‘Biggest party of the year’: East Side Night is Friday at the Iowa State Fair
The first Friday night of the Iowa State Fair is always the biggest party on the fairgrounds.
It's known as East Side Night and it's become tradition for Des Moines eastsiders — and honorary eastsiders — to meet up at the Bud Tent and other areas for an unofficial Lee Township and East High School reunion.
Tonight, some will be pulled away for Grandstand headliner Tyler Hubbard of Florida Georgia Line, or local favorite The Nadas, who play shows at 7 and 9 p.m. on the MidAmerican Energy Stage. But many will meet over drinks and fair food, celebrating everything East Side.
“We just all get together,” Chrystal McFarland, of Des Moines, told KCCI during East Side Night a few years ago. “It’s the biggest party of the year."
McFarland wears a shirt showing off her East Side pride every year to the fair.
Video above: Thousands celebrate East Side Night at the fair
See all of our Iowa State Fair coverage here.