’m sure even the hidden scars on the pocket book make this one machine difficult to call your own. 
So, At the end of the day, ( actually only about 30 minutes!) we saw everything there was to see at the festival and I thought that this occasion required I give something back to the community. This was a situation that begged for an Origami to sum it all up. 
So hats off to you, Wellman Iowa Pork Festival! I now want to “PIG OUT” on pigs that are fattened on a healthy diet of organic Corn and Soybeans. If you are looking to go somewhere on some random weekend in October, And you happen to be close to Wellman Iowa, I would totally recommend this festival. It’s fun, educational, small, and DELICIOUS! Everything that a Bigger festival has…only smaller.
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