And the final number was… 12,242 attendees from all 50 states. Our Steak Fry on Saturday was officially the biggest Steak Fry in Iowa’s history. Not bad for an event that just got rebooted less than 3 years ago...

We welcomed 17 candidates. More than 350 reporters from across the country and around the world joined us. We hosted 10 rally sites for the different campaigns. We were all in awe of the 8 marches led by the candidates from those rallies into the event. Bands, bells, costumes, drums, dance routines, signs, national politicians, and everything else was on full display. The previous record for marches at a Steak Fry was four. On Saturday, we coordinated for 8 and it was no small feat...

Our Republican friends, of course, took notice. The Iowa Republicans tried to fixate the conversation on a weird, artificial storyline about Democrats not liking meat. I quickly pointed out that we would certainly be consuming more meat at our Steak Fry than they would be at their event with Karen Pence also on Saturday. The Trump campaign tried to rent space at Des Moines Water Works to protest us during the Steak Fry, but they quickly discovered that we rent the whole park for the Steak Fry. And we rent it for 7 days. They tried a last minute protest across the street at Gray’s Lake, but we never saw anyone show up for it.

On that Karen Pence event, you may remember that we were surprised to see that Iowa Republicans were hosting their big fundraiser on the same day and in the same town as our Steak Fry. We’d even hoped that we’d be going up against Trump himself. Instead, they claimed that just 500 people showed up for their event. ...

From me:
We are very proud of Waterworks Park, a 1,500 acre park near downtown Des Moines. It is one of the largest urban parks in the United States. Located along the Raccoon River, the park offers trails, picnic areas, grills, and fields.The park is home to Arie den Boer Arboretum, one of the world's largest collection of crab apple trees, containing approximately 300 varieties which Des Moines Water Works staff now maintains through pruning and propagation. Today, the arboretum includes approximately 1,200 trees in the collection.