Purdue Day at Indiana State Fair set for Aug. 10

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue Day at the Indiana State Fair on Friday (Aug. 10) will feature more than 40 tents and exhibits that include a student-designed agricultural vehicle demonstration, a puppet show by the College of Liberal Arts and a performance by Purdue Musical Organizations.

Purdue Day exhibits will line State Fair Boulevard at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Exhibits in the DuPont Food Pavilion - sponsored by Purdue University Extension and the academic areas of agriculture, health and human sciences, and veterinary medicine – also will be open. These exhibits will remain in place throughout the fair, which began Aug. 3 and runs through Aug. 19.

Purdue Live! Stage performances will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Purdue Day. Highlights will include a demonstration of a basic utility agricultural vehicle designed to provide affordable and practical transportation in underdeveloped areas of the world, a spelling bee, and a robotics demonstration.

Carrying out the fair's "Year of the Dairy Cow" theme, there will be "C.O.W. Basketball" contests, a "Dairy Delights" presentation by a chef from the Purdue Memorial Union and a cow presentation by the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Details will be available at Purdue information tents at Gates 1A and 12.

Events during the day include cricket spitting contests (10 a.m. and 2 p.m.); an interactive exhibit, "To My Plate and Beyond," that emphasizes a healthy diet; and the College of Veterinary Medicine's "Holly's Heaves" and "Hot Dog's Fitness Challenge."

The Purdue College of Veterinary Medicine is partnering with the Indiana Veterinary Medical Association to provide surgical demonstrations at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the Ag/Hort Building.

Also on Purdue Day:

* Agricultural experts analyze the U.S. Department of Agriculture's crop production report, to be released that morning, and what the data mean for corn and soybean yields in Indiana and nationally. The panel discussion will be at 9:30 a.m. in the Normandy Barn.

* A puppet show, presented by the College of Liberal Arts, will be from 2-2:30 p.m. on the Main Stage. The show will feature "Dolly," a brown Swiss dairy cow puppet operated by Joel Ebarb, chair of Purdue's Pattie and Rusty Rueff School of Visual and Performing Arts; MerrieBeth Cox, Purdue's Golden Girl who was recently crowned 2012 Miss Indiana; Kirk Cerny, CEO and president of the Purdue Alumni Association; and Indiana first lady Cheri Daniels. Dolly will interview Cox, Cerny and Daniels.

* Purdue entomologist Tom Turpin will give a presentation on "Cooking with Bugs," during which mealworms will be sautéed as finger food.

* The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research, Volume 2, Fall 2012, will be launched. The 104-page journal features top research efforts from Purdue students, and free copies will be available. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., undergraduate students Kevin Tait and Justin Lewis will discuss their work that appears in the journal. They will share how a boot works that they designed to restrain astronauts in microgravity and allow them to work more freely. Jennifer Lynch, student coordinator for the Purdue Research Journal, will be on hand throughout the day to discuss undergraduate research that occurs at Purdue, and various student researchers who were selected for the journal will talk about their work.

* A Purdue pep rally, scheduled for 5 p.m., will feature the Purdue twirlers, the spirit squad with Purdue Pete and the alumni pep band.

* The Marsh daily parade at 6:30 p.m. on Main Street will be led by the Boilermaker Special and the Purdue Alumni Pep Band.

Writer: Greg McClure, 765-496-9711, gmcclure@purdue.edu

Sources: Catharine Adair Whitten, senior director of special events, 765-496-2160, cadair@purdue.edu

Keith Robinson, Purdue Agricultural Communications, 765-494-2722, robins89@purdue.edu

Charles Watkinson, director of Purdue University Press, 765-494-8251, cwatkinson@purdue.edu

Kirk Milburn, assistant director of special events, 765-494-1782, kmilbur@purdue.edu