Aug 19, 2022 - News
Axios’ Jason Clayworth is the first guy in the Iowa State Fair’s husband calling contest
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I won sixth place at the Iowa State Fair’s husband calling contest on Friday.
- There were about a dozen entries.
Why it matters: I didn’t win but I was the first guy to compete in the contest’s history.
Catch up fast: Husband calling is a state fair tradition going back more than 30 years.
- It started in the days before cell phones when spouses — typically a wife — would yell across a field to alert their hubby that a meal is ready, Regina Pirtle, superintendent of Pioneer Hall told us.
State of play: I had no problems entering — instead Pirtle and the other contest organizers encouraged me to compete.
- And nobody in the audience heckled.
Of note: The winner this year was a 58-year-old single woman.
- She recited a personal ad in search of a husband between the ages of 40 and 60.
My thought bubble: It’s time to change the name to the “spouse calling contest.”
