The 6th Annual-ish Fran's Fair Awards for 2023!

IT’S BAAAAAACCCCCCKKKK!

After a three-year hiatus (2020: no Fair; 2021: Pandemic-shortened Fair experience; 2022: I, uh, forgot to write one?) I am thrilled to present to you the 6th Annual-ish Fran’s Fair Awards for 2023!!

Food Categories

As is our tradition here at Fran’s Fair Awards, the bad news comes first.

Biggest Disappointment

This is unfortunately an easy award to determine this year. I wanted to like it. I’ve liked it in the past (Best Snack 2019.) Conceptually, it’s fresh and stands out from the sea of Fair offerings. On paper, the list of components is a winner. Visually, it’s a knockout. The amount of buzz it gets (including recipient of one of this year’s vendor awards) amps up the anticipation! But at first bite it was so, so disappointing. There was just nothing there. Chris and I gave it a few more bites to change our mind, but more than half of this was tossed. I really don’t understand how freshly made marmalade with local berries, nut butter that they grind on site, and grilled cinnamon toast can be so lacking in taste. How is this missing the target?? Nevertheless, it was what it was, and it was a very bland sandwich not worth our Fair stomach real estate. Maybe they’re just having an off-year, but it was such a negative experience that I unfortunately have to give this award to:

Grilled Sota Sandwich at Jammie Sammies by Brim

Here’s hoping it was a one-year anomaly and they’ll get this straightened out and be back on their game next year.

Dishonorable Mentions

With the amount of food and drunk we consumed, there were of course a few more disappointments, including:

• O’Gara’s Reuben Bites - This was doomed the moment they handed it over with a packet of Kraft Thousand Island dressing. No place for that nonsense at the Fair.
• Nordic Waffles Dill Pickle Lemonade - Ok, credit them for taking a risk, but how did they taste this during development and think it was going to work??
• Brim Lemonade - Just weak.
• Danielson & Daughters Onion Rings - This one hurts, because I usually love these, but they were small-portioned, thin and greasy this year.

Alright, with the unpleasantries out of the way, it’s time for the winners!

Best Main Entree

There was a lot to like for me in this category this year. I had two excellent hummus bowls (Al Tacos and Mi Lahme) from Baba’s, Pickle Barrel continued to impress with their steak tip dinner (oh, those mushrooms!), and Peterson’s Pork Chops produced a dandy of a chop on Visit #3 after a just-average offering in week 1. However, for me, there was one entree that stood out above the rest, both for its overall taste and for its performance relative to my expectations going in. This year’s winner for best main entree is:

RC’S BBQ Maui-Sota Sticky Ribs

Ribs are hard to do even when you’re not trying to prepare them at massive scale for hordes of Fairgoers. The fact that they started with really meaty ribs and cooked them to a fall-off-the-bone tenderness, and then hit them with that deliciously balanced sticky glaze was really impressive. I regret not going back for more of these, there’s never enough time! Hopefully they bring them back next year.

Best Snack

It’s kinda hard to draw the line between snack and other categories at the Fair, so this may feel a bit arbitrary, but these are my awards and I get to say what’s a snack, and for me this category encompasses everything from roasted corn to corn dogs, from mini donuts to cheese curds. As such, it might be the most competitive category there is!

This year I’m giving the award to a new item, simple in concept but nicely put together and so refreshing on a long, hot Fair day. This year’s winner is:

Lemonade Sorbet from Quench’d

Again, simple item nicely done. It’s VERY lemony, a nice antidote to all the weak lemonade. The addition of actual lemon zest is a nice touch. Serving it in a lemon rind was fun, though neutralized by then placing it all in a plastic cup. That probably allowed for more sorbet but would be nice if that could be avoided. I read online that it even had a fun temperature sensitive color changing spoon - I didn’t notice!

There were a lot of worthy contenders, so let me also shout out some honorable mentions here.

• Cider Freeze - Even simpler than the sorbet, but similarly refreshing.
• Grandstand Mini Donuts - Overlooked for years, these guys are churning out better mini donuts than Tom Thumb or Tiny Tim. Yeah, I said it!
• Mouth Trap Cheese Curds - These are the same every single time, which I appreciate, especially when same = delicious!

Best Dessert

This year’s winner was not on my radar heading into the Fair but thankfully a co-worker called attention to it in time for us to check it out. Glad they did, because it was a delightful find! This year’s winner for best dessert is:

Apple Crisp Ice Cream at Granny’s Apples & Lemonade

This was a collaboration with boutique ice cream producer A to Z Creamery in Hopkins. Though the portion size was modest by Fair standards, the $8 was very well spent on this ice cream, which had a prominent and delicious apple flavor along with still-crisp topping pieces mixed throughout. Katie and I kept scraping the container for more of this! The experience has definitely put both Granny’s and A to Z Creamery on my radar for future Fairs and beyond, but good luck getting any of their ice cream outside the Fair because they do a weekly small batch release that always sells out, sometimes within one minute!

Best Breakfast

I didn’t stray beyond the “Breakfast Nexus” of French Meadow - Hamline Church Dining Hall - Farmer’s Union this year for morning foods, so this will be a small field in contention for the best breakfast award. It’s also an interesting field in that there’s no reason any of these foods have to be considered breakfast-specific, especially under anything-goes Fair food rules. Nevertheless, if I ate it for breakfast, I’m considering it in this category.

The group of entries had a couple of near misses. First, the Holey Hamloaf on Egg-in-the-Hole bread at Hamline. While the item did perform well during its second chance once they had worked out the service issues, it’s not something I think I would go back to for breakfast. One, it’s huge, so it’s hard to commit to that as your first food item of a long Fair day, but more to the point, it just didn’t stand out enough for me. It was just… fine.

Next up would be the Everything Cream Cheese Ba-Sant at French Meadow. I LOVE anything Everything, so I was super excited for this, and the Everything part of this certainly delivered! Where it just missed was the cream cheese - it needed more, and it needed to be more evenly distributed through the pastry.

That leads us to our winner, from a place with a long tradition of winning! This year’s best breakfast award goes to:

The Fried Green Tomato BLT Sandwich at Farmer’s Union

Farmer’s Union does bacon better than anywhere else at the Fair, so right away I know this would be a strong competitor. Couple that with those perfectly breaded, crunchy cornmeal-coated fried green tomatoes on a top-notch soft bun and some mayo mustard sauce and you’ve got a clear winner! Every component was thoughtful and locally sourced, with no less than seven Minnesota farms coming together to provide ingredients for the sandwich. Farmer’s Union does it again!

Best Drink

Oof, not a good drink year this year. I had more drinks that were memorable for the wrong reasons than I did for good reasons. I did not discover a single new drink that I will be adding to my regular rotation, with lackluster coffee offerings from Brim and Java Jive falling by the wayside, along with a couple of sad lemonades from Brim and Nordic Waffles. The Mini Donut Beer from Ball Park was iconic as ever, as was the Nitro Cold Brew at Farmer’s Union (I even went the extra mile and treated myself to the Maple version this year), but they are both past winners and I’d like to go in a different direction. There’s one drink that really elevated above the crowd that I haven’t recognized in past years, and so the winner of best drink is:

Lift Bridge Root Beer at Bridge ‘n Barrel

I’ve got to give credit for the discovery of this craft-brewed gem to Henry, our resident root beer afficianado. I’m generally not drinking soda at the Fair, but in a sea of everyday soda, this and its craft-brewed siblings Black Cherry Soda and Ginger Ale stand out as a cut above. And no surprise, given that Lift Bridge is behind the scenes here. A worthy winner!

Best Food Value

I didn’t explore the cheap eats on the Fairgrounds much this year as I have in years’ past (shout out to Midway Men’s Club!) Had I remembered I would need to award this category I might have tried more, but alas! I did find one great value at the Fair that I had somehow overlooked all of these years, so I’ll just toss the award to:

The Free Cold Water at the Culligan Hydration Station

Somehow, I never used this before! There are fountains around the Fairgrounds if you know where to look, but getting an extra cold refill of the water bottle here was a nice little treat on hot Fair days.

Most Unusual Thing I Ate

It’s getting harder and harder to qualify as “unusual” at the Fair these days, especially since I opted not to try the lutefisk sliders. And since I didn’t take my traditional solo trip this year, there was less opportunity to try things like the gator bites.

So in a Fair year where I played the food choices pretty straight, the least familiar thing I tried was:

The Nqaij with Hmong Sausage and Chilled Rice Noodles at Union Hmong Kitchen

It was fine and the pickled veggies were especially fun, but it was neither particularly unusual nor particularly memorable. Definitely a solid comfort food sort of dish, though! I’d be happy having this for a regular meal.

Biggest Regret Of Food I Didn’t Get To This Year

Every year brings regrets of food left untried. This year, my biggest regret is that I never found time to try the:

Cinnamon Ice Cream Affogato at Hamline Church Dining Hall

As far as I am concerned, ice cream and espresso are a marraige made in heaven, and especially given that I had so much mediocre coffee this year, it’s criminal that I didn’t give this a shot. It’ll haunt me all year, and I’ll be hoping they bring it back.

Comeback Kid

I’ve spent years tempering expectations of this item for Fair newcomers. This year, I got reprimanded for underselling these. With that admonishment, I tried to take a fresh look, and you know what, I WAS underselling these. What really sold it for me were how good they still were two days later. If you haven’t guessed by now, the 2023 Comeback Kid is:

Sweet Martha’s Cookies

I think what I discovered is that they’re better if they’ve been out of the oven a few minutes, they hold their shape better and the cooler temp means you can actually taste the cookie more. I’ll be visiting at slower times and seeking out the trays that are about half full from now on (too empty and you risk getting a new tray called in for your order!) And, in bucket form, they remain really good a day or two later. We rarely commit to a whole bucket so this may have just been an oversight on my part. Luckily, this year we did and I got to see a better side of Sweet Martha’s Cookies!

Best New Food That Didn’t Win Another Category

In a year with plenty of new foods tried, there is one item that, for me, stands out above the rest for its uniqueness, taste and nearly flawless execution. This year’s winner of Best New Food That Didn’t Win Another Category is:

Bacon-Wrapped Waffle Dog from Nordic Waffles

I was –> <– this close to awarding this Best New Entree, but I think it has slightly less repeatabilty factor than the Maui-Sota Sticky Ribs. Nevertheless, this was AMAZING! It all starts with that crazy good quality Kramarczuk’s hot dog. Then, a perfectly executed waffle with crisp edges and just the right amount of darkening. Bacon that somehow did not become an utter soggy mess. The genius of crispy onions! A sauce that complements but not overpowers. The only nitpick is that this should have been a shredded or liquid cheese instead of a slice of cheddar, but I’m giving them a pass because this was so delicious! I waited all these years to finally suffer through the Nordic Waffle line, and it was worth it! This is pretty close to a perfect Fair food for me - decadent, surprising, and you can’t eat it without a smile. Well done!

Most Controversial Item

The item that generated the most debate this year was:

Butter Ice Cream with Cinnamon Toast from the Blue Moon Drive-In Diner

I thought it was pretty decent. My two co-reviewers thought it was a huge miss. I didn’t think it was all that weird (Butter Pecan ice cream is a thing after all…) but it definitely was butter-forward. Given how dairy-centric the Fair is in general, I’m surprised we don’t have even more butter items, but alas, maybe not everyone is quite ready for all this buttery goodness. The jury is hung and there is no clean verdict. But good for Fair blogging to have controvery - that’s what keeps you all coming back for more, right?!

I also would be remiss if I didn’t mention the perennial controversy: Pronto Pup or Pancho Dog? True to form, we had a split decision in our group this year.

Non-Food Categories

Best Music

We attended the Duran Duran concert at the Grandstand this year s o you would think that’s a default winner, and it WAS a great show for any 80s fan, made even better by the perfect openers, Chic with Niles Rodgers (Bastille also opened but was outclassed by the other two bands). But we paid for that privilege, and I like to award this to one of the free acts when I can, and this year there’s an easy pick. The award goes to:

Jamecia Bennett

Bennett and her band brought her high-energy blues/jazz/pop/urban vibe to the International Bazaar Stage on the first night and it was the perfect start to a Fair full of concerts. She’s a three-time Grammy winner from Minneapolis that I’d never heard of before, which is exactly the sort of serendipitous Fair experience I love! Bonus points for her band made up of students she took in when McNally School of Music collapsed.

Best Non-Musical Entertainment

This is a two-horse race - sort of literally! We attended two animal competitions that were incredibly entertaining (perhaps unintentionally). First was the Llama Obstacle Course. Its sedate pace is clinically proven to be safe for those with heart conditions or fear of sudden movements. But oh, the earnestness of the competitors as they shepherded their unwilling beasts through the course!

Second was the Horse Show, which was featuring “Western Pleasure” events during our visit. The mini horses pulling the mini carts with very not-mini riders is always a good time, but this year the competitors played it straight, with no repeat of the infamous “#28” of 2018 that went rogue and VERY off course while its driver tried his hardest to remain stoic and regal while in his ridiculous outfit.

No, this year the winning event for this award is the:

Western Saddle Club Association Saddle Seat Pleasure Class Competition

In this event there were four horses and riders competing. And of those four, it was abundantly clear to Katie, Chris and myself that one was worlds ahead of the others in style, grace and execution. We confidently declared our winner… and promptly watched it come in absolute dead last.

Humbling, but highly entertaining! We have absolutely no idea how to tell a great Saddle Seat Pleasure performance from a dreadful one, but we had a good time!

Best Art or Craft

There was a lot of great art and crafts this year, but this piece in the Fine Arts Building jumped out at me both times I passed by.

It’s called Your Mind is a Magic Wand by Michael Sweere of Northfield. It’s made of ceramic tile, broken dinnerware, glass and stone, and it won two awards, the Minnesota Citizens for the Arts Great State of Minnesota Award and the Minnesota State Fair Foundation First Glance Award.

Best Educational Exhibit

I’m going to go liberal with our definition of “educational” and go with:

The Sweet and Selfie Experience

I learned that it can take several weeks to make a Jawbreaker, so see, it IS educational. Seriously, it’s nice that even in something called the “Selfie Experience” there were museum-quality exhibits to browse. I should have expected nothing less from the fine folks at the Fair, always mixing fun and learning!

Best Non-Food Value

I don’t really even know what this place was called, but something like:

VIP Sports

They had a tent just south of the Minnesota Wild area up in the northern part of the Fair. They were highlighting their sports memorabilia, but in the back they had a huge collection of ‘47 brand hats from teams all over the country. I picked up a Philadelphia Eagles trucker hat for $15 and a Minnesota Vikings tie dye tee shirt for Henry also for $15 which he loved so much he wore to the first day of school. Score!

Most Minnesotan Experience

I’m giving this to:

The Minnesota State Amateur Talent Contest

Somehow we’ve never attended this before. I really appreciated how the crowd packed a very large venue in the midst of all the Fair food, activities and entertainment to watch a bunch of acts that they have never heard of put themselves out there on stage for all to see, politely paying attention and applauding and cheering throughout no matter the level of talent. I also appreciated that we are a state full of talented people! We saw many good singers, dancers, dance troupes and others of all ages, following their passion and having a great time at the Fair.

Biggest Regret of Activity I Didn’t Get to Do

We had bad timing on the Horse Show this year and were not there for any of the:

Horse Show Speed Events

which are always a lot of fun, so that’s my biggest regret. Here are some others I was bummed to miss:

• 4-H musical
• The welding simulator
• Another year of not seeing the Llama-Alpaca Costume Contest
• No Space Tower or Skyride this year
• Not getting Henry on the Turbo Jump trampoline!

This is why I keep coming back year after year - you never can do it all!

Grand Champion Prize for Best of the Fair

Ok, so we have finally reached the moment that you all didn’t know you were waiting for… it’s time to award the Grand Champion Prize for the Best of the Fair!

The 2023 Fran’s Fair Awards Grand Champion Prize goes to….. drumroll …

CHRIS!

Chris flew in from Rhode Island and threw himself wholeheartedly into the State Fair experience, attending for 21 hours over two days, walking 48,000 steps, consuming countless foods and drinks, earnestly visiting and exploring everything from goats to gourds and beyond, rocking out with Duran Duran, climbing the DNR tower and floating through Ye Olde Mill, and just all around being open to trying everything the Fair has to offer. What more could you ask for? I think he truly grasped the spirit of the Fair (although he’s still warming up to Fairborne and Fairchild) and internalized the essence of an event that makes absolutely no sense but somehow ends up being more than the sum of its parts. Along the way he gave Katie and I the gift of experiencing the Fair as a first-timer all over again. He even created a Fair-inspired dinner when he got back home!

Clearly Chris just “gets it”, and for that he also gets the 2023 Grand Champion Prize! Congrats!

With that, our awards ceremony comes to an end. Did I miss your favorite thing? Would you have awarded these differently? Let me know in the comments below!

And that’s a wrap for 2023! Except not really, because I plan to add content to FAIRly Obsessed throughout the year. Of course the updates will slow down, but I have a couple more things I want to share while the Fair is still fresh, and then I’ll be popping back in to discuss Fair news all year long to help fill the void for the next 350 days until the 2024 Fair opens. Stay tuned!