13 WTHR - Indianapolis News |New exhibit counters fair's deep-fried culture

New exhibit counters fair's deep-fried culture

Emily Longnecker/Eyewitness News

Indianapolis - There's a new exhibit at this year's Indiana State Fair you may want to enter before filling up on fair food.

The fair is not the place where you want to think about a diet, until you find the exhibit aimed at getting Hoosiers thinking about something many people don't like to talk about - the colon.

Nothing says "Indiana State Fair" like the smell and sound of something frying in hot grease.

"Corn dogs, elephant ears, deep-fried Snickers," said Terry Jordan of Greenfield.

"I love corn dogs and I love the turkey drums and I love the french fries," said Patty Latham of Indianapolis.

"I like it all," said Harold Smith.

You name it, chances are you can find it fried.

"You've got the deep-fried cookie dough, the brownies and the bananas," said vendor Dennis Reas.

There's even deep-fried Pepsi.

"They come to the fair for the food, that's 90 percent of it," said vendor Jeremy Orme.

After a deep-fried diet of all that fair food, fairgoers come upon the new exhibit, a giant colon you can crawl through to learn about colon cancer and the other colon diseases you can get.

"This is actually 'Coco the Colossal Colon'. We are sitting in the inner ring of the colon, if you will," said Robert Shula of the IU Simon Cancer Center. "To have something like this here, the irony does sort of draw people in."

He means that literally.

"You take your shoes off and really get inside and explore what its all about I guess," Shula said.

Like what a healthy colon looks like and what can happen to an unhealthy one.

"It's not pretty. Not pretty at all," Shula said. "But fun."

But how fun can it be, looking at what can happen to your colon with an unhealthy diet after you've loaded up on fair food?

"We certainly don't want to diminish the excitement of the fair experience," Shula said. "We just want to educate people on the risks out there."

But Smith says the fair's only in town once a year and it's a reason to let loose.

"It's a time to splurge," he said.

"You only live once," said Jordan.