My 275,000 Person Party at the Minnesota State Fair

Last weekend, on September 1, 2018, I went to the Minnesota State Fair for the first time in my life. In fact, it was my first state fair ever which is very surprising considering my love for (1) American regionalism and (2) food on a stick. I got to see my college bffs and roommates Courtney and Danny because they just bought a house right by the fair! On the way back from the fair, after spending approximately 12 hours there, Cate, Lacie (Cate's sister), Parker (Cate's brother), Madeleine (Cate's brother's girlfriend), and myself (Cate's brother's girlfriend's friend) all came up with one question to recap the fair and I'm going to use those questions here to better explain my experience.

"What was the most interesting thing you experienced?"

The most interesting thing I experienced was the travelling reptile house. Parker, Madeleine, and I went to check out some reptiles while Cate and Lacie went to see a skateboarding show. For the low low price of $3 we saw an anaconda, several pythons, a water monitor lizard, and an alligator snapping turtle as well as many other reptiles. One of the amazing things about the place was that several of the animals were actually moving. We're talking about animals that hardly ever move when you see them at a zoo! The water monitor was taking a bath. The alligator snapping turtle was moving his 100 year old body left and right. The skink did a wink! The best part was the regular monitor lizard scratching his face on the glass for about 5 minutes. All in all, super interesting.

"What made you laugh the most?"

Hands down, the most I laughed was when we all went down this giant slide on big pieces of burlap. We rode it twice because it was just so fun but so simple. Really, that could be a description of the fair in general. There might not seem like something inherently interesting about a state fair, but everything they did they did it un-apologetically and with their whole spirit. The food, the shows, the animals, and the exhibits were all straight forward and wonderful.The slide was a perfect example of how much the place made me smile and laugh.

"What was the best thing you ate?"

Cheese curds. Hands down. Cheese curds from a place called "The Mouth Trap." It was a surreal experience because I put the cheese curd in my mouth and instantly said "This is the best cheese curd I have ever had in my life." No internal debate. No shenanigans. Just simple. The best cheese curd I ever had in my life. I'm from the upper Midwest so you know I've had my fair share of curds. The Nitro Ice Cream was great, as was the bucket of chocolate chip cookies, but nothing came close to the cheese curds.

"What was the grossest thing you experienced?"

After much of the foregoing food (but before more food) I spent about 15 minutes in a bathroom stall and missed the start of the lumberjack show...It was the grosses thing I experienced AND it meant I missed the ax throwing portion.

"What impressed you the most?"

Look, the entire fair was impressive. The day we were there broke the previous attendance record with 275 THOUSAND people. It was bumper to bumper but the bumpers were butts. There were so many shows and rides we didn't get to see. If I had to choose the most impressive thing I would say it was a tie between the lumberjack show and the vegetable contest. The lumberjack show had legit lumberjacks and lumberjanes from Hayward, WI where my family used to watch lumberjack shows when I was younger. Scaling the 60 foot logs was crazy and the lumberjanes fighting on the log roll was insane.

The vegetable contest was equally as impressive, although much calmer. The biggest pumpkin was over 1,100 pounds. The colors of all the vegetables were so sharp. The reddest red peppers. The greenest cucumbers. The tiniest (not a color but still great) banana peppers. It was truly a feat of agricultural strength. Incredibly impressive.

All in all, I would recommend the Minnesota State Fair to anyone who enjoys having fun in the sun while possibly eating a bun.