Minnesota State Fair 2026

Because school has already begun for Veronica, we braved the fair on a Saturday for the first time in a while. We got there early to beat the rush, but not too early to have cookies for breakfast!

 

Proud to be Minnesotan:

There was a 2.5 hour wait to see the crop art, so we walked through the scarecrow exhibit instead, which was close enough to spot the Laura Palmer crop art portrait:

Veronica with her friend Sydney. The two of them met up with Dottie and wandered around together.

Omri stuck with us. We found a car from the Fast & Furious movies:

My aunt Gloria won third place for her amazing potica bread!

Omri tried a waffle on a stick and a bunch of other new-to-him foods.

Gotta see the fish:

And this moose?

It was fun hanging with our little buddy.

Photo evidence of my presence (taken by R):

There are always a good number of marching bands in the parades at the fair:

Okay, here's one of the four of us too, although this was taken on the walk back to the car :-)

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State Fair rejection 2026

I'm starting a new tradition of sharing the photo I submitted to the Minnesota State Fair fine arts competition... since it will not be displayed at the State Fair :-(. This year I decided to highlight my concert photography by picking one of hundreds of photos I have taken of the Minnesota Saints Chorale & Orchestra during their Lamb of God concerts over the years. I called it "Witnesses."

We'll try again next year!

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Proof I was at the state fair too

Thank you, R, for providing the photos!

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Minnesota State Fair 2025

We took last Friday off for our annual visit to the Minnesota State Fair. First stop, as usual, was for cookies!

Breakfast:

I take a similar shot to this most years:

His last year at Little Farm Hands (he is officially aging out):

Spotted among the flowers:

Mother and daughter in front of the giant slide:

Omri looks pretty thrilled to be beating momma down the slide!

Fun house:

Fine arts exhibit:

Cooling off:

Chasing the cheese curds:

Exploring some campers (no, we're not in the market for one):

Getting a glimpse of the butter heads:

Cooling off on what felt like the last hot day of summer:

Our friend Holly's award-winning pickled beans:

Had to stop to see Jill, one of our favorite Twin Peaks actors:

It was kind of a gray day weather-wise, so this looked better in black-and-white to me:

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Minnesota State Fair 2024

The fair opened an hour or two late on Tuesday morning because of storm damage from the night before, so we had a false start out the door. We went back home, waited a bit, and then ended up driving the whole way in on account of the park-and-rides still being closed, which ended up working out fine (the traffic up Snelling was not horrible).

As usual, cookies were still the first stop:

Sweet Martha's mother:

 

Pumpkins in front of pumpkins:

 

I chased down this photo opportunity:

Morning scene:

Butter head:

 

Corn face:

 

Sky Gliders:

 

Goldy on the Glider:

 

Annual photo on the Little Farm Hands tractor:

 

You have piqued Bread Man's interest:

Looking for lunch:

 

V brought her new bag, handmade in Guatemala (received as a gift from Ezra who traveled there in August):

 

Veronica drinks an iced latte while Omri has a root beer float:

 

We have a new appreciation for SpongeBob in this family.

These were the best cheese curds!

 

On the left: Omri, his momma, and some chicken tenders. On the right: the much-discussed deep fried ranch.

The kids decided they were too old for the kidway and too young for the midway, so we didn't go on many rides. All in all, it was a good year at the fair.

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