Minnesota State Fair Fun

It's that time of year again! The Great Minnesota Get-Together started yesterday, and we decided to enjoy the first day of the Fair. It turned out to be perfect weather to take it all in.

We had purchased our Blue Ribbon coupon book last week and had been dog-ear-ing the deals we wanted to use. Saving a couple bucks on lemonade, root beer, and some great food items is a win-win for us. We love how the book is organized by zones, so we can enjoy the coupons in the area we're walking in.

We started the day off by seeing Happy Girl and the rest of the Little Mermaid cast from Stages' summer production sing a few songs at the West End Market.

It was fun exploring this newly renovated end of the Fairgrounds. The whole area has a Minnesota theme. The museum of the history of the fair was interesting, and it was fun to see some store friends and their booths also.

The awesome vintage awnings lured me to Piccadilly Prairie's booth. I had a feeling it was a fellow creative junker, and once I saw Lacey, the owner, it all fell into place. It's her first year at the fair. Definitely check out her adorable space.

The junk at Makeshift Accessories caught my eye. Don't know where these guys were from, but we have a lot in common in our tastes.

Rosebud Cottage's booth was an explosion of color and beautiful quilts. Makes me wish I could sit still longer and have the patience to quilt.

The boys enjoyed the dead animals on display. I was impressed with the creative merchandising. Raccoons had their hands in peanut butter jars, and other out-of-the-ordinary displays.

We then made our way to the northeast end of the fair. The boys enjoyed the tractors on machinery hill, and the girls headed to the more artistic buildings.

The Eco Experience building's plastic bag tornado was quite impressive, and we had fun going in the Tiny House.

We maybe did a little stop at the Karoke microphones and performed a little mother/daughter duet...but that video is not available to the public:)

We enjoyed the paintings, photography, and pencil drawings in the Fine Arts building, and then went to the Creative Arts building to take in the beautiful quilts, hand-made clothing, and other domestic arts. We voted these quilts as our favorites:

We made a stop at the Education building so she could talk to some college reps. I could hardly stand the thought, since we just moved Big Boy into Bemidji last Friday.

The boys called a meet up at the Food building for some cheese curds. We maybe ate part or all of the following: Corn dogs, foot long hot dogs, gyros, cheese curds, fried dill pickles, reuben bites, mini donuts, apple dumpling with ice cream, orange treat drink, root beer, fajitas, pizza, white and chocolate milk, strawberry shake, chocolate belgian waffle, chocolate chip cookes...and I can think of quite a few other things I would have liked to try, but the stomach is only so big, and the wallet only so small;(

We always enjoy the Horticultural building with it's display gardens, honeybees, and county displays. This year there was a spoke of the building dedicated to eating local. The wall of dishes had me at hello.

One of the buildings spokes had a whole display of Crop Art. Seeds meticulously adhered to create beautiful pictures. We were awestruck.

I was green with envy at the collection of Vintage Seed Sacks covering the wall. The graphics, the colors...love! The scarecrow display was quite entertaining also.

It had been years since we'd walked the kids through the International Bazaar area. Happy Girl loved the vibe there and bought a beautiful leather purse for back to school.

Mr. Freckles always loves the DNR building. Looking at the fish outside, and going inside to see the museum animals displayed in their habitats is a must see. We all love the Ecuadorian band that plays at their outside stage, and finally broke down this year and bought a CD to enjoy at home.

And of course there's the farm animals. There's just something about seeing piglets, just a couple hours old, all fighting for a teat that's downright entertaining. The Miracle of Birth Barn is a must. Lucky if you happen to be there when there's a live birth happening. You may not eat much after.

Going into the vintage, brick animal barns feels like a flashback in time. Getting up close and personal with the animals is not something our family is used to. A conversation ensued as to how different life would be if they had grown up on a farm. Ah...good family moments.

I hope you can fit in a visit to the fair. I've heard naysayers proclaim "it's the same every year", but honestly it's different every day of the two weeks. There's so much there to be enjoyed. There's so much that we didn't even see in the 10 hours we were there. Go on a weekday if you don't like crowds in your way and lines at each stand. I can't go on weekends...too frustrating. I wouldn't even mind going again this year to take more of it in, but it probably won't happen since it's Occasional next week!