Fair!

After a pretty dramatic start to the weekend during which Paul fell down the stairs and ended up in urgent care getting his foot stitched up, I had to change my plans. Neither Paul nor I had been to the Minnesota State Fair since high school. Around here the state fair is a BIG DEAL. This year over 1.7 million people attended the fair during the fair's 12 day run. We had planned to go together this weekend to see if the fair lives up to its hype. After Paul got 5 stitches on the ball of his foot, he wasn't feeling up to walking around for hours. So, while he spent the weekend with his foot elevated with a bottle of ibuprofen by his side, I found a fair-loving friend to go to the fair with me.

Despite having already gone to the fair twice this year, Jill changed her plans and accompanied me to the fair on Sunday. It was great having a knowledgeable fair-goer to help me navigate the crowded fairgrounds.

We saw the animals. We were in the Miracle of Birth barn when a little piglet was born. The little wrinkly-faced piglet was drawing quite a crowd, so we focused on the other little ones in the building, like these lambs and their mamas.

We saw the seed art. Jill is a ribbon winner seed artist, so I got some insider info from her. (Note she is not the Jill whose work is in the photo - this one was just my favorite seed art that was being shown this year. Jill won a ribbon when she entered a few years ago. She will be making a comeback soon, right Jill?)

We saw the knitting. I am sad to say that the state fair does a poor job of exhibiting the knitted goods. It was sort of torturous to have it all smashed together behind glass. There were no labels identifying who the knitters were and a bunch of the items were folded up and slung over drying racks! Boo! I know that some of my fellow knitters from Borealis were ribbon winners so I was hoping to see their stuff on display.

I very much enjoyed our quick walk through the midway. I love the aesthetic of the rides but you couldn't pay me to go on them. Some of the rides made me nauseous just looking at them.

We did go on two rides, although neither of them were in the Midway. Our rides were sans carnies and techno music. We rode on the giant slide. Note Jill's hands in the air! We also rode Ye Old Mill, which is the oldest ride at the fairgrounds.

The thing that most people love about the fair is the food, most of which is served on a stick. I knew about the reputation of state fair food in advance, but I was still shocked at how greasy, salty and fatty almost all of it was. I managed to eat a few tasty things without giving myself a tummy-ache.

All in all, I enjoyed myself enough that I am willing to go back with Paul next year.

P.S. Perhaps you will be happy to know that I spared you from having to see the photo of Paul's stitched up foot. If you feel cheated, let me know and I will share it with you ;)