Fran Last year I took a 1/2 day off of work and made a quick trip over to the Fair. I enjoyed it so much I did it again this year. I use the trip to eat some of the things I missed and do some of the more random activities that we don’t have time for on the other trips. And I also try to use it to do things that are not what people would expect from a State Fair - always trying to break down those stereotypes! So, here we go…
Beautiful, cloudless day with temps in the 70s.
First stop was the Blue Barn, one of the restaurants in the West End area of the Fair.
At Blue Barn I picked up a blueberry basil lemonade, and then across the West End at LuLu’s I got the BANG BANG Chicken Tenders. Both are new items this year, and both are getting a lot of buzz. And both were awesome! These would turn out to be two of the highlights of the day.
This is the Sweet Dream Peach from the Produce Exchange. I look forward to this every year, because they are huge and super juicy. Not this one, though. :-( It was a dud. I will have to try again on Friday’s trip.
I’d been hearing about Pretzel Haus for a few years but was never excited to have a pretzel, given all the other choices. This year I wanted to give it a try.
Waiting was a mistake! These pretzels are really, really good. Light and airy on the inside, a nice crust, and there’s something slightly sweet about the dough that I can’t place, but I really like. You can get them with butter/cinnamon/sugar toppings but I just went classic for this first one. Yum!!
I thin took a food break and went up the Dept. of Natural Resources fire tower to get a birds’ eye view on the fairgrounds.
View towards the Coliseum where the livestock shows take place.
View towards the Grandstand where the big concerts happen.
Out over the midway and West End.
Towards the rest of the fairgrounds. To give you an idea of the size of the Fair, that water tower is on the fairgrounds.
Then to a quintessential Minnesota State Fair stop - the butter princesses’ butter sculptures. I happened to catch one of them being made!
The princess sits in this 40 degree roatating chamber for hours while the sculptor makes her butter head. The princess gets to take this home after the fair, and some keep them for life! One of the princesses will be crowned Princess Kay of the Milky Way by the end of the Fair.
1,100 pound pumpkins, anyone?
I had never gone into the Territorial Pioneers museum before. It captures life from the mid-1800’s, when Minnesota was first being settled by westerners. Here’s a replica schoolroom.
And a replica store.
Back to the food - the beer to top all beers - mini donut beer! I rave about this beer every year, and wish it was available year-round.
Wandering along with my beer, I saw this and was intrigued.
Fascinating! Working printing presses and linotype machines. A volunteer showed me how they would make each line of the newspaper article from molds using molten lead, with a machine that automatically assembled each letter, and returned each letter to its place in the machine when it was done. So cool!
Next up was the Eco-experience building. They had some cool bikes on display, and electric cars, including this Tesla.
I wandered through some ice fishing houses. Pretty nice! You can watch the game on your flatscreen and cook up your catch all right there.
I had read good things about the roti at Harry Singh’s so I tried the chicken curry one. Terrible disappointment. Super bland. Threw out half of it.
To get a fresh start after the roti disappointment, I went to Sara’s Tipsy Pies, which I knew would be good. She calls them Pies with a Purpose, because her daughter has Down syndrome and she donates some of the proceeds to the Down Syndrome Association of Minnesota. Obviously I have to go each year, but even without that, they’re delicious! Maple Bacon Apple Pie (Tipsy because it’s made with Finnegan’s beer). Delicious, was gone in seconds.
Last thing I ate was the Blueberry Aronia Coffee Cake Ice Cream Bar from the Farmer’s Union. And I enjoyed it at my favorite secret getaway quiet spot at the fair, their back patio. Ahhhhh.
This was the real deal. That’s a whole blueberry, and on the left if you look closely, actual piece of coffee cake! It was delicious.
Ok, I lied. On the way out, I passed the corn roasting place. Come on, you didn’t think I was passing that up, did you?
And another Fair trip in the books. But just in case I want to come back tonight, I got the stamp. :-)
2016 State Fair Visit #2