Can you smell the funnel cakes? Hear the screams of people enjoying carnival rides?

Well, you probably cannot yet, but the Johnson County Fair is bringing all that and a whole lot more to the Iowa City area starting Monday.

The annual festival brings just about everything you could want in a Midwestern festival to town: rides, carnival food, concerts, fireworks, baking competitions and a bunch of livestock competitions for the large crowd of farmers and rural life lovers we have in the area.

Here's a list of some of the most enjoyable highlights of the festival that will supplying fun for the entire family from Monday until Friday, July 27, at the Johnson County Fairgrounds. Entrance is free Monday through Thursday, so there's not a lot holding you back from taking all of the county fair in.

Glorious carnival food

No county fair would be complete without an abundance of deep-fried fair food, and the Johnson County Fair has that in abundance. Jones Company Carnival, the organization that brings the bulk of the rides and special carnival food to the area, has everything you could want: cotton candy, funnel cakes, popcorn, pizza, corn dogs and a lot more.

If you're looking for something a bit different than standard fair food, Brenda Christner, the business manager at the fairgrounds, said that there are plenty of local food purveyors offering up delicious food.

Bahn MI Amor, a new food truck to this year's Iowa City Farmers Market, is at the fair for the first time offering up twists on the baguette-based Vietnamese sandwich known as the bahn mi.

Sno Biz Iowa City will be creating colorful shaved ice throughout the festival to help people stay cool. Jerry and Margie's Catering of Riverside will also be on hand to make a plethora of barbecue items for those who need something more substantial than flavored ice.

The Johnson County Pork Producers will be grilling up pork products Monday and Tuesday. Not to be out done, the Johnson County Cattlemen will serve beef products Wednesday and Thursday. The Johnson County Dairy Council will scooping out treats Monday through Thursday.

Rodeo & live country music

The Sixth Annual Friday Night Main Event at the Johnson County Fairgrounds is a bit different than the normal fair Monday through Thursday. On Friday, July 28, instead of entrance being free, tickets for the event are $15 in advance and $20 at the door.

With that money, you get quite a bang for your buck: live rodeo from the Sandburr Rodeo from 7 to 9 p.m., carnival rides until your heart is content from 5 to 10 p.m. and then a concert from country musician Jake Dodds from 9 to 11 p.m. To get tickets, visit johnsoncofair.com or call 319-325-4049. Tickets are also on sale at Theisen's in Coralville.

Pie contest

The 11th Annual Jo Beers Pie Contest and Auction is named after longtime Press-Citizen writer Jo Beers, so of course we have to give some love to the event.

The annual contest features local celebrity judges sampling and rating a bevy of pies made be locals and also other well-known Johnson County residents. Don't be surprised if Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek has a pie to enter. The competition starts at 12:45 p.m. Thursday, July 27, and ends with a live auction of the pies at 3 p.m. at the variety tent in the fairgrounds.

For those who want to enter the contest, you can bring any homemade double crust fruit pie to the tent from noon to 12:30 p.m. to register the pie. No meat, dairy, custard or eggs are allowed in the fillings, per contest rules on the fair's website. Also, the pie and the container it's served in will be auctioned off and sold at the end, so make sure its not your great-great grandmother's pie pan you're baking your pies in.

Ugly cake contest

The fair is also host of some more bizarre competitions. Case in point: the ugly cake competition. At 12:30 p.m. Monday, judges will pick the ugliest cakes of the group of cakes made by locals. Judged for looks alone, the cakes will be divided into age groups of the bakers: 9 and under, 10-17 and 18 and older. First place gets a $25 gift card from Yummy's Gourmet Cakes in Fairfield, second place gets a $10 gift card.

"The creativity I've seen involved in making something look that gross and disgusting is amazing,” Christner said.

To enter, the cake and all of its adornments must be completely edible, and a recipe card must be included. Bring your ugly cakes to Building C by noon to be entered into the contest.

Fireworks

To offer up a proper end to festivities, a full fireworks display will be shot off above the fairgrounds starting at 9:30 p.m. July 27. The fireworks will be presented by the Stumptown Shooters. Christner said the Stumptown Shooters are compromised of members of the Hills Fire Department, so they definitely know how to handle pyrotechnics.

Other weird contests

Weird contests may be the calling card of the fair, so here are a few of the most fun ones.

The hog calling contest starts at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the variety tent. Anyone can enter, just be sure to sign up starting at 4:30 p.m.

The Mr. Legs contest is an opportunity for guys to show off their legs to the crowd. Classes include oldest legs, sexiest legs, overall best legs, most muscular legs and thinnest legs. Register for the contest at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at the variety tenet. The contest beings at 4 p.m.

The rubber chicken throwing contest is exactly what it sounds like: who can throw a rubber chicken the farthest. Broken up into four classes, the first place winner for each class gets a $20 gift card to Kentucky Fried Chicken, the second place winner gets a $10. Register at 4 p.m. in the road between Exhibit Building A and Exhibit Building B. The throwing starts at 4:30 p.m.

Reach Zach Berg at 319-887-5412, zberg@press-citizen.com or follow him on Twitter at @ZacharyBerg.