By Elizabeth Ahlin
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

DES MOINES -- When the gates of the fairgrounds open today, visitors will be privy to a magical world that exists for just 11 days each year.

A place where funnel cake is a suitable breakfast and having one's likeness sculpted in butter is a great honor -- the Iowa State Fair.

It's one of the country's biggest and best-known state fairs. It has inspired a book, three movies and a Broadway musical. It is listed in the New York Times travel guide's "1,000 Places to See Before You Die.''

To many Iowans, it's a place to cradle newborn piglets, eat pork chops on sticks and see 4-H kids from around the state show off their talents.

The fair, which runs through Aug. 17, has some new attractions this year.

In honor of the Summer Olympics, the fair is hosting an Olympic Pavilion, where fans can watch their favorite events on a big screen.

Iowan Shawn Johnson, an Olympic gymnast, will be molded out of butter this year. And, on the last day of the fair, the likeness of Des Moines native Lolo Jones, an Olympic hurdler, will be carved in ice.

A new "Extreme Canines Stunt Dog Show'' will feature dogs flipping, twisting and soaring through the air. The dogs all were adopted or rescued from animal shelters and trained to perform.

Percheron and Clydesdale draft horses have been added to the parade that winds through the fairgrounds each day at 2 p.m.

Robots will battle it out daily at Expo Hill in the Mechbash Robot Combat.

Last year, fair officials unveiled the Paul R. Knapp Animal Learning Center, where people can cuddle up to newborn chicks and piglets. The new facility quickly became one of the fair's most popular destinations.

This year's physical improvements aren't as flashy. Renovations have been made to the Elwell Family Food Center as part of a multiyear project, and an area south of the Varied Industries Building has been paved.

Food vendors are taking a stab at selling a couple of more healthful snacks this year, including pineapple-on-a-stick and saladon-a-stick. The pineapple appears in true State Fair form, however: It's served battered and fried.

Last year's hot, sticky weather led to the lowest attendance the fair had seen since 2001. Five days of humidity and temperatures in the 90s kept visitors away, leading to a final tally of 1,002,464, down from 1,013,557 in 2006.

Highs this year are expected to be in the 80s, with rain possible Monday and Tuesday, said Shawn Smith, a meteorologist at Accuweather, The World-Herald's weather consultant.

The fairgrounds are at East 30th Street and East University Avenue, east of downtown Des Moines.

Doors normally open at 7 a.m., although there will be free ad
mission today from 5 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Call 800-545-FAIR (3247) or log onto www.iowastatefair.org for more information.