If you’ve ever traveled outside of the Midwest and mentioned that you’re from Iowa, you’ve probably fielded a few odd questions about your home state. People have some preconceived notions about Iowa that aren’t always entirely accurate…but they seem to be pretty universal. These are the things people think of whenever Iowa crosses their minds.
- Corn
flickr/TumblingRun The people who think the whole state is nothing but corn are usually the ones who haven’t been here.
- Flatness
By Wing-Chi Poon, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3204043 Again, those people have clearly never visited Iowa.
- Ohio
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio#/media/File:Ohio_in_United_States.svg People seem to think Ohio and Iowa are the same place. Seriously.
- Cows
flickr/Catchpenny Sure, there are cows here, but we’re only number nine in beef production and number 12 in dairy. Maybe those people are confusing us with some neighboring states?
- Pork
flickr/Phil Roeder Well, we ARE the #1 pork producer in the country.
- Farms
Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12106633 One of our favorite parts of Iowa is the rural element. There is, however, a whole lot more to Iowa than farms.
- American Gothic
flickr/Tom Waterhouse A house in Eldon was the inspiration for this classic American painting.
- RAGBRAI
flickr/Dave Herholz This annual bike tour has become a very big thing. It’s actually the largest bike touring event in the world.
- College Sports
flickr/GoIowaState.com Heck yeah. We take this stuff seriously.
- Wholesomeness
flickr/Chocopups Iowa is the very definition of “wholesome” to a lot of people…and we won’t argue.
What are some other stereotypes and assumptions that come to people’s minds when they think of Iowa?
flickr/TumblingRun
The people who think the whole state is nothing but corn are usually the ones who haven’t been here.
By Wing-Chi Poon, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3204043
Again, those people have clearly never visited Iowa.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio#/media/File:Ohio_in_United_States.svg
People seem to think Ohio and Iowa are the same place. Seriously.
flickr/Catchpenny
Sure, there are cows here, but we’re only number nine in beef production and number 12 in dairy. Maybe those people are confusing us with some neighboring states?
flickr/Phil Roeder
Well, we ARE the #1 pork producer in the country.
Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12106633
One of our favorite parts of Iowa is the rural element. There is, however, a whole lot more to Iowa than farms.
flickr/Tom Waterhouse
A house in Eldon was the inspiration for this classic American painting.
flickr/Dave Herholz
This annual bike tour has become a very big thing. It’s actually the largest bike touring event in the world.
flickr/GoIowaState.com
Heck yeah. We take this stuff seriously.
flickr/Chocopups
Iowa is the very definition of “wholesome” to a lot of people…and we won’t argue.
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