Portable chalkboards, cloth books, and “taggies” are just a few of the items Stitch N Sew Cottage is selling at the Kalona State Fair booth. Photo by Sam McIntosh.

The City of Kalona may be unfamiliar to some Iowans, but people across the state get to experience Kalona’s local flavor at the state fair.

The Kalona Chamber of Commerce organizes local vendors to sell their homemade products at a booth in the Varied Industries building at the Iowa State Fair.

Stitch N Sew Cottage owner Grace Schumann says they’ll be selling 15 different items at the fair, “I feel very well prepared, I just finished tagging now that we went to all barcodes to price our items. We have to have those ordered ahead of time so that we can have everything tagged before we box it. So we’re just wrapping that up now.”


Kalona Chocolates employees Michelle Schrock and Victoria Gelement dip double chocolate truffles. Photo by Sam McIntosh.

This is the second year the Kalona vendor booth will use a barcode system to sell all the products. This is also the second year the booth will be missing the Kalona Bakery since a 2016 fire shut down the business. Kalona Chocolates owner Lyndon Hershberger says, “They’re certainly missed. They were a huge part of the booth so it leaves a big hole. But other local bakers have kind of stepped up and provided product for us and so we appreciate that.”

The staff at Kalona Chocolates have been working the past few weeks to get hundreds of fudge and candy packages prepared. The Iowa State Fair takes place August 10-20.