The History:

The first Minnesota State Fair was really a county fair in 1954, but after acquiring statehood in 1958, the first state fair was technically held in 1959. Since that time, it has been held annually with only six cancellations due to the Civil War, The US-Dakota Conflict, the Chicago World’s Fair, World War II, a 1946 polio epidemic, and in 2020 due to COVID-19. Because COVID-19 really isn’t over, I thought I’d skip this year, but a surprise day off of work and a rainy day meant smaller crowds, and my curiosity got the better of me!

Some Logistics:

The state fairgrounds are now permanently located in Saint Paul, MN on 322 acres. Park-and-ride buses will take you from local churches to the event for free, and a standard adult admission was $16. If you ever plan to attend, bring your walking shoes!

The Food:

Fair food is its own category, and Minnesotans look forward to the food as much as anything else. State Fairs are synonymous with food-on-a-stick, and Minnesota is no exception, providing corn dogs, pizza, walleye, and even key lime pie on a skewer!

The Pronto Pup

Well-known is the famous “Pronto Pup,” a corndog that has been using the same batter since it began selling in 1947! Curious, this vegetarian even ordered one. They batter them right in front of you and apply a ferris wheel of sorts to ensure each Pup gets 2min, 15 seconds of fry-time. The attendant painted it with ketchup for me and… I really didn’t like it. The batter was ok, but the dog was gross, so I just ate the batter off and threw away the rest. Some traditions are great, this one should maybe be skipped.

Mini-Donuts

One food tradition that I really enjoyed, though, were the mini-donuts! For a couple of bucks, you’ll get freshly fried and dusted mini donuts in a bag. They were warm, sugary, and delicious! Bonus points for letting me see how the process works!

The Corn Roast

A popular stop along a fair-goers food journey is at the corn roast, where yesterday-picked corn is husked, charred, and buttered for you. Eager to try the high-heat Iowan favorite, I got one and… no char. Minimal butter. I mean, it was a lovely ear of corn, but what I was served was exactly what I’ve always had… perhaps the roaster was still heating up for the day? This may warrant a second-try next year.

Those were all the typical fair foods that I sampled, but also available are crowd favorites like cheese curds from “The Mouth Trap,” Sweet Martha’s cookies in buckets, potatoes fried every which way, and hot dogs. But I resisted much of these temptations because 1) the portions were enourmous. I mean, I got, like 20 donuts with my order. Since I was alone, I couldn’t justify a bucket of fries or cookies. And 2) there was so much to explore, I certainly couldn’t spend all day eating!

The Livestock:

Still a celebration of farmers throughout the state, the State Fair becomes the temporary home to hundreds of animals during its 12 days. Entire buildings are dedicated to cattle, sheep/goats, horses, and pigs. Multiple events are held with these types of livestock, but the one I was sad to miss was the 4-H Llama and Alpaca Costume Competition, where young adults and their llamas dress up together. Next year!

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Also fun was the Miracle of Birth Center, where mama animals and their recent young hang out to be pet. Just check out these cute kids!

The Creative Competitions

And, finally, the real reason I came was to scout out the competition. A new resident of Minnesota, I decided to submit my lemon cayenne cookies to the State Fair in the hopes of a blue-ribbon. I’ll get the full score of my cookies in a week or two, but no ribbon this year! I did still enjoy seeing the sheer number of submissions. My cookie category alone had 86 entries!

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And outside of baking, there are competitions and ribbons for knitting, woodworking, glass blowing, honey harvesting, vegetables, giant pumpkin growing, and so much more. Most impressive, to me, were the seed art creations. Using only seeds, or rice in the winner’s case, amazing art was created by artists across the state.

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The Entertainment

Sprinkled all day and around the fair are free events one can stumble upon. Throughout my wanderings I watched a musical called, “History-on-a-Schtick!” all about the state and the fair, “The Flyin’ Hawai’ian” semi-acrobatics show, the daily 2 PM parade, and a lumberjack showcase.

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In Conclusion

Next year, if the pandemic is under better control, I recommend attending the State Fair. And bring a dozen of your friends so you can share these massive quantities of fair food!