it’s that time of year again.. state fair time!
So it had been 3 years since Chris and I had ventured to the Great Minnesota Get Together, better known as the Minnesota State Fair. Or more affectionately called the place where all you can eat is deep-fried and On-A-Stick!
We decided this year that instead of braving the throngs of people on a weekend we’d go on a Wednesday. Wednesday just happened to be “Read & Ride” day where you got a $2 discount on admission by showing your library card. Not wanting to miss a chance to save extra bucks to be spent on more fried crap later, we dutifully hopped down the block to our local library and met with the most devoid-of-emotion librarian I’ve ever met and walked out 10 minutes later with our shiny new library cards!
On top of that since Chris no longer worked just off Energy Park Drive, I volunteered the suggestion to drive over to GhettoTowner NorthTown Mall and take the Metro Bus shuttle that was leaving every 15 minutes and park for “free”. $5 bucks later each we were rumbling down the highway and driving the special bus-only highway headed for gate 20 at the fair.
We entered the fair and headed straight for the “Miracle of Life” barn that was just inside the gates to see what awesome baby animals had been born either in the past couple of days, or were being birthed RIGHT THEN! We got to see day old Calves, Lambs, Goats and piglets. On top of that there was a sow that was giving birth AS we stood around. Sadly the last piglet she gave birth to (the one we were RIGHT there for) was stillborn. She did however have 9 healthy, and VERY hungry piglets who were too busy trying to find a meal to be bothered by the throngs of people standing about staring at them. (I’m not posting the newborn piglets picture because there’s blood involved and it squicks me out even.)
After we hit the Miracle of Life barn we headed for our first deep-fried food item of the day, because nothing says “I’m Hungry!” like watching animals being born right? Needless to say we hit up the Blue Moon Diner for this year’s hit-or-miss treat; The Fry Dog. Basically this is a hotdog (on a stick of course) wrapped up in smashed waffle fries, deep-fried and the served with your choice of dipping sauces. While in theory it sounded good, in reality it tasted like crap. The hotdog was unremarkable, the fries had a weird plastic’y taste + texture to them and the cheese sauce I got was a grade below melted Velveeta. Our food quests were off to a not so good begining. Fry Dog grade: D-
Disappointed, we spotted the Famous Dave’s building and headed over for another “new” food to the Fair this year; Apricot-Glazed Pig Cheeks. Ok, it sounds gross but in truth they were DELICIOUS. It was fall-off-the-stick tender (think consistency of a REALLY good pot roast) with a slight hint of heat tucked in the Apricot sweetness. I was hooked. We also got a cone of “Pig Lickers” which is chocolate-covered bacon. This disappointed me compared to the Pig Cheeks because while it tasted kind of good, the bacon seemed like the pre-cooked microwave stuff from Oscar Meyer vs what I’d hope a BBQ joint would have/use. Pig Cheeks Grade: A, Pig Lickers Grade: C
Needing to walk around a bit, we wandered over towards the Grandstands and Carousel Park. This is where most of the major networks/radio stations have their booths so we made a bee-line over to the FOX9 booth to see who was around. Jeff Passolt and Ian Leonard were running a bit late, but Jeff finally made his appearance and started signing autographs. Ian was MIA and we didn’t get to see him till the 5 o’clock news, but that comes later. We wandered off in a random direction now unsure of what we wanted to do or eat next.
We ended up heading west towards the Midway, which is basically the amusement/rides area of the Fair. Neither of us was gung-ho to jump on any of the rides so we kinda doubled back on ourselves and tried to find a few other things on our “must eat at the Fair” list I had found on City Pages website the day before. Not on the City Pages list, but amusing to us none the less was visiting the Summit Brewing tent/building in the International Bazaar. Sadly they were out of the sticks within which were nestled 3, 7oz beers. Not really wanting any beer besides their Octoberfest we passed on the beers and continued walking. We walked past the Food Building (which housed a couple of things on the list; Lefse + Nitro Ice Cream) but didn’t go in for whatever reason. I think it was more that we wern’t that hungry and just needed to walk. Skipping the Food Building took us in the general direction of the Ag Building next door, so we popped in to see what was inside.
In the Agriculture Building we looked longingly at the Honey Sunflower Ice Cream (on the must eat list), but passed as we had JUST tasted about 10 different varieties of honey (Basswood, Brazilian, Whipped + Green Apple & Cherry Flavored to name a few) and were on sugar-overload. Down one of the “spoke” hallways of the building we found the first crops of MN apples and were we were told (yes, on the list) to get an Apple Cider Pop. It was just what it said, a plastic sleeve filled with frozen MN apple cider. For a $1, how could you go wrong? I was disappointed in the lack of apple flavor in the frozen pop itself, but the liquid was delicious once it melted. I would have been better off getting just a cup of Apple Cider for an extra $1. Apple Cider Pop Grade: B-
The next (and last thing on the list) place we hit up took us towards the Eco Experience building. It was a LOOOOOONG walk from the Ag Building (ok, only like 4 city blocks, but by that point I was getting tired of walking) up to the corner of Randall Ave. + Cosgrove St. There, outside the Eco building in a cute but unassuming little shack-like booth was from Renewing the Countryside. They were featuring Minnesota-grown foods which were undoubtedly a hit with the Localvores (along with their t-shirts) like caprese salad on-a-stick. We showed up however for the positively DELICIOUS Chokecherry Minne-soda made with Chokecherries picked by the Red Lake Nation tribe. My only complaint was that while eating (drinking?) local is pretty awesome, the high prices of their items turned me off of ordering a second soda though I was CRAVING it. Tart and sweet at the same time, it was a refreshing way to cut through the bevvy of fried goods. Chokecherry Minne-soda Grade: A++
After the soda we did a bit more walking about and we passed Bayou Bob’s and the signs amused us and drew us in futher for another “snack.” By far the most “adventurous” food item we ate while we were there, we noshed on some Deep-Fried Alligator and Hushpuppies. Alligator was interesting, the consistency was as if calimari and chicken had an illigitimate love-child and the spice of the batter made them worthy of eating more. The Hushpuppies were fabulous teardrop shaped fried balls of onion-laced cornbread. I was wowed more by the Hushpuppies than the Alligator itself, but I’d gladly revisit Bayou Bob’s on our next Fair visit. Alligator Grade: B, Hushpuppie Grade: A
At this time it was nearly 5pm so we wandered back towards the FOX9 booth to watch them broadcast live from the Fair. Ian (the weather guy) is hilarious and was having a blast with the crowds along with Passolt who was running around with a person-sized stuffed banana while on air. Afterwards we hung around and Chris got to talk to Ian a bit and I got a couple of pictures of the two of them together. It was cool because Ian seemed genuinely interested in the photos Chris had taken as well as in the GIANT camera Chris carries around with him ALL the time!
We did more walking after that and swung by the MN Republican Party site at the Fair and took a peek at who was running in the next election for Gov. We swung by the MN DNR building and peeked inside at all the kinds of fish in the lakes + rivers around MN, found out what watershed we live in and looked at animals that had been poached and read about the people the DNR prosecuted for doing so.
After that we grabbed a cup of hot french fries from the Fresh French Fries booth near the Ejector Seat ride. While they were piping hot and perfectly salted, my threshold for eating fried food had exceeded its maximum and I couldn’t enjoy them as much. Also my feet had done enough walking for the day and were screaming at me to call it quits. As we walked towards Gate 20 again to board our bus home, the signs for Elk and Buffalo outside Warner Colleseum caught our eyes so we stopped by and found a few places we might be able to get some Elk meat to cook with. YAY! Further down the row of booths there was an Alpaca farmer who had awesome craft things (teddy bears, hats, etc) made from the hair of the Alpaca. It was INSANELY soft and I almost broke down and got a teddy bear, but I resisted. We made our way back to the busses destined to bring us home and tried not to nod off on the drive back.
So went another year at the MN State Fair. Hopefully it won’t be another 3 years before we go back. I ALMOST want to go back on Monday just to have another Chokecherry Soda and some Hushpuppies.
