MINNESOTA STATE FAIR 2011

If you have never been to the Minnesota State
Fair, you are missing out on the 2nd largest state fair in the U.S. I haven’t
missed a year since I started going when I was young. It became a family
tradition as my mother took me and my siblings and I took my children. Even
though many things at the fair are the same each year, it is still always
changing. To see everything you must allow a whole day. I have a route I use
each year and manage to see practically everything of interest to me in about
12 hours of nonstop walking, looking and oh of course eating which is the
highlight of attending the state fair. It is amazing to see all the new foods
they come up with each year from deep fried bacon to spaghetti on a stick. The
Minnesota State Fair is known for all its food items on a stick. I have my
favorites-- Pork Chop on a stick and Granny's Fudge Puppies (round Belgian
Waffles dipped in rich Swiss Chocolate on a stick)--and of course those not on
a stick--Lobster Bites, Bull Bites, Nitro Ice Cream, Fresh Cut French Fries,
Sweet Martha’s Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chocolate Nutella Crepes, Tom Thumb Mini
donuts, and absolutely to die for London Broil Steak Sandwiches. And then I
always need to buy a bag of my favorite Minnesota grown Beacon apples to bring
home. First, I always go through the Arts and Crafts buildings to look at all
the wonderful needlepoint, knitted, crocheted, sewn and handmade items. Next, I
head to the Food Building to eat, of course. Eating is an all-day thing though
because you need to spread it out so you can try as much as you can. The
International Bazaar has vendor booths from different countries and my favorite
is a Norwegian booth where they sell Rosemaled items. This is the one place I
usually make a purchase; in fact I look forward to seeing what new items she
has to sell each year. Then it is on to the Dairy Building to see the butter
head sculptures of the Dairy Princesses. They are absolutely amazing and if you
happen to be there at the right time you can watch the sculptor at work. I am
not big on rides but I always make sure to take a walk through the Midway to
see if there are any new rides. The animal buildings are not my favorites but I
have been known to walk through them. I prefer the Hippodrome because it has
vendors which I find far more interesting than the horses. Reader sunglasses
(for reading romance books at the pool or lake) were my big find at the fair
and they were in the Hippodrome. Heritage Village offers a vintage theme along
with a couple of railroad cars filled with memorabilia dating back to the
forties. The Grandstand Building has two floors filled with vendors ranging
from kitchen wares to Minnesota Wild tickets. The Grandstand itself has top
name artists performing every night. I think I went to a
show for about 20 years up until the last couple of years when they just didn’t
have anyone I was interested in seeing. Recently, they are catering more to the
younger crowd and those who like Country music which I am not into. Through the
years I have seen Michael Bolton, Chicago, Huey Lewis and the News, and Johnny
Lang just to name a few. Of course my favorite things are anything Scandinavian
like the Rosemaling, Hardanger, and Norwegian sweaters in the Arts and Crafts building
entered to win Blue Ribbons, the Rosemaling booth in the International Village,
Lefse in the Food Building, Ole and Lena’s food booth, Rosemaled Scandinavian
Clog booth and the Nordic Surf band. In fact, there has been a strong
Scandinavian influence since way back in 1925 when the Minnesota State Fair was
the site of the Norse-American Centennial celebration and was attended by
President Calvin Coolidge who recognized the contributions of the
Scandinavian-Americans and Leif Erickson’s discovery of America. For the past
few years we have contemplated having our Nordic Treats food booth at the fair
to sell Scandinavian foods, but I think we need something new and trendy and it
definitely should be on a stick—like Lutefisk on a stick, maybe? Who knows,
maybe someday. . .