The Great Minnesota Get-Together

I spent all day yesterday at the Minnesota State Fair, the Great Minnesota Get Together. It was a gorgeous picture-perfect day with the sun shining brightly, pleasantly warm, and not too humid. I’ve attended the Fair almost every year for the past forty-some years. It has become my favorite summer-end ritual. As I’ve often experienced in the past, there were wall-to-wall people. But I don’t mind big crowds. They just come with the territory.

There are some things I always do at the Fair. The first place I head to is an information booth to get a map and a daily schedule. The day I attended was Senior’s Day. They also had booths near the Grandstand which featured many kinds of mental health organizations, including Vail Place.

My favorite thing at the Fair is to head to the Dairy Building to buy one of their fantastic milk shakes and malts which come in every kind of flavor: strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, pineapple, chocolate, and many more. There I also saw a sculptor carving one of the butterheads of Princess Kay of the Milky Way. Another place I always visit is the huge Agriculture-Horticulture Building with its many displays of various Minnesota agricultural products. There I bought myself several jars of honey. In past years, I’ve also sampled their great apple juice which usually draws big crowds. This year was no exception. Of course, you can’t go to the Fair without sampling the many kinds of food – pronto pups and corn dogs, cheese curds and Martha’s cookies, sweet corn on the cob, and deep-fried almost everything. My friend and I bought ourselves some crab cakes which we washed down with coke and root beer. We were very fortunate to get a seat at a table. From there, I headed to the MPR (Minnesota Public Radio) booth to renew my annual membership. I also got myself a free daily paper and tote bag at the Star Tribune Building.

Another favorite place I stopped at was the butterfly house. You must go through a series of hanging, flexible plastic partitions to get in and to exit, as well as turn yourself around several times so you won’t end up with butterflies attached to you. Once inside, you are given a Q-tip with a tasty treat to attract butterflies. There I saw hundreds of them flying about and landing on people’s heads, bodies, caps, and clothing. I took as many pictures as I could.

From the Butterfly House, I headed to the Coliseum which was packed so full of people, I had to find a seat way in the back. There I saw one of their horse shows. They were featuring various breeds of huge draught horses including Belgians, Percherons, and Clydesdales. There were fifteen teams of six horses, each hitched to a wagon. They came from all parts of the U.S. and Canada, and paraded around the stadium in a national competition. The first-place winner was a team of six black Percherons from Jordan, Minnesota.

I spent most of my day walking around the huge Fairgrounds, getting turned around, and having to retrace my steps. I took pictures with my new cell phone everywhere I could. By the time I’d been there for six hours, I was exhausted. But it was well worth it. There were so many things I didn’t get a chance to see this year like the Education Building with its many prize-winning crafts and foods, the Creative Arts Building with its art exhibit, the Miracle of Birth Building with its new-born lambs, pigs, and calves, and the various music stages. However, I did manage to find a seat at the International Bazaar where I enjoyed my strawberry malt while listening to a lively Middle-eastern band. They featured a bazooka, a bass flute, and all kinds of percussion instruments.

All in all, I had a wonderful time visiting my favorite haunts as well as experiencing some new adventures. In fact, I enjoyed myself much, I plan to go again next Sunday to see the finals of the annual amateur talent contest.