1. The Soda Fountain shop east of the Bud Tent. Old school service and I can get my favorite Cherry Phosphate soda to start the fair off in a good way.

2. The Varied Industries Building. As a John Deere kid, I love to see the new lines of combines and tractors Deere is cranking out before it heads out into the field. In front of the VI Building, there is a booth where you can get your personality analysis. You sign a card and the computer reads what type of personality you are by reading your signature.

3. Pioneer Hall…for the love of paintings, photographs, and art!

Please – teach your people about proper structure, basic plumbing, and basic electrical skills. And tell them that if they’re not sure if a wall is load-bearing or not, to call an engineer. For the price of a few hundred dollars – a drop in the bucket for most reno budgets – you can find out if you can knock that wall out without knocking your house out. You can also find out what needs to be done to support it if it is. Not sure about where you are, but here Lowe’s sells laminate beams.

Major Problems We’re Dealing With Now:
1) Movement of the main load-bearing wall 4′ to one side without any reinforcement. This means that the “main wall” isn’t over the “main beam” any more which has resulted in shifting and settling of the house in undesirable ways.
2) Replacement of the plumbing system resulting in one and only one vent stack for the entire house despite the fact that the kitchen and bath are on opposite ends of the house.
3) Electrical – I don’t even begin to know where to start. It looks more like it should be served with a nice marinara sauce than providing power to the whole house. It was obviously run by previous owners/occupants who just got up in the attic, found a hot wire and spliced off it to run whatever it was they wanted. Apparently none of these people had the slightest idea what an amp is :/ or how to balance circuit loads,

Minor issues:
1) Nothing – and I mean nothing – in this house is plumb or square. Once we have the house leveled and properly supported (See Major Issue #1), we will be re-framing all of the interior walls, room by room. When you open a wall, you expect to see 2×4′s that are at least ROUGHLY vertical. That kind of framing makes it nearly impossible to hang drywall or backerboard properly. If that doesn’t hang properly, then your tile, baseboards, crown molding, wainscoting, etc. will never ever look quite right.
2) Spray foam is *NOT* a structural component. If you’re going to use a product, learn what it’s for. And don’t get too creative with it.
3) Scotch tape isn’t structural either. Seriously??? Who knew that if you used enough of it, you *CAN* in fact hold up paneling – which doesn’t really hang right because of the aforementioned framing.