2021 Visit #1: A Tentative Pandemic Visit to the Fair

The Minnesota State Fair is back! Of course we’re in the middle of a Covid spike which made the choice of whether or not to go to the Fair this year a really tough one. Obviously we are obsessed with the Fair and really missed it last year, but we are also being very careful to manage overall Covid risk with Henry about to go back to school and still not able to be vaccinated.

The Fair organizers concluded there’d be no way for them to enforce any sort of mask, capacity, distancing or vaccine requirements, so there are none, which made a lot of people (including us) nervous. A lot of vendors and exhibitors have opted out this year, and several of the usual Fair activities have been modified or cancelled to try to manage risk.

Katie Richards Fabrizio and I finally decided that we would do a quick visit, but we are holding off on bringing Henry back until next year. Our strategy was to go as early as possible on a weekday morning, minimize indoor activities, and head out before it got very crowded.

We headed over yesterday morning and were there by 8am. With only a few hours to work with, we knew we had to be strategic and skip a lot of the things we would normally do, but we were just happy the Fair was back and that we could experience a little bit of it this year. Here are the highlights!

Back on the fairgrounds for the first time in two years!

Early in the rainy morning, we almost had the place to ourselves.

High on my priority list was a visit to the Farmer’s Union, one of my favorite Fair vendors. Breakfast was their BLT with an egg on it (amazing!) and a nitro cold press.

We also shared a Twisted Sister from the Sausage Sisters to round out breakfast.

After strolling around a while, we decided to get some roasted corn. Here’s a picture that may be a once-in-a-lifetime shot - Katie as the ONLY customer at the corn stand!

Next up was a lap of the north end to see what was new. There’s a new area that seems to be food truck inspired. Baba’s hummus bowls have been getting good reviews so we decided to give them a try.

We went for the Chili Baba which as you can see is a bit on the spicy side (that’s kimchi in the middle). We both gave this a big thumb’s up! Those mini fried pitas are perfect for this. Everything tasted super fresh. They have about 10 different bowls if spicy’s not your thing.

We also tried their mint lemonade. If you love mint, you will love this.

Next we took a spin through the Creative Arts building. The bread game was strong this year - all of that pandemic baking, I guess!

Loved this cake of Split Rock Lighthouse!

We also took a quick pass through the Agriculture Building to visit the seed art. As we expected, lots of Covid-related pieces.

Capturing the arrival of the vaccine in seed art.

We got a big surprise when we came across this one, because this is a seed art recreation of a photo that Katie’s cousin Scott Rykken took earlier this year that sorta went viral! (https://scottrykken.smugmug.com/Birds/i-pFdDm69)

Back to the food. We always make a stop at the Midtown Global booth in the International Bazaar. The current occupant is Andy’s Garage, and they are doing a Horchata Milkshake. You can definitely taste the rice flavor in the ice cream and the mini churros were a nice touch. I liked this one, Katie thought it was too sweet.

No trip to the Fair is complete for us without a Peterson’s Pork Chop. Did. Not. Disappoint! Still among the absolute best things to eat at the Fair in our opinion!

I also never leave the Fair without having a mini donut beer. I waited as long as possible (we arrived at 8am…) but this still was a morning beer. Worth it!

By 11am the Fair was starting to fill in with folks, so it was becoming harder to socially distance. We decided to call it a day and head out. We’re still not out of the woods and it was sad to not feel comfortable doing a lot of the things we usually do at the Fair like the animal barns and more of the building exhibits, but it was so great to be back on the Fairgrounds and feel a little slice of normal for a morning.