Month: September 2017

Look at this glorious Art Deco building!  The Walking Tour brochure says: “Concrete in the building’s horizontal base and central tower conveys a sense of strength meant to boost morale during [the Great Depression.]”

I am here to see the production of “More Than a Wish.”  The State Arts-In is something I’ve never heard of before, so I’m guessing this is a unique-to-Minnesota 4-H experience, or only happens in states where 4-H is a Very Big Deal.  From the brochure:

Minnesota 4-H State Arts-In is a life-changing experience for youth 15-19 years old from across the state. While at State Arts-In, participants develop lifelong skills, and have the opportunity to work closely with professionals who serve as mentors. Each year, 4-H State Arts-In youth perform at least 35 full shows to more than 12,000 audience members.

According to what I’ve pieced together from what the performers told me during the performance and the State Arts-In Facebook page, Prep Week begins on August 10.  At that point, 35 performers, 9 band members, 18 technical crew and 5 costumers from “across the state” (though 34 of 67 come from Anoka county) arrive and create a unique, 30-minute musical which is written, choreographed and staged by the teenagers themselves. Synopsis: Everyone arrives at this beautiful mansion for a fancy party they’ve been invited to.  No one knows why they have been invited. As the songs and exposition unfold it turns out that a brother and sister live at the mansion.  A few people remember helping them out, like when one paid for their gas when they didn’t have any money.  Eventually the brother/sister team reveals that had some hard times in the past, but everyone in the room had helped the brother/sister team at some time.  So that’s why you should always be good people. The End.

There was the guys showcase.

Early on, the girls all shed their long skirts for shorter party dresses, and the guys took off their tuxes.

The Girls had a showcase song/medly too.

Overall, this was a great bit of fun at the fair.  I could have watched it several times.

I had to hurry down Judson Ave to hit up a few more walking tour spots.  Then I had to hurry back to other way to get to the 4-H building.  Here’s what I saw along the way.

Judson Ave at this particular time had fewer people on it.  That made for some fast walking.  Here come some horses and riders. 

Local blue cheese?  Don’t mind if I do.  (At this point a pie chart of my fair food consumption will show that cheese was a major part of my fair sustenance.)

Outside of the swine barn I saw some cattle coming from the AgStar Arena and headed to the Cattle Barn.

Tag!  Swine barn hole punch.  Now it’s back toward the 4-H building.

On the way I followed this guy, who I assume worked in the Haunted House. (Yes! Your Haunted House needs can also be met at the Minnesota State Fair!) He had knife/finger things on his other hand and got a lot of looks.

I couldn’t figure out why I kept seeing so many of these cups.  It turned out these were the souvenir cups.  If you bought one, refills were cheaper. 

I opted for a plain old root beer in a normal cup.

What else can you get on a stick at the fair?  The Libertarians have Freedom available on a stick. 

Let’s look at the baby animals!  The informational sign says that they choose animals that are comfortable giving birth around humans.  Good thing, too, because there were a lot of humans in the Miracle of Birth Center.

Goats! Ducklings?  Goslings? Cygnets? I do not know.  I failed on the learning point, but aren’t they cute?

Sheep!

Piglets!  (There were a couple of ones on the end who weren’t very good at finding the right thing to suckle.)

Calf!  Born this very day at 8AM! Unlike the show barns where the animals are super shiny and clean, there was still afterbirth hanging from the mama cow.

More piglets!

Hens doing their egg thing.

The Miracle of Birth Center was fun!

I missed another butter princess being sculpted.  Today there seemed to be butter shavings left on the ground. I don’t remember those from yesterday.

This group held up boxes of Wild Rice and called out that they were one dollar.  I bought one.

Maybe you want to look at some sun porches or play houses?  This is your place.  The guy in this picture commented after I took it that he hadn’t seen a “real camera” in a very long time.  This kind of comment always annoys me because 1) It’s not like I just took a time machine from decades ago and used some item that no one has even seen for fifty years. It’s a friggin’ digital camera and takes better pictures (and faster) than the phone.  Also, 2) I saw multitudes of people with cameras after he said that.  Sheesh.

Do you have go-cart needs at the fair?  Those needs can be met.  Do  you need to float on a tube through a man-made water/river situation?  The Minnesota State Fair is your place.

Hey look! I found the history museum at the fair.  It was crammed full of pioneer stuff, and signs.

Like this sign that was made back before the computers would do the writing for you.

And what did I find at the museum?  A post office.  With super cool envelopes and a special fun stamp saying it was mailed from the Pioneer Log Cabin.  And what did I do?  I sat on a chair in the breezeway between the two cabins and wrote two letters, one to myself and one to Sara.  It was fun to sit for a while, though the dumpster was right behind the log cabin and the breeze wasn’t running in my favor.  But there was another plus…. (pause so you can take in all the colors of thread on display) And the tools, like that tatting shuttle.

And this crazy quilt.  When we looked at the quilts yesterday, there wasn’t a crazy quilt among them.  They are not in fashion right now.

Here’s the other thing that was fun.  This nice lady played the piano as I wrote. She played a lot of standards and Vaudville-era songs, plus some hymns.  She would pause briefly at the end of the song to turn the page, and when she did, the other man in the room, a gentleman with a straw boater, would clap for her.  It was a pleasant respite. And here’s the gentleman in the straw boater.  I didn’t realize as I was writing my letter that he was making cut-paper animals.  He gave them away to children when they passed by.

Outside the Ramberg Center, was this statue of a pioneer woman.

The Ramberg Center had rocking chairs, a four-piece a capella group singing songs from the 1950s and 60s and virtually no line for the bathroom.  Win!

Yesterday, I chickened out of the line for the Mouth Trap’s deep fried cheese curds.  Today I stood in the line and was rewarded with these stomach-sitting delights.

I sat to eat them and discovered that in 1995 a nice planting area was dedicated to Minnesota Veterans.  And then some time after that, a wall was built up around the area, presumably so people could sit.  

Next, I tried Key Lime Pie on a stick.  This was my only “on a stick” experience.  At the end of the night I attempted to partake of Olive on a Stick, but that place was closed.

Key Lime Pie on a stick was very good.  I liked that when I bit into it, it wasn’t freezing cold like ice cream.

Some fair volunteers, taking a rest, sitting very close to where I was sitting when I took the above picture of the plaque.

After the parade, I got in line for the Space Tower.  I’m a fan of seeing things from up high.  This was my first of three views today from contraptions that put me in the air.  This picture has information about the Space Tower.  (Sadly, I have no picture of the space tower itself.  Just the view from it.  You can see it in this YouTube Video.)

I got to hear the University Marching Band while I was waiting in line.  (The line for this was rather short, which was nice.)  They played Smashmouth.  I felt old.

I hadn’t noticed yesterday, that these benches, which are all over the fairgrounds, are personalized.  For joining the fair foundation at the Silver Level ($2,500) you get a bench, among other things.

Here’s a collage of my journey up the Space Tower.  On the way back down I took and posted an Instagram video.

I had several goals for my fair visit today:  Seeing the parade; seeing the 4-H Arts-In; seeing the Amateur Talent Contest; riding various things that would take me up in the air; and also doing the Walking Tour.

There are 12 stops on the walking tour.  If you visit 8 of 12, you get a prize.  “PLUS the added bonus of walking approximately 2 miles!” says the brochure.

The walking tour took me all day as I wandered hither and yon.  But here are all the walking tour pictures, in the order they were encountered, in one post.  I visited 11 of 12 sites, only missing reading the informative sign at the Grandstand, though I did visit the grandstand itself, the shops under it and the ramp with the Yarn Bombs.

Sites 1 and 2 are easy.  They are right inside the main gate.

Though it was fun to come on the bus, what if the streetcar brought you right into the fair?  It used to “…until the ’50s when its usage declined with a new mode of public transport: the bus”  (Also because the car companies paid for the destruction of streetcar tracks, but I digress.)  This arch was reinstalled in 2014. The Skyride was installed in 1964 when the fair theme was “Pageant of Midwest Progress.”  Apparently, many amusement parks have removed their gondola-across-the-park rides.  This is terrible news.  In other news, there will be a Skyride post forthcoming! Hey look!  I’ve made my way back to Fairchild, who was also in yesterday’s post.  He’s been the State Fair mascot since 1966.  He’s named after Henry S. Fairchild, the guy who, in 1885, solved the Twin Cities conundrum as to who would permanently host the fair by persuading both cities to agree to a spot between them.  Fairchild is part of the daily parade, with his sidekick and nephew Fairborne, who appeared in 1983.

Speaking of, this is my only picture of the parade, but there are some princesses, and Fairchild/borne.  Other cool things in the parade:  the University of Minnesota Marching Band, really big fiberglass farm animals, plus some other bands. Food! It used to be, way back in the beginning, people would bring their food to the fair.  But now, there’s no need.  There are so many food options. 

Deep fried apple pie, anyone?   Many people said yes.  There was a line.  There was a line for everything. Even the milk booth.

Here’s a fellow fair-goer memorialized forever on this blog.  Hi, buddy!  Apparently, he’s partaken of Mr. Pillow. He’s blocking the sign for the Dairy Building, which you will recall I visited yesterday to see the butter princesses.  The brochure tells me those blocks of butter weigh 90 pounds!  Also that this butter sculpture thing isn’t new. In 1910 there was a full-sized Teddy Roosevelt.

Here we are at the sign for the CHS Miracle of Birth Center.  Though the brochure talks about genesis of this attraction, it does not tell me what CHS stands for.  While I find the name to be awkward, who can resist baby animals?  There’s a full post about this place.

Here’s a part of Fair History I only have a picture of from the outside.  (There was just too much to do–I didn’t see everything.)  This is where people go to watch things like the Supreme Six-Horse Hitch class.  (I don’t know what that is.)  Apparently, this building also once had an ice rink, but it closed in 2014.

Swine Barn!  We went here yesterday, but I have no pictures, due to low light conditions. Completed in 1936 by the WPA!  In WWII, all animal barns became a military aircraft propeller plant.  This is also where you can get your pig ear headbands.  I saw a lot of people wearing them.

Machinery Hill. I skipped this too.  Farm Machinery?  Not really my thing.

Walking tour sites visited, but neglected to take a picture of:  J.V. Baley House.  I’m sad I don’t have a picture of this one.  The greenhouse superintendents used to live in this house, right on the state fair property.  That’s something that has disappeared in this modern world: free housing as part of your salary.  Now this house is the home of the Minnesota State Fair Foundation.

4-H building!  I went there yesterday.  I returned today.  I neglected to get a picture of the walking tour sign. It’s another WPA building.  Apparently there are dormitories upstairs?  What?  4-H participants stay in the 4-H building during the fair?  Oh my gosh!

Having punched all but one of my circles, I headed to the Heritage Center.

And here’s my prize! Postcards! (Big win for me.) A pennant, and a collapsible water bottle.  Very fun!

The Heritage Center has interesting exhibits that I would have loved to have taken more time with.

It’s Day Two of the Fair!  On this day, Shawn & Sara have church things to do, so I am returning for a day of fair on my own.

Here’s a great view of the RVs of the people who stay at the fair.  I’m curious what they pay, but the website right now is cleared of all information until the 2018 rates become available. 

I was also impressed at how closely these trucks were parked together.  I personally don’t have a good handle on where the edges of the car I’m driving are, so I can’t imagine pulling a semi so close to another semi.