Minnesota State Fair

Joe and I went to the Minnesota State Fair today. The Fair is in St. Paul, about a 51-minute drive (39 miles) from Rockford. Joe had wanted to check out the Agriculture Building, The Eco (Ecology) Building, and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Building. The original plan was for me to drop Joe at the gate and then go to a Starbucks or public library for a few hours.

Instead, parking ($20) was readily available near the entrance (670 steps, YES, I counted them) so I went in with him. I am not up to walking as much as the Fair requires, so we rented a wheelchair ($25.00/day) so I could push it and try to walk as much as possible and I could ride in it when I got tired. Joe walked 10,000 steps in the 4 hours we were at the Fair. I walked 3,000 steps and sat in the shade while he wandered into some buildings. He pushed me in the wheelchair for a good part of the time, too.

Admission to the Fair is $16.00/person for Seniors ($18.00 for adults). The only other money we spent was for my caramel apple ($6.00 with nuts).

We did not buy other food at the fair as it was overwhelming for me and not healthy food for Joe (or for me...). We decided we would eat after we left the Fair. There are too many choices of food at the Fair and I cannot decide what I want. Is it Luigi Fries (see photo)? Cheese curds in multiple flavor choices? Hotdogs, deep fried hotdogs on a stick, Vegan hotdogs? Hamburgers? Fried Pickles? Fried Candy Bar? Pizza? You name a food they probably had it available.

The only other State Fair I have attended was the California State Fair in Sacramento over thirty years ago. I remember it being mostly concrete and few places to sit. In contrast the Minnesota State Fair walkways are streets lined with trees and metal benches. The weather was perfect today! A slight breeze and in the low seventies. I did not notice the humidity because I think I’ve acclimated to it.

We got into the Fair about 9:15am and left at 1:30pm. When we arrived the line for the Eco Building already stretched three blocks, Joe is not one to wait in long lines, so we opted to visit the Arts Building, the Education Building, and the Creative Buildings instead. The Art Building housed art that had been judged and was available for sale. There were pieces for sale for as high as $24,000. Having been supporters of Yolo County Arts for about 14 years, we have acquired and learned to appreciate art in all mediums. Today, I limited myself to taking photos of only two pieces because the building was crowded, and it was difficult to get a good shot as a result.

The first photo is of a textile submission. A quilt! When we were in Alabama earlier this year, I fell in love with the beauty of quilts. The second photo is right up Joe’s alley. A dog sculpted from small metal hand tools, nuts, bolts, and other metal objects. The third is a close-up of the dog so the materials can be seen more readily.

The Education Building housed representatives from all levels of education in Minnesota, non-profit organizations including religious (Christian and Muslim), interest groups such as the geological society, education vendors like Teachers on Call, art, and science (robotics and rockets galore!) displays, and government organizations including the department of transportation. I enjoyed this building and had my photo taken at the Minnesota Mint Booth.

Beth (me) sitting on a fortune. Gotta start somewhere!

The next building was the Creative Building. Joe was interested in attending a talk on fermentation in this building. I sat outside, “people watching” as he went off to find the talk. He came back about 15 minutes later and said he didn’t find the talk BUT he thought I would love it as it was all the fair entries of foods, quilts, dolls, clothing, and wooden objects just to name a few. If it can be made by hand, it was in this building. Again, the building was crowded! I did manage to get some photos of quilts and hand carved birds. As soon as we saw the birds, Joe said, “Ted’s work should be here!” Ted is our new friend in North Carolina; I featured his work in a blog post on May 2, Blowing Rock, North Carolina (Road Trip Day 35).

Leaving the Creative building our goal was the Agriculture Building. We got sidetracked for about 40 minutes when we came to the Red Cross Trailer and their pitch for blood donors. Joe decided to donate. He has been wanting to since he is now drug-free after his cancer surgery 17-months ago. He met all the physical requirements to donate right then and there. I sat and people watched some more while Joe went into the Agriculture building to check it out before his blood draw. Across the road from me was the Minnesota Twins tent. You know you are at the Minnesota State Fair when there is a booth for the Twins! Later we walked past a Vikings Building.

Once Joe donated his blood, ate a couple of granola bars, and drank some water, we headed into the Agriculture building together. We learned good stuff! We learned that corn is the number one crop. We learned that most of the lawn seed/grass for the United States is grown in Northern Minnesota. We learned that sugar beets are also on the list of top crops in Minnesota. This stood out to us as for many years, Yolo County grew a lot of sugar beets. They are no longer considered a viable crop in California due to low sugar prices. Still, beets were grown longer in California than anywhere else in the world. Guess now that they have stopped, somewhere else can overtake the record!

I snapped two photos here of items that seemed unique to me. In the fresh flowers area, there were bowls of fresh cut flower displays in cast iron sculptures that I found appealing. The second was a metal, seaweed, and wooden mobile hanging from the center of the building over a display of mermaids. Fun!

The last stop for us was the DNR Building (Department of Natural Resources). Joe went in and checked it out while I sat on a park bench in front of a cotton candy seller and watched children wolfing down the candy. Parents were taking pictures of their children. It was lovely to think that at sixty-seven years old, I have a shared tradition with today’s children of eating cotton candy at a fair. It was a lovely point in time!

We saw only a small portion of the fair in our 4 1/2 hours . We agreed it was plenty for us this year! Megan, Jeremy, and the kids headed out to the fair while we were heading home this afternoon. I am pretty sure their experience will be very different from ours!