MN State Fair 2018 - Visit #5

At last, we’ve reached journey’s end. Our last visit to the 2018 Minnesota State Fair, always bittersweet.

We made our annual Labor Day last day family visit to the State Fair this morning with grandma @[100003102454896:2048:Sally Richards]. Up bright and early, we were at the Fairgrounds by 8:30am. Our first stop was to see the goats. Katie particularly enjoyed this goat looking blissful.

The dairy goats are much calmer than meat goats. They are very sweet, and Henry loved petting them.

Next up was the horse show in the coliseum. Here they are setting up for an event we’d never seen before. The cowboys and cowgirls had to race to get their horses saddled up and raced around the track.

Meanwhile, I was off on a breakfast run. (Does not photo well, especially when we are well into eating it before I remember to take the picture!) Despite the “10:45am is the new 11:00am” incident, I decided to give the Blue Moon a second try for breakfast. Glad I did, this Breakfast Combo was all yummy! Included their sausage and egg bake (surprisingly spicy sausage, good!), cheesy hash, and monkey bread. The monkey bread was a touch too done but overall, really good and would do it again.

While at the Coliseum we met up with our neighbors the (partial) Lovaas family. Hi @[1062290882:2048:Matt Lovaas]!

Horse drill team - impressive coordination of 21 horses!

Others were ready to hit more of the Fair while Henry was still enthralled by the horse show, so I stayed back with him while the ladies went shopping at the Grandstand. Racing through the poles… this was really fun, kids as young as six riding really fast, big horses against the adults. The winner was about a 9 year old girl!

Katie and Sally returned with fries after shopping. Not just any fries, a bucket o’ Fresh French Fries! These are just really good straightforward french fries. I don’t always want fries at the Fair, but when I do these always hit the spot, and the booth smells amazing when I walk by.

After the horse show, we split off to check out some different things. I wanted to see the Dept. of Natural Resources Building since we hadn’t been there all year. They had a raptor show going when I got there.

Right behind the DNR building is the Dole Whip stand. I’ve always been intrigued by this non-dairy dessert (which a co-worker raves about every year), and this is the year I finally tried it. So good!! Tried the pineapple flavor. This may become an annual tradition. Loved it.

Back in the DNR building looking at the fish tanks. Hello, Mr. Trout!

…and back out front of the DNR building, checking out the fish pond full of MN fish.

On the way back to meet up with the family, I tried another new beer - Funnel Cake Beer from Coasters, complete with powdered sugar. It’s a close cousin to mini donut beer - sweet and malty. Not quite as amazing as the mini donut beer, but it’s close to the animal barn area, whereas mini donut beer is not. Good to have options in all Fair quadrants!

Back with the family, Henry started in on his corn dog while watching tractors and trucks prep for the afternoon rodeo.

We then headed towards the Kidway for rides, but Sally detoured for a Peterson’s pork chop!

We didn’t get a picture together but we also met up with Henry’s cousin Ada and uncle Ben today. Ada and Henry rode the puppy coaster on the Kidway.

While the kids worked through Kidway tickets at an alarming rate, I got a chance to sneak away to a nearby place I’d been wanting to check out, the Midway Men’s Club. The rumor is that this is one of the Fair’s best-kept cheap food secrets. They weren’t kidding, check out these prices! The kitchen was buzzing with food prep and the place was crowded, but is the food any good?

I ordered some of the $2.75 cheeseburgers and kept my expectations low, but was delightfully surprised when they asked if I wanted grilled onions and pickles at no extra charge. Why yes, yes I do! After a long wait as they worked through the lunch rush, my burgers were ready. Ok, so for $2.75, this is certainly not gourmet but it is a really decent burger. It tastes a little like a White Castle burger with the onions. And it’s actually kinda nice that it’s not huge - you never want to commit too much to one item at the Fair after all. Plus, they put the money to good use in the community. So this is a win all around. Everyone enjoyed their burgers!

Moving on from the Kidway, Henry took over the Cosgrove Stage and delivered a very long show for us and everyone else passing by.

I grabbed a mini donut beer (my last one of the year!) and settled in.

It turns out that Henry’s show stage was the perfect place to be at 2pm when the parade rolled by. Giant steer, of course.

We also sampled the chocolate soft serve from the stand right next to the Cosgrove Stage. Wasn’t expecting much, but this was surprisingly good! Very malty. First person to catch the cameo appearance in the comments wins one of these ice creams at next year’s Fair. :-)

After the parade, we snuck inside the Creative Activities Building. Henry went right for these award-winning hand-crafted wooden toys.

I take a photo of the jam wall every year I just love all the colors.

The visit was coming to an end, but we first had to trek across the Fairgrounds because Katie had one last new food item to cross off her list. The mangonada shave ice from Minnesnowii Shave Ice in the West End. Mango-flavored shave ice with Mexican chamoy sauce (?), tajin chili powder and topped with mango boba pearls. Served with a tamarind candy straw. This was delicious! The pearls were especially fun. Katie reported that the straw was a little too intense for eating, but apparently you can!

Speaking of Katie, her last custom Fair shirt of the year!

To wrap up the day we treated Henry to one more round of trampoline bungee!

And Sally got one last bag of mini donuts as we made our way to the exit.

Group photo at the end of a long but very fun day. Three generations of family fun today!

And with that, I reluctantly trudged across the pedestrian bridge over Como Ave. and out the exit gate for the last time this year. Stay tuned for my annual Fair round-up post, coming soon!