What do you do with 156 years of photos, programs, ribbons, exhibits and other memorabilia collected from the annual Illinois State Fair? Ask Pam Gray and she’ll quickly respond, “Build a museum.” While the answer seems simple, raising the $5 million needed for the building is anything but. Yet Gray, who helped found the Illinois State Fair Museum Foundation in 2006 and serves as its board chair, will not back down from the challenge, as the foundation begins its first major fundraiser to move the museum from a dream to reality.

On July 11, the Illinois State Fair Foundation will host its first “Corndog Kickoff,” a benefit featuring an auction, live entertainment, carriage rides, and “fair food grazing,” with food from some of the fair’s most popular vendors. The kickoff will include performances by winners of the state fair’s past vocal competitions. Among the items to be auctioned are hot air balloon rides, a plane ride in a restored 1947 Luscombe airplane, Sky Glider rides, and dinner at various Springfield restaurants.

The idea for the event came from the Iowa Blue Ribbon Foundation, which held its first Corndog Kickoff in 1997, raising more than $67,000. Last year’s Iowa event raised $251,000. In the past 12 years the Iowa foundation has built a state fair museum, a state-ofthe-art amphitheatre, a livestock pavilion and an animal learning center.

According to Gray, the Iowa Blue Ribbon Foundation has raised approximately $80 million, with its Corndog Kickoff and other fundraisers. “If they’ve been able to raise $80 million, we should be able to raise a few million dollars,” stated a confident Gray. In addition to building the museum, the Illinois foundation, which receives no state funds, hopes to be able to raise enough money to improve state fair buildings and grounds.

While the foundation’s idea of raising millions of dollars and having a completed museum in five to seven years may sound nearly impossible in today’s economy, a look at the