–Minnesota State Fair Button 2007, quick snapshot after breakfast (notice the little piece of dirt on the middle right edge!), Minneapolis, Minnesota, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
It’s Minnesota State Fair time! And after over 150 years, it’s a Minnesota tradition. The Minnesota State Fair is the 2nd largest State Fair in the U.S., second only to Texas. However, while the Texas State Fair runs for 24 days and has a larger annual attendance, the Minnesota State Fair is only 12 days with a greater number of people attending each day.
One of the most significant dates in the Fair’s history was September 2nd, 1901 when then-vice president Teddy Roosevelt was visiting and first uttered the famous phrase, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.”
Liz and I are heading to the Fair tomorrow afternoon. If it’s not raining, we’ll take the motorcycle and park in the lot set aside especially for us. Sweet! I don’t like crowds (attendance at the MN State Fair in 2006 was 1,689,579), so the highlight of the Fair for me is the food (what else?).
We are famous for our Fair food on-a-stick. Below is a complete list (from the Minnesota State Fair Press Kit, a great resource for everything Fair). Liz and I wrote down a few we want to try: espresso on-a-stick, hotdish on-a-stick, chocolate-covered nutroll on-a-stick, wild rice corndog on-a-stick, deep-fried fruit on-a-stick, and, let’s not forget, SPAM curds!
We’ve also got a friend working at the Fair this year (thanks for the buttons!). So we’ll be sure to stop by and visit her. And the Minnesota State Fair is a photographer’s paradise. There’s the fantastic people watching, the amazing art in the Fine Arts Building, the Milk Run, and the Princess Kay of the Milky Way Coronation organized by the Midwest Dairy Association.
Since 1953, the Princess Kay competition has recognized young women whose families are involved in Minnesota’s dairy industry (have I ever mentioned that Liz comes from a North Dakota dairy family?). Regional dairy princesses compete for the yearly title and the entire court have their likenesses carved out of butter during the Fair.
If you’ve never seen a butter sculpture, you are in for a treat! Hope to see you at the The Great Minnesota Get-Together. Or if you can’t attend, tell us about the Fairs in your part of the world!
MN STATE FAIR – FOODS ON-A-STICK
- Alligator Sausage on-a-stick
- Bacon Wrapped Turkey Tenderloin on-a-stick
- Beef Kabobs on-a-stick
- Beer Battered Brats on-a-stick
- Bomb Pops on-a-stick
- Butterscotch Cake on-a-stick
- Candy Apples on-a-stick
- Candy Bars (deep fried) on-a-stick
- Caramel Apples on-a-stick
- Cheese on-a-stick
- Chicken on-a-stick
- Chocolate Chip Cookies on-a-stick
- Chocolate Covered Bananas on-a-stick
- Chocolate Covered Cheese Cake on-a-stick
- Chocolate Dipped Nut Roll on-a-stick
- Coffee (frozen) on-a-stick
- Corndogs on-a-stick
- Corned Beef and Cabbage on-a-stick
- Cotton Candy on-a-stick
- Dessert Dumplings on-a-stick
- Espresso (frozen) on-a-stick
- Fried Fruit on-a-stick
- Fried Jalapeño Pepper Cheese on-a-stick
- Fried Swiss Cheese on-a-stick
- Fudge puppies on-a-stick
- Hot Dish on-a-stick
- Hot Dogs on-a-stick
- Key Lime Pie Dipped in Chocolate (frozen) on-a-stick
- Kiddi Kabobs on-a-stick
- Macaroni & Cheese on-a-stick
- Marshmallows (Chocolate-dipped) on-a-stick
- Meatballs on-a-stick
- MinneKabobs on-a-stick
- Pickles on-a-stick
- Pickles (deep fried) on-a-stick
- Pickles (Kool-Aid) on-a-stick
- Pizza on-a-stick
- Poncho Dogs on-a-stick
- Pork Chops on-a-stick
- Pronto Pups on-a-stick
- Rueben Dog on-a-stick
- Salmon on-a-stick
- Sausage on-a-stick
- Scallops on-a-stick
- Scones on-a-stick
- Scotch Eggs on-a-stick
- Shrimp on-a-stick
- Sloppy Joes on-a-stick
- S’mores on-a-stick
- Spaghetti & Meatballs on-a-stick
- Spudsters on-a-stick
- Super Dog on-a-stick
- Taffy Pops on-a-stick
- Vegetable Kabobs on-a-stick
- Wild Rice Corndog on-a-stick
- Walleye on-a-stick
Total number of foods on-a-stick: 56
NEW MN STATE FAIR FOODS IN 2007
• Apple fries (julienne apples crumb-coated and deep-fried)
@Coaster’s, located on the corner of Liggett Street and Carnes Avenue
• Blackened steak wrap with steak, eggs, potatoes and cheese
@Ragin Cajun, located on the west wall in The Garden
• BLP (bacon, lettuce, pico de gallo) quesadilla
@Tejas, located on the north wall in The Garden
• Buffalo chips and cheese
@Delicious Potato Skins, located inside the south door of the Food Building
• Butterscotch cake on-a-stick (a cream-filled cake dipped in butterscotch)
@Scotch Eggs, located east of the Horse Barn on Liggett Street
• Cajun shrimp wrap with shrimp, eggs, potatoes and cheese
@Ragin Cajun, located on the west wall in The Garden
• Calamari Fish and Chips
@two locations: inside the Food Building on the west side; west of Liggett Street on the northeast corner of the Horse Barn
• Coca-Cola cheesecake dipped in chocolate on-a-stick
@Apple Lil’s, located in Heritage Square
• Corned beef and cabbage on-a-stick
@O’Gara’s, located inside the east door of the Food Building
• Fried fruit on-a-stick (pineapple, grapes, bananas, strawberries, apples, cherries, kiwi, honeydew and cantaloupe skewered, dipped in a sweet batter and deep fried)
@Fried Fruit, located in Carousel Park near the Grandstand Ramp
• Jambalaya with eggs, potatoes and cheese
@Ragin Cajun, located on the west wall in The Garden
• Knuckle sandwich (brined pork with sweet & zesty sauce and caramelized onions on a hoagie bun)
@Famous Dave’s, located north of Adventure Park on West Dan Patch Avenue
• Kool-Aid pickles
@Famous Dave’s, located north of Adventure Park on West Dan Patch Avenue
• Lingonberry turnovers
@Rainbow Ice Cream, three locations: east of Underwood Street and just south of Carnes Avenue under the Skyride; southwest corner of Dan Patch Avenue and Underwood Street; west of Underwood Street, between Wright Avenue and Dan Patch Avenue
• Old fashioned ice cream sodas
@Bridgeman’s, located on the northwest corner of Judson Avenue and Liggett Street
• Peanut butter hot dog
@Blue Moon Dine-In Theater, located on the corner of Carnes Avenue and Chambers Street
• Rocky road scones on-a-stick (scones with chocolate chips, caramel and marshmallow, rolled and baked)
@French Meadow, located inside the southeast door of the Food Building
• S’mores on-a-stick
@Ultimate Confections, located inside the east door on the lower level of Grandstand
• Soda fountain funnel cakes (topped with Coca-Cola, Cherry Coke, Sasparilla, whipped cream or custard)
@Apple Lil’s, located in Heritage Square
• Sloppy joes on-a-stick
@Axel’s, located on the southeast corner outside the Food Building
• SPAM burger, Hawaiian SPAM burger, SPAM curds
@SPAM Burgers located in Carousel Park under the Grandstand Ramp
• Uffda brat (Norwegian brat wrapped in potato lefse)
@Sausage Sisters, located inside the east door of the Food Building
-posted on red Ravine, Sunday, August 26, 2007
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