I’ve only been in Minnesota for about four years now, but I’ve wholeheartedly embraced that rite of passage which marks the end of every Minnesota summer. I’m talking about the Great Minnesota Get-Together, the Minnesota State Fair.
The Minnesota State Fair is high atop the list of the country’s great state fairs. It has all the usual state fair things, like livestock and agriculture shows and contests, great music concerts, midways full of rides and carnival games, and lots and lots of food on a stick. What makes the Minnesota State Fair unique is that it also has been recognized as having fantastic educational opportunities, as displaying incredible arts and craftsmanship, as being among the most family-friendly, and as having lots of interesting, local, higher end food and drink that you don’t typically find at a fair.
There’s also something bittersweet about the Fair in that it marks the end of our precious Minnesota summers. It’s not long after the Fair that all the kids are back in school and the air turns cool and we start to think about winter, so we don’t want to think about the Fair coming too soon, and when it’s here, we don’t want it to end.
I’ve been surprised to learn that not every Minnesotan loves the State Fair. In fact, the Fair, beloved as it is by so many Minnesotans, is also disliked or even despised by more than a few. Coming from back east where there was nothing even approaching this when I was growing up, it pains me to think that some Minnesotans don’t appreciate this gem that they have. The complaints are typical: it’s too crowded, it’s too expensive, or it’s just a bunch of people sweating and eating unhealthy food.
To those people, I say: YOU’RE JUST DOING IT WRONG!
All too often, people just show up and hope to wander around and find great things to do and eat. If you do that, you’re very likely to feel overwhelmed and miss out on lots of interesting things. You’ve gotta have a plan, people! So here are some tips and tricks that I’ve found really help when planning out my Fair visits.