Prize winning corn

Minnesota State Fair

Pretty much every Minnesotan I’ve met for the past two years has urged me to go to the Minnesota State Fair, and this Labour Day weekend I finally experienced it for myself with Randi, Simon and Steve. And it was amazing!

Minnesota (keep reading and we'll get there)

Minnesota (keep reading and we’ll get there)

But first: Simon and Steve arrived in Chicago after some extensive road/plane/train-tripping across the United States already, so we had a couple of days to relax and introduce them to important Chicago institutions such as Kuma’s Corner and the Cubs. (In their game against the Pirates, which we saw with Todd and Carolyn, the Cubs were thoughtful enough to throw in some unnecessary drama at the end where it looked like they might squander the whole game’s lead, but they ultimately triumphed in order that Simon and Steve could hear the victory song.)

For the first time in too long we also saw Improv Shakespeare, who rejected our suggestion of ‘President Trump’ (wise) and performed The Coughing Lumberjack instead: a worthy saga combining the industrious Don Lumberjack and a dastardly French invasion of England.

And then it was roadtrip time! Highlights of our journey included a ferociously weird Spotify playlist (I Feel Like Jeremy Corbyn became the trip’s anthem, which you can Google if you must) and multiple stops at Culver’s. By Friday night we reached our hotel in Madison – a popular town if my friends are anything to go by – and spent Saturday morning exploring the farmers’ market and/or arguing with creationists (Simon and Steve took one for the team here) before moving on.

If you weren't there, you won't understand how funny Simon's slow and laboured air mattress inflation was

If you weren’t there, you won’t understand how funny Simon’s slow and laboured air mattress inflation was

The state capitol

The state capitol

One of Todd's favourite shops provided colouring-in

One of Todd’s favourite shops provided colouring-in

On Saturday evening we arrived into Minneapolis, ate some non-fried non-American food and shared some beers with Catherine while we prepared ourselves for Sunday. Fair Day. There’s so much I could write about the fair itself because it’s so vast: we arrived at 9.30am and left eleven hours later, and not once did we get bored or run out of things to do. To start with, there is so much food: most notable (for us) were the incredible cheese curds, the famous cookies from Sweet Martha’s Cookies Jar and some delicious corn on the cob. There are fairground rides, political stalls, a host of farm animals (some within the ‘Miracle of Birth’ tent) and an art gallery. We saw the finalists of the Princess Kay of the Milky Way contest carved out of butter, rode the cable car over the fair and and the Ye Old Mill canal boat through pitch black tunnels underneath, cheered on a lumberjack competition and admired many, many tractors.

In short, it was wonderful. Apart from the GOP’s Trump tent. Which was less wonderful.

State Fair!

State Fair!

On the incredibly fun (and incredibly wet) River Raft Ride

On the incredibly fun (and incredibly wet) River Raft Ride

On the tractor

On the tractor

Princess Kay butter sculptures

Princess Kay butter sculptures

Turns out 'all you can drink' milk is a mixed blessing

Turns out ‘all you can drink’ milk is a mixed blessing

Prize winning corn

Prize winning corn

In the Democratic booth

In the Democratic booth

My Hillary badge became a talisman

My Hillary badge became a talisman

Almost dropping the cookies

Almost dropping the cookies

We weren't the only ones going for the cookies

We weren’t the only ones going for the cookies

The Crazy Mouse ride: our final attraction

The Crazy Mouse ride: our final attraction

There were a couple of other pre-fair events back in Chicago which I should mention. I went to a very compelling one-day course from Edward Tufte: nominally on data presentation, but he has the moral authority and professorial gravitas to talk about whatever he wants and make it compelling (plus he’s friends with Randall Munroe from xkcd). I made use of both Jason’s pool and the wonderful, free public pool in Pulaski Park before the summer ends. And we had a three-way dinner date with Robert, Grace, Luis and Marti before seeing The 7th Annual Living Newspaper Festival: a collection of topical short plays inspired by newspaper stories. (The most enjoyable was set in a robotised future classroom in a Trumpian dystopia. Election day draws ever nearer.)

Abigail Osbiston, Katie Sharing, Ellen Wohlberg, Randi Lawrence, Amanda Schalk, Gillian Self, Katie Self, Catherine Tarsney, Kristina Francisco, Sue Buxton, Sharon Dinkin, Beth Dubowe-Lawrence liked this post.

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10 Comments on :
Minnesota State Fair

  1. Your American adventures have taken you to so many of my favorite places (Willow Creek, Madison, MN State Fair!) I am glad you had fun and even gladder you indulged in all-you-can-drink milk. Next stop: My parent’s house, where you can eat cookies AND argue with creationists!

  2. I’m curious – are there any other state fairs on your to-see list?

    1. No other state fairs have ever really come up in conversation – Minnesotans are clearly the most passionate about it. But now you’ve made me curious so I’ll look into it…

    2. Dominic St Louis with Judy G!

    3. Natasha Self That was a World’s Fair! Even more exciting.

    4. Dominic Ooh. Was this a world that extended beyond 50 states?

    5. Natasha Self Well at the Chicago’s World Fair they certainly had exhibits from all over the world. (Including ‘exotic’ people who were shipped in and put on display… this part I don’t support.)

  3. Randi on a tractor is one of the best things I’ve ever seen.

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