The Minnesota State Fair

OK, so it's been almost two weeks (!) since our big day at the Minnesota State Fair. (We were there on Saturday, August 27th.) What can I say, we've been busy. And it took me a while to sort through all the pictures we took! Well, without further ado, here is our big Minnesota State Fair post.

As the TV commercials out here have taught us, the Minnesota State Fair -- aka "the great Minnesota get-together" -- is about two things: Food, and where it comes from.

For near-tourists like us, the fair is mostly about stuffing ourselves and maybe going on a few rides. But for many Minnesotans, the fair is the place to show off their crops and livestock. Upon entering the fair we first visited the main horticultural building, pictured below:



This is where all the prize-winning fruits and vegetables -- as opposed to the prize winning animals -- are displayed. For instance, there were giant pumpkins:



Prize-winning grapes:



and the biggest potato in Minnesota!



I took a *lot* more picture of big and pretty vegetables and fruits, but I think you get the idea.

Later in the day we got to the livestock area of the fair. There is a whole building for cows, and whole building for horses, a whole building for pigs, whole building for sheep, and so on.







I took pictures of every building, but again, you get the idea. (You can check out all my pictures on Shutterfly.)

Inside the swine barn we saw the state's largest boar. We had seen the state's largest sow when we were at the Minnesota State Fair for our buddy Kirk's wedding in 1999.





OK, I want to stop with where food comes from and get on to the food, but first this sign from the birthing center, where all day long livestock are being birthed.



I stayed outside. Boy am I a suburbanite.

OK. Drum roll please. What follows is my photo-documentary of the food-on-a-stick phenomenon. I went into the day with the motto "If it's not on a stick, I won't eat it." I had no problem living up to that motto.

First, that delicacy of delicacies, the pork chop on a stick. We had two varieties: A true pork grilled pork chop on a stick, and a slice of pork loin on a stick. Both were delicious.









Other delicious items included macaroni and cheese on a stick and bananas foster on a stick.Both were deep fried -- that's how you get stuff to stay on a stick! Both were surprisingly good.



And I must mention the pickle on a stick, which was (relatively) light and refreshing.





The much-anticipated spaghetti and meatballs on a stick was quite a disappointment.





Turns out they way they get that one to stay on a stick is by mashing the spaghetti into the meatballs to make sort of a loaf, which is then deep-fried. What a gimmick.

And here are shots of every other food on a stick ad I saw:



Low carb!





Reuben on a stick.











Deep-fried candy bars come on a stick, even though this sign doesn't say it. Talk about bad marketing!





This "pizza" on a stick is really a calzone on a stick.



And what is a scotch egg?







There were also a few other not-on-a-stick delicacies worth mentioning. First, the pickle dog (pastrami and cream cheese wrapped around a pickle):



And of course I must mention deep-fried turkey!



Finally here is a shot of the fair from the top of the ferris wheel:



OK, I think I better stop here. We caught a cool country band toward the end of the day but I didn't get a good shot of them. I hope this post doesn't take a day to load! (Again, you can check out all the pics at Shutterfly.)