Foods On A Stick At The Minnesota State Fair 2006, YouTube Video by TKordonowy.
Whoa! After 8 hours at the Minnesota State Fair, Liz and I made it home at 10:30p.m. last night, not much worse for wear. Unless you count the fact that we could hardly walk and had giant food hangovers!
Here are our MN State Fair Stats for August 2007:
- Money Spent: $102 (not counting the $41 we saved with Cub coupon book & ticket discount) [See WCCO Good Question with Ben Tracy: How Much Does The State Fair Make?]
- Time Spent: 8 hours (just at the Fair, not including travel & walking time)
- Photos Taken: 642 digital day & night shots (by the two of us)
- Events Covered with $$$: admission tickets, Butterfly House, walking, walking, walking, digesting, all food & drink, people watching, shiny blue 100% cotton State Fair hoodie
- Fair Booty: autographs from Don Shelby, Amelia Santaniello, and Frank Vascellaro from WCCO, 11 kinds of food (5 on-a-stick, favorite was Fried Fruit On-A-Stick), 7 kinds of drinks, Swine, Sheep, Cattle, Goat, Poultry Barns, J.V. Bailey House, Fine Arts Building, polka band and coffee cup hat at Farmers Union Coffee Shop, opera, Air America Talk Radio 950am, Al Franken for Senate booth, wonder and awe in the Butterfly House, joy and laughter all around
We ran out of time for the full tour of the J.V. Bailey House or our annual viewing of the Dairy Princesses carved from butter. And we missed A Prairie Home Companion at the Grand Stand and the escaped bull that ran amuck through the crowd. For more insight into our food hangovers, check out the YouTube video by TKordonowy, Foods On A Stick At The Minnesota State Fair 2006.
I know Minnesotans that go to the Fair at least 4 or 5 times in one week. Ralph Cornelius has attended the Minnesota State Fair for 80 years without missing one year. Ralph was even there as an infant in 1928. But I’ve got to say, for me, once every one or two years is enough. We had a great time this year. More photos to come. Enjoy the video!
-posted on red Ravine, Saturday, September 1st, 2007
-related to post, MN State Fair On-A-Stick
–another video link you might enjoy that includes video in its infancy, 80’s hair, and brief footage of the butter sculptures: Minnesota Stories, Just Plain Big: MN State Fair 1988
I loved hearing all about what you guys did. And wow, a $41 savings coupon. Right on!
Can’t wait to see some of those 600+ photos. You guys were prolific!
I’ll be back to watch the video and read about the Pamplona bullrun.
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I worked a late-night shift at the Fair tonight. The escaped bull who met his demise when his forehead hit the red fire hydrant was certainly the big news. The screaming volume of the witnessing crowd was apparently legendary.
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How sad that the bull was killed. That would have been traumatic to witness.
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The video was hilarious, QM! I loved the guy at the meat booth. Oh, and the macaroni-and-cheese on-a-stick and the spagetti-and-meatballs on-a-stick looked like they were somehow all glommed together, perhaps dipped in batter and fried?
Besides your favorite fried fruit, what were the other on-a-stick foods that you ate?
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Stick food… so many sticks, so little stomach space. Queasy Quoinmonkey wasn’t up for several of the selections, so no sloppyjoe-on-a-stick, or key-lime-pie-dipped-in-chocolate-on-a-stick. But I started with grilled-shrimp-on-a-stick; very delicious but a little strange when they asked if I wanted butter, and it came squirting out of an old yellow mustard squeeze bottle. Then there was the ‘big dog corn dog’, 12 inches or so of deep-fried batter surrounding an all-beef hot dog. My hands-down favorite, the fried-fruit-on-a-stick came next, with the option to sprinkle on cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar (I chose both). Not only do they use ‘non-trans oil’ but it counts as 2 servings of fruit, an amazing accomplishment for fair food. We picked up a salted-pecan-roll-dipped-in-chocolate-on-a-stick to go. It starts with divinity wrapped around a stick, then dipped in caramel, then rolled in the nut of your choice (peanut, pecan, or cashew), and if you choose for a dollar extra, dunked in chocolate. Even after a day of recovery from the fair, we could only handle a few bites of this sweet treat before wrapping it up for later. The final stick food was the most disappointing. The Falafel King was a royal let-down. The falafel-balls-on-a-stick were displayed appropriately in the display case. The unconcerned counter guy threw three old balls that were warming under a light for who knows how long onto a plate, squirted some tahini sauce on, again from an old mustard bottle, and yelled, ‘Who’s next?’. The balls of falafel were fried way too long in oil that tasted as if it hadn’t been changed since the beginning of the fair nine days ago. And most importantly where was the stick? For display purposes only? I wanted my stick! The bad taste left in our mouths from this poor experience was washed away with a vanilla milkshake (also not on a stick). Really, truly, so many choices and so little time. I found myself finding 8 hours just a small sampling of what the fair had to offer. So plan’s for next year’s fair are in the works, where I will have a map of the fair with all the most wanted foods highlighted so backtracking is unnecessary.
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Teri, you were back at the Fair last night? I guess it happened in the early morning hours of Friday. It’s a miracle no one was hurt. And so odd that the bull decided to charge the one thing that would take him out. I saw several interviews by the owner and even though the bull was worth around $6000, he seemed happy that events went the way they did.
How was the Fair on Saturday night? I saw that attendance is down this year but I bet it was still packed!
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skywire, a perfect rendering of the evening! And most importantly, at the Falafel King, WHERE WAS THE STICK?
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ybonesy, glad you liked the video. I LOVED it. It really captures the essence of all the wild eateries that happen at the Fair. I can’t wait to post some of my photos. There is so much color and light. And so, so many people all there to eat and have fun.
The Butterfly House was a joy because of the wonder and awe of a tent with all these butterfiles flitting around and lighting on mostly the kids who just loved them. We sat there quite a while and rested, just watching the people.
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Here in Chicago, we like everything fried and covered with molten cheese—but the stick ideas seems better. You can carry your food to the next opportunity to eat. Great video!
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joefelso,
Everything covered in molten cheese sounds wonderful…I’m getting a little dizzy thinking about how much I would like that.
QM,
Yes, after the bull threatened the baby stroller and elderly couple, everyone was glad to see it charge the fire hydrant. Having had a number of bull scares myself (growing up on a farm), I’ll have to admit I didn’t shed any tears. I know they can’t help it, but they are too aggressive to like. We used to keep our bull or bulls in a separate pasture, and my parents forbid us to go anywhere near them. This wasn’t a rule we always remembered to follow, thus, the bull scares.
I’m with ybonesy, looking forward to your pictures.
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skywire–I can tell I would have a fun time with you at the fair. I mean, you must have the same kind of iron stomach that I have. And, a healthy side, too, seeking out that no-trans-fat items. I might have skipped the big dog corn dog, as I’ve never especially liked hot dogs ever since I learned all the yucky pig and cow parts (cheeks, brains, you name it) went into their making. (That and Matthew Martinez throwing up his weiner in fourth grade and it coming out in completely recognizable form.) But the divinity peanut-cashew-dipped-in-chocolate sounded divine. Oh, and Falfalfel King sound fal-awful ; – ).
I can see why next year’s visit must be planned out carefully to maximize your time there. So many sticks, so little time for poor picks.
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My guess is the bull is now on-a-stick.
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LOL. And given it was worth $6K, maybe the owner is making up some of that value…
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[…] -related to posts: MN State Fair On-A-Stick and MN State Fair On-A-Stick II – Video & Stats […]
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Oh my goodness, an escaped bull?
You guys really know how to party.
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The variety of food that can be served on a stick boggles my mind.
Based on this report, it appears that the MN State Fair outperforms the Gilroy Garlic Festival, our closest religious equivalent here in Northern California. Garlic fries, garlic buttered corn on the cob (on a stick), garlic wine (in a glass), garlic ice cream (cup or cone).
These accounts are totally hilarious to read and watch!
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Garlic ice cream…have you had that one? I can not imagine that combination. The wine does not sound appealing either. However, the corn and fries would be worth a try. Maybe I’ll make it to the Garlic Festival one day!
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Great Video!
I have been laughing for two days over that “Jurassic Dog”
😉
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[…] onions debuted 15 years ago (1993); nearly 500,000 corndogs are consumed at the Fair each year. This video of Minnesota State Fair food lovers snarfing Fair food on-a-stick is a must see. And there’s a break down below of all of this year’s foods on-a-stick, as well as […]
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Hello, very good job! thank you very much! just a little heads up, the falafel on a stick part: i had it at “the falafel king” and it was delicious. it came with two falafels and tahini on a stick. my friend on the other hand also had a falafel on a stick three balls and no sauce but it was from the holy land NOT falafel king. I was fairly confused to know there was another place selling falafel but the falafel i had was wonderful.
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Jake, thanks for the update on the Falafel King. I assume you are talking about the end of skywire’s comment (#5) where she talks about the 3 falafel balls she tried last year that were not on a stick and had been fried too long leaving a bad taste in her mouth.
It sounds like you had them this year from Falafel King and they were better and also on-a-stick. And your friend had the 3 balls minus the stick at Holy Land Deli. I didn’t even know they had a booth at the Fair. This year, I steered clear of the falafel so have nothing to compare it to. Thanks for the update! I’ll have to try it again next year.
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[…] MN State Fair On-A-Stick II – Video & Stats […]
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[…] (Happy B’Day MN!), On-The-Go List Of Must-Haves (MN State Fair), Nightshot – Carousel, MN State Fair On-A-Stick II – Video & Stats, food on-a-stick haiku Rate this: Share this:TwitterFacebookStumbleUponDiggRedditLike this:LikeBe […]
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