Owner complains Obama’s beer tent stop cost him $25,000 | Des Moines Register Staff Blogs

Owner complains Obama’s beer tent stop cost him $25,000 | Des Moines Register Staff Blogs: Was the beer cup half full or half empty?

President Barack Obama’s impact on what is arguably the Iowa State Fair’s most storied watering hole has become a morning-after mini-debate over the breakfast bacon ­ thanks to a tweet from Sen. Chuck Grassley, as well as fairgrounds chatter.

Obama’s fair stop Monday evening required shutdown of the popular Bud Tent, the heart of fairgrounds nightlife at the intersection of E. 33rd Street and Grand Avenue. Fairgoers eager to greet the president were ushered inside, screened and scanned by the Secret Service and penned in by yellow caution tape. The entire production required at least two hours, and the president’s sleek black coach bus pulled away from the Bud Tent by 8:30 p.m.

There are “two sides to this story,” said Mike Cunningham II, the third generation owner of the 65-year-old Bud Tent.

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