Unlike other events such as the Iowa State Fair, Cattle Congress was held every year, even during World War II.[1]
In the 1980s, the NCC organization started a greyhound racing business to attempt to generate additional revenue. This was a commercial failure, and the organization declared bankruptcy in 1993. The event was cancelled in 1994 as a result.[1] The racetrack shut down in 1996 after a failed referendum to allow slot machines,[2] and the facility was destroyed in 2018.[3]
In 2008, the fairgrounds were used as a temporary holding facility for 260 illegal immigrants arrested in a raid in Postville, Iowa.[4]
There was no convention in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, nor was there one in 1917–18 due to World War I.
