The time has come for fried food on sticks, cows carved out of butter and carnival rides galore. The Iowa State Fair has become a must-attend for presidential candidates, who will flock to Des Moines to campaign for the 2016 election. And Donald Trump came through on his pledge to give kids free rides in his helicopter. Here's a look at the festivities.
Republican presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, speaks to fairgoers on Monday, August 17.
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Graham visits the booth of Iowa's Republican Party on August 17.
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Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina works the grill at the Iowa Pork Producers tent on August 17.
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Fiorina greets fairgoers at the Iowa Pork Producers tent on August 17.
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Fiorina looks at the fair's butter cow on August 17.
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Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican presidential candidate, wears a red apron as he works the grill at the Iowa Pork Producers tent on August 17.
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Walker, center, puts his hand over his heart as he watches a veterans parade on August 17.
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Walker bites into a pork chop on August 17.
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Walker eats a pork chop while touring the fair on August 17.
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Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson eats pizza while touring the fair on Sunday, August 16.
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Carson speaks at the fair on August 16.
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Carson flips a pork burger on August 16.
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Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, speaks at the Des Moines Register Soapbox on Saturday, August 15.
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Sanders speaks at the Des Moines Register Soapbox on August 15.
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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives in his helicopter on August 15.
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Trump speaks with reporters after arriving at the fair on August 15.
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Trump greets fairgoers while campaigning on August 15.
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Trump holds up a personalized apron on August 15.
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Trump eats a pork chop on a stick while attending the fair on August 15.
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Democratic presidential hopeful and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks at a news conference with former U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin on August 15.
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Clinton eats a pork chop on a stick as she tours the fair on August 15.
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Clinton holds a lemonade and a pork chop on a stick on August 15.
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Clinton greets fairgoers on August 15.
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From left, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush talk with pork producers on Friday, August 14.
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Bush and Branstad eat a pork chop on a stick on August 14.
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Bush greets fairgoers on August 14.
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Youngsters in cowboy hats watch a cattle competition on August 14.
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Competitors line up with their sheep for judging on August 14.
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Bush meets fairgoers on August 14.
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Fairgoers ride a giant slide on Thursday, August 13.
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One of the Democratic hopefuls, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, addresses fairgoers on August 13.
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O'Malley takes a selfie in front of the butter cow with his children Grace and William on August 13.
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O'Malley smiles while greeting fairgoers on August 13.
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Presidential candidate and former U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Virginia, speaks to a gathering on August 13.
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Webb greets shakes hands with a fairgoer on August 13.
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The first votes of the presidential primary season -- the Iowa caucuses -- are nearly six months away, but attendees of the Iowa State Fair can conduct a straw poll of their own ... well, a corn-kernel poll. Results will be tallied at the end of the fair.
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Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee stands next to a poster featuring all of the Republican candidates as he tours the fair on August 13.
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Fourteen Republican candidates, including Huckabee, are expected to participate in the Des Moines Register's Soapbox, a modern take on the old-fashioned political activity of "getting up on the soapbox."
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When they're not addressing the masses, as Huckabee does here on August 13, candidates will be found across the fairgrounds sampling the many specialty snacks.
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The Iowa State Fair boasts 70 on-a-stick food items, along with new delicacies such as deep-fried nacho balls, fried PB&J on a stick and pumpkin-spice funnel cake.
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