Five dollars at the Iowa State Fair goes further than you think. Know the right stand and a snow cone, some cotton candy, a strawberry shake, a ride down the big slide or even an order of X-Treme Balls (pork tenderloin balled up on a kebob with pickles and onions) will only cost you a Lincoln. But all the Scarpino family wanted for their $5 was a smile. And that was exactly what they got — 400 times over.

Walking nearly every inch of the fairgrounds, Steve Scarpino and Janel Marcovis handed out $2,000, $5 at a time, to kids, all of whom were complete strangers. They approached each family with one simple request: Let the kids choose what they want to do with this money.