Iowa State Fair To Let Customers Charge Pork Chops On A Stick

A big change is coming to the Iowa State Fair in 2020. You'll be able to buy your Pork Chops on a Stick, deep fried Snickers or candy apples with a debit or credit card. This according to a story in the Quad City Times.

Starting in 2020 all food and drink vendors will be required to accept credit and debit cards. The fair has been encouraging vendors to accept credit and debit cards for years according to the paper. Apparently accepting cards are beneficial because people spend 15% more per purchase when they use plastic vs. cash.

It makes sense to me. I regularly don't carry a lot of cash around with me. And frankly, it's not very difficult for any small business to take debit and credit cards. The last thing I'd be thinking of was having to use cash at the state fair. And if I had to hit one of the ATM's to take cash out to get my cotton candy I might be a little ticked.

That said, the Times noted, fair traditions can be hard to change. Like when the fair abandoned a plan to have attendees buy tickets to purchase food and drink. This isn't that. This is something that should make life easier for fair goers. It also seems, it might put more money in vendors pockets.