Minnesota State Fair 2007: Whatcha going to do first?

I'm flying up to Minnesota today! I am sohoping to get to the State Fair! I miss it alot, being down here in Texas.

Travel well, Priscilla! I sincerely hope you don't experience delays... (MPR's Public Insight Journalism team is looking for people to share their MSP airport delay experiences, so it is at the forefront on my mind.)

Oh hey, even if you don't make it to the fair you can try your hand at Where's Eric?

I hope there are no delay's for me! What is causing the delay's?

I've tried it a few times but don't like it.

I'm going next Wednesday with my friend Bridget. We go every year, and always hit the barns first. We love to pet the animals - pigs, sheep, cows, horses, and llamas, and we talk with the farmers. It's sometimes hard for me to see the animals, knowing they'll be slaughtered within weeks of the fair ending (um, not the horses or llamas, obviously), and Bridget usually feels a tug of guilt at still being a meat eater.

One year when it was unbelievaby hot (in the high 90s - and over 100 degrees in the barns), we discovered dozens of pigs with no water in their pens. It was apparent they were suffering immensely. Bridget and I asked a nearby farmer about it and he said they didn't like to keep water in the pens, 'cos the pigs sometimes knocked them over and got dirty. What!!? She and I found some buckets and a spigot, and gave water to every single pig without it. We got teary-eyed when we saw the pigs' reaction - they were snuffling and grunting with relief at having water. Oh my, I'm sorry, it's my animal rights side coming out. (I also called the manager of the barn the next day, and he promised to keep an eye on the water situation.)

On to fun stuff: Sweet Martha's chocolate chip cookies and Tom Thumb mini-donuts (Light as a Feather!) are a must. Also going to the Fine Arts exhibit (always amazing to see the degree of talent there) and the Crafts and Horticulture buildings (looking for ribbons for friends who knit, weave, make jams and jellies, etc.). Hit the Midway once it gets dark and go on the double Ferris wheel and the roller coaster. I can't wait!

I'm not going, I'm the State Fair Grinch.

I can over eat at home. I can buy lots of fat laden foods for much cheaper outside the fair grounds.

It's always pretty much the same old stuff. Pigs, cows, water softeners, gutters and siding, magic blenders and vacuums, the rides, baby chicks, radio stations, TV news.

I might go every couple a years or so. I saw the Gear Daddies a couple of years ago and the B52's maybe a dozen years ago.

I'm just too tight with my money to blow it on the same old fair every year.



I do miss watching the "crimes of fashion" that go on each year at the fair.

My boyfriend's a State Fair Grinch, too. Ah well.

One crime of fashion I'll never forget: ZUBAS! Oh boy, I saw one too many large men wearing tiger-striped Zubas in the 1980s, hanging out on the Midway. Youch.

I forgot: the Miracle of Birth barn! All those sweet little ducklings, chicks, and lambs. Sigh.

I'm proud to say I'm a fat guy that has NEVER worn Zubas. EVER!. And I'm damn proud of it.

Cowboy boots with tall white sox with cut off jeans. A fair favorite.

Halter tops, too! Don't forget the halter tops!

Melinda, we have lots of fried foods on a stick here, too. I HAVE to have Tom Thumb donuts and Sweet Martha's cookies, and usually have something salty during the day, too. Near the horse barn is a booth that sells sweet potato fries. Mmmmm.

Say, Miss Shrenkler, does that groovy Current t-shirt come in a girls' cut, too?

Priscilla, again, I hope you don't experience any. From a notice sent by my colleague Michael Caputo:

The closure of a runway at the airport coupled with bad weather have cancelled or delayed hundreds of flights over the past few days.

And if the past two months are any indication, Northwest Airlines flight cancellations could very well spike again as the month of August draws to a close. Our Twin Cities airport is, of course, a hub for Northwest Airlines.

Well Peter, you tried. The crowds are somethin' to behold, even for fair lovers.

Zeldapie, I can just see you giving those pigs some fresh water and cannot imagine how uncomfortable they were. And who doesn't love the horses?

(Psst, the info on that t-shirt is "One style only." There's a few shirts available but they're kinda unisex. Nothing a good wash in super hot water can't cure.)

Also, I'm hungry for sweet potato fries and cookies now. Curious...

Gary, you are cracking me up but hard with the fair fashion. My favorite is the "inappropriate footwear" category. Watching for high heels and flat-out-bizarre choices is a favorite. There are a few good music shows this year, no?

All this talk of Zubaz is now ruining my appetite....

Hope you take pictures or can provide a debrief on your fair, Melinda!

And hey, it was pointed out to me in a message I didn't answer. Well of course I have to stop by the MPR booth first. (I know, I KNOW. C'mon, it is staffed by some of my cool coworkers, and seems like Gary Eichten is always there.)

Then its straight to the Zipper (well by straight I mean a meander through the DNR) I think. Last year a friend of mine and I rode it three times, and two of those times were back-to-back. My sides hurt from laughing partly because it was so much fun and mostly because we're old enough to know better.

You're a brave soul, Julia, going on the ZIPPER. I used to go on ALL of the scary, vomit-inducing rides (once when I had the flu, as a youngster - didn't faze me at all). Now I'm a wimp. A few years ago I almost hurled my Tom Thumb donuts whilst riding the swings, and Bridget had to fetch me a 7Up and made me put my head between my legs.

Shoot, I like t-shirts that fit my curves. Even the shrunk ones still seem kinda baggy.

Yeah - sorry about that, it looks like The Current has a t-shirt that comes in "girly cut"... not to gush or anything, but I like that "cardinal" color. Looks dark red to me, not like cardinal as in the bird or in the Catholic church.

Crimes of fashion...............

Extreme muffin tops on today's youth, belts and suspenders, old guys wearing wind breakers and it's 90 degrees, girls wearing shirts with sayings on them that make them look like cheap sluts, guys guts hanging out of t-shirts, men with bad hairpieces, women wearing inappropriate footware for all that walking they have to do, guts hanging out with gals wearing halter tops (halter tops, what a great concept fully ruined by the 95% of people that shouldn't be wearing one), the list goes on. Be on the look out for mullets.

I always go to the Creative Arts building, or whatever they're calling it these days. I look at the prize quilts, and then I make a beeline for the booths with all the sewing machines, and their State Fair "specials." I think the machine I want costs about ten grand. So I tear myself away and head over to the Agriculture - Horticulture building. Crop art, prize Christmas trees, and dozens of types of honey.

I do this after my husband and I have parted ways so that he can have his obligatory Pronto Pup or three.

I can eat about one cheese curd, and then I'm in grease/sodium shock.

What are you going to do first?

I'm just not going to go...I hate the State Fair.

It's overcrowded, smelly, and loud.

With that said, I have others do my bidding by returning from the Fair with a bucket of Sweet Martha's cookies.

Yum.

I have others do my bidding

Uh, that would be ME!
(I'm a nice gf, aren't I?)

Uh, that would be ME!
(I'm a nice gf, aren't I?)

Yes, yes you are.

I have others getting me a bucket this year too...

:)

Gary, I kinda dig when guys wear both suspenders and a belt. It cracks me up. I might have to print out your list tho, and see how long it takes me to identify all those fashion crimes.

Some of those crafts are a. maz. ing. M M, and others are wince-inducing - like I can't even fathom how they got that far in the fair judging. What kind of sewing machine do you have your eye on?

OTB, sorry, man, but you need to elaborate on your methods or at least pass a cookie. Who are these mysterious fair food delivery imps? MPR folks luck out now and then if the Midday crew brings back a bucket, but ... you have a great girlfriend and "others" as your courier? Man!

I'm a State Fair junkie; I've gone almost every year since college in the early '80s. Oops. Did I date myself there? I love the atmostphere. The people watching. The politicians. I had Tim Penny sign my "Tim Penny" button one year! I'm starting a tradition of going to see A Prairie Home Companion. This year will be my third year of going to that. Who's going to be playing? I love looking at all the food, but honestly, not eating much of it. But the gyros from Falafelas are a must-have. The exhibition halls. OH, and now there is the Eco building, fast becoming my and my teen-aged daughters, favorite hall.

My boys still like the llamas and games.

And this year I'm hoping to sit in on Robert Robertson's Gospel Choir and Greg Brown and the Native Dancers and the New Riverside Ramblers and the Fiddle Contest. Free music is WONDERFUL. It's like reaching into your coat pocket that you'd put away last winter and finding a twenty dollar bill. Heck, it's better than that. It's getting a back rub from your spouse and then s/he falls asleep without expecting anything in return. Er, Julia, can I say that? Bliss......

Say Gary, I like to see those "Crimes of Fashion". Heaven help us if we all look like cookie cutter dolls. :-) Mostly all that flesh hanging all over the place doesn't much bother me, I mean, it's not like they're hanging it out for ME, ya know? But I do mind when folks dress with too little cloth, arranging what they do have on so that they look like they're ready for a one-night-fling. It sends a bad message to our kids, all of our kids.

Hey, I went to First Avenue last Monday to see Lucky Dube. That's the right time for dressing for lust, iykwim. Not at the State Fair.

ummmmmmm. The Mouth Trap... Cheese curds, batter, and hot grease. What could be better, I ask you? ; )