AMES, Iowa -- Carnival rides. Cotton candy. Live music. It's time for the eXtension virtual state fair, Feb. 21-23 in the 3-D online community Second Life.

The virtual state fair celebrates the launch of eXtension,  http://www.extension.org, an interactive learning space where land-grant university experts gather and produce new education and information resources on wide-ranging topics.

Watch video of the eXtension ribbon cutting ceremony streamed into Second Life from the USDA Ag Outlook Forum. Take a virtual horseback ride, tour the animal barns, try out the bumper cars -- and the virtual cotton candy is calorie-free. Fireworks, games and live music performances are scheduled throughout the three-day celebration.

See the schedule of events at http://secondlife.com/showcase/blog.php?blog_category=3

Visit the expo tent spotlighting 16 communities of practice:

• agrosecurity and floods
• beef cattle
• cotton
• dairy
• diversity across higher education
• entrepreneurs and their communities
• family caregiving
• gardens, lawns and landscapes
• geospatial technologies
• horses
• imported fire ants
• livestock and poultry environmental learning centers
• parenting
• personal finance
• science, engineering and technology for youth; and
• wildlife damage management

To visit Second Life, you need a free account. Sign up at http://www.secondlife.com and create your personal avatar. After you have become a resident, enter the main gate of the Virtual State Fair on eXtension's Morrill Island at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Morrill/168/123/28

eXtension is affiliated with Cooperative Extension, a nationwide educational network. Each U.S. state and territory has a state office at its land-grant university and a network of local or regional offices.

eXtension is an educational partnership that brings together experts from more than 70 land-grant universities, including Iowa State University,  to share resources. eXtension is customized with links to local extension sites. Land-grant universities were founded on the ideals that higher education should be accessible to all, that universities should teach liberal and practical subjects and share knowledge with people throughout their states.

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