County fairs are an important part of life in rural America. That’s especially true in Howard County, Iowa, where the annual Mighty Howard County Fair is, in the words of resident and fair volunteer Joe Wacha, “one of the highlights of the year.”

Howard is a county of fewer than 10,000 in northwest Iowa. It is home to the Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame, the famous American agronomist and humanitarian Norman Borlaug, and history’s first airline stewardess.