I used to post this to the Canoe County Bulletin Board annually. But I gave up on that site years ago.

Every year I go to the Minnesota State Fair. I love it. One of the highlights of my year. When I was running marathons, I'd do a 20 mile training run, then go to the fair and pack away enough food for three people. Now that I'm older, and not running marathons, I still go to the fair, and I eat, and I thought I'd post what I ate. (A caveat: this post isn't for everybody. The fair isn't everyone's cup o'tea, and this post is quite off-topic. I only post to be light-hearted.)

Yesterday at the fair I ate:

1. blueberry-crepe waffle
2. BLT with corn purée (shared)
3. a cheddarwurst-sauerkraut pastry
4. rhubarb-blueberry cobbler (crap...a cookie in bad compote)
5. a vanilla malt
6. a slice of Big Fat Bacon (tm)
7. nitro-vanilla ice cream (the best, awesome! So creamy it was dense)
8. a Smithwicks ale (liked it better than I thought, but I dropped my phone battery backup into my beer while filming the Dairy Princesses and ruined the backup, but not the beer!)
9. a sample of cotton candy ice cream
10. beer flight of local brews, from the "malty and sweet" category (two of four were ok)
11. deep fried cheese curds (shared)
12. chocolate chip cookies (shared)
13. and a glass of milk to wash down the cookies

Overall, I was generally satisfied with the food this year. Sharing it with 200,000 other people? I dunno....

Mike

200,000 people? 200,000 calories, maybe. LOL

Glad you had a good time. I have yet to visit the Wisconsin State Fair. Supposed to be a pretty fun time, too. Maybe next year.

Ha! I swear at one point at the fair yesterday I told myself, that looks like Mike, it was definitely at a crowded, “don’t you dare stop walking” moment.

Perhaps it was you.

Glad to hear you had fun. We thought it was too many people yesterday for our liking so we missed a few things when the parade kept sidelining us.

Wow! They have different kinds of "fair food" in Minnesota than in Michigan! Of course we don't have a State Fair anymore, so the only thing I have to compare is county fairs. But I have always loved "fair food", and none of the things you mentioned would be on my list.

Haven't been to the fair in a few years. Seems like I am always in northern Minnesota with a husband and granddaughter. :-)

no garrison keillor references on this one!

I've a good mind to cut & paste to CCBB. BTW, the format there is updated, not bad.

HowardSprague: "no garrison keillor references on this one!


I've a good mind to cut & paste to CCBB. BTW, the format there is updated, not bad."

Are you still the only regular poster there? Is Chad still waaaaay off in the shadows? Do you still paddle that aluminum canoe?

a few old-timers popping up in the last couple months, which is nice. Chad in shadows, yeah - which imho is fine, because how many posts need intervention anyway, maybe 1 in 5,000?

I wouldn't mind having a Grumman or alumacraft for tandem paddling around home, actually... :) I just wouldn't overload it with loud, obnoxious people like we encountered that time, LOL.

But this is about eating all kinds of food. I think the aforementioned blueberry crepe waffle sounds fantastic. Sorry to hear about the rhubarb-blueberry cobbler - it sounds like it would be good and I'd have fallen for it as well.

Interesting list!

Here we have stuff with blueberries, apples, maple syrup and poutine.. The latter can be with lobster.

Sadly no good wurst.. though there is a store not too far..

We have cheese curds.. maybe there is hope to find fried cheese curds.

And whoopie pies though I don't like them.. and of course potatos in all forms
Deep fried Oreos. Deep Fried bologna burger.. Deep Fried Macaroni and cheese.

the last line I havent tried and don't intend to.

No Pronto pups or corn dogs? No salt water taffy? No mini donuts? No roasted corn on the cob? No Sweet Martha’s Chocolate Chip cookies? No Sno-cones? No pork chop on a stick? No chocolate malt from the dairy barn? No French fries in a cup?

You seriously need to look at your requirements of “The Minnesota State Fair” foods.
:)

I once ate camel on a stick as belly dancers shook their ample hips in my face...

Savage Voyageur: "No Pronto pups or corn dogs? No salt water taffy? No mini donuts? No roasted corn on the cob? No Sweet Martha’s Chocolate Chip cookies? No Sno-cones? No pork chop on a stick? No chocolate malt from the dairy barn? No French fries in a cup?


You seriously need to look at your requirements of “The Minnesota State Fair” foods.
:)"

I eat corn dogs at home. I don't like taffy. I should have had mini donuts over that crappy waffle thing that I waited WAY too long for. Corn on the cob is too messy (the way I eat it anyway). The cookies mentioned WERE Sweet Martha's, and they were nummy. I had a vanilla malt, but not from the dairy area. I don't like their malts as much. French fries in a cup were next on the list, but my wife wanted cheese curds. By that time, one artery was totally clogged and another was getting there!

Mike

MN_Lindsey: "Ha! I swear at one point at the fair yesterday I told myself, that looks like Mike, it was definitely at a crowded, “don’t you dare stop walking” moment.

Perhaps it was you.

Glad to hear you had fun. We thought it was too many people yesterday for our liking so we missed a few things when the parade kept sidelining us. "

Stopping would have been a bad idea! We got rock star seats for the parade, with cold beer, though my phone battery fell into my Smithwicks Ale, and is now in the garbage.

Mike

HowardSprague: "no garrison keillor references on this one!


I've a good mind to cut & paste to CCBB. BTW, the format there is updated, not bad."

Nope! I even forgot about that. I think I'll continue to try to forget about it. He's irrelevant now anyway.

Nice to hear from you. I can handle only one BWCA bulletin board at a time.

Mike

I look forward to french fries from a particular trailer and goat's milk maple fudge (Only a buck!). I also look forward to the border collies herding sheep and seeing Zuckermans' pig, as the Zuckermans still bring a pig to the fair each year and it's always named Wilbur.

Mike, when I was a kid, adults called yours a hearty appetite, but I don't blame you. Minnesota State Fair food is the best I've ever eaten.

I guess I come from a different era, or a different area. ;-) To me "fair food" is elephant ears, funnel cakes, deep-fried mixed veggies, big sausage sandwiches with multicolored peppers and grilled onions, foot-long hot dogs, and those Fiske French Fries (are those a Michigan thing?) And of course caramel apples and cotton candy, and caramel corn. Spartan2 would probably say popcorn, but for me it would be the caramel corn for sure. And taffy, in the long, flat strips, although that wasn't my personal favorite.

I don't remember ever eating fudge at the fair. That is a Mackinac Island thing here in Michigan. An absolutely necessity if you go to the Island. We always try to go there once every summer. :-)

At our annual county fair there has always been a sausage 'trailer' with slightly carmelized onions/peppers pushed against the glass at the late tractor pulls. Metts or bratts and sauerkraut. We can't pass it up.
French fries with vinegar, local beef and pork are popular. Plus gobs of other foods.

Yeah, our state fair food in Texas is way different. Pretty much everything is fried... but there are some really tasty and creative fried wads of stuff.

Some of my favorite fried things over the last few years: Jambalaya balls, Thanksgiving Dinner (mostly mashed potatoes and stuffing with bits-o-turkey with gravy and cranberry dipping sauces,) pumpkin pie, cheescake (wrapped in a tortilla then fried, kind of like a dessert chimichanga) ....

Smithwicke's is one of my favorite beers.

The folks who make the corn dogs at the Texas State fair claim to have invented the corn dog (I think they just added the stick, but I could be wrong.) I eat corn dogs at home too, but a Fletcher's corn dog at the TX State Fair is something special. Must get one every time. At least. Sometimes I get one or two as we're leaving to eat later. They reheat in the oven nicely.

Here is a list of the contest entries for the new fried foods this year... too long to copy and paste. If you're interested, take a gander at the link. Couple in there I'm interested in, but for the most part... meh.

State Fair of Texas Fried Foods 2018

missmolly: "I look forward to french fries from a particular trailer and goat's milk maple fudge (Only a buck!). I also look forward to the border collies herding sheep and seeing Zuckermans' pig, as the Zuckermans still bring a pig to the fair each year and it's always named Wilbur.


Mike, when I was a kid, adults called yours a hearty appetite, but I don't blame you. Minnesota State Fair food is the best I've ever eaten. "

Goat's milk maple fudge? Have mercy!

Oh my! That is a list! I went yesterday with my three sisters. Sister #1 got the jalapenos stuffed with a tiny, tiny piece of sausage and cheese wrapped in a 1/2 piece of bacon. Too hot for her. I ate 1-1/2 and the 3rd one went to guy that was waiting in line for his wife to get her order. Made me smile to share with a stranger.

Sister #2 got cheese curds. I ate two but they are not my favorite thing. She also got the MN wild rice burger and I had a bite but that was enough for me.

Sister #3 got Mini donuts. I do not like donuts but being the youngest sister, I was food bullied/pestered until I had two... ick. I have to do my part and share with the group. :-)

FINALLY... my favorite thing... I got the fries. Sadly, I got the smallest one. What was I thinking?? I only got a few after splitting them four ways. I did eat three Sweet Martha's Cookies that were falling off the top of the huge pile. :-)

Record breaking attendance Saturday... I could tell.

BuckFlicks: "
Some of my favorite fried things over the last few years: ...Thanksgiving Dinner (mostly mashed potatoes and stuffing with bits-o-turkey with gravy and cranberry dipping sauces,)....
"

That’s actually one of our staple BWCA dinners: instant potatoes, foil packet chicken/turkey, instant gravy mix/ and instant stuffing. Dehydrated cranberry sauce if we remember. It’s a Hearty meal for sure.

We have a local fair that is small enough to run into lots of people you know but big enough to be fun for the kids. Anyway, several local private schools use it for a fund raiser in a food pavilion where school moms bring home made pies to sell by the slice. I could spend all day in there with a fork. Peach, blueberry, Apple, you name it. It's all good.

fadersup: "

missmolly: "I look forward to french fries from a particular trailer and goat's milk maple fudge (Only a buck!). I also look forward to the border collies herding sheep and seeing Zuckermans' pig, as the Zuckermans still bring a pig to the fair each year and it's always named Wilbur.

Mike, when I was a kid, adults called yours a hearty appetite, but I don't blame you. Minnesota State Fair food is the best I've ever eaten. "

Goat's milk maple fudge? Have mercy! "

My part of Maine has a lot of hippies, young and old (Peace Geezers). If you don't have chickens and goats, you might get a visit from the authorities for being a suspicious person.

Reading what you ate reminded of the advice my Dad gave me the first time I was old enough to be turned loose on my own at our county fair. As he handed me a $10 bill he said, "I know you're going to blow this money. Do yourself a favor and blow it on food, not the gip joint games".

I've followed that advice to the letter over the last 40+ years. :)

muddyfeet:

That’s actually one of our staple BWCA dinners: instant potatoes, foil packet chicken/turkey, instant gravy mix/ and instant stuffing. Dehydrated cranberry sauce if we remember. It’s a Hearty meal for sure. "

Ok. I'm doing this next time. That sounds fantastic. Do you dehydrate the cranberry sauce yourself?

hooky: "Reading what you ate reminded of the advice my Dad gave me the first time I was old enough to be turned loose on my own at our county fair. As he handed me a $10 bill he said, "I know you're going to blow this money. Do yourself a favor and blow it on food, not the gip joint games".

I've followed that advice to the letter over the last 40+ years. :)"

Excellent advice I learned from years of working at Six Flags. The games are a rip off. The food might be overpriced, but at least you will have eaten after spending your money.

Even skipping the meat items because of being a vegetarian, that would still leave me rolling about on the floor unable to move. Can’t even remember what we had at our fair this year but it was a much shorter list. I just know that it ended with cake at the 4h food booth.

yellowcanoe: "Interesting list!


Here we have stuff with blueberries, apples, maple syrup and poutine.. The latter can be with lobster.
"

There is a poutine booth at the MN star fair now! But no lobster. Dang!
something new this year is the Norwegian waffles! I still like my corn dogs and the fresh sweet corn!

I love the MN State Fair too, Mike. I tend to go for the classics at the fair when it comes to food. Last night I ate:

- French fries (they are the best!)
- Corn dog
- Cheese curds
- Tiny Tim donuts

The wife and I had an unexpected gift of a kid free night so we hit up the fair by ourselves last night. So much easier to go at night without kids in tow.

Here's the list of food:

Bacon stuffed tater tots - very good
Turducken Sausage - good not great
Meat pie - Beef was better than the chicken
Funnel Cake - I need to get one every 2-3 years and this was the year
Fried Pickles - good not great but the wife really enjoyed them.
Some frozen strawberry alcoholic drink my wife found - good if you're man enough to sip on a fruit pink drink.
Candy Apple hard cider - drinkable but wouldn't get it again

We were there from 7-10pm so the list would have been longer if we had more time. We also took a ride on the huge ferris wheel on the north end and took a loop on the Ye Old Mill. Had never done either before so figured we'd do something new while we could.

Heading back tomorrow with the kids for the day. I'll be hitting up some more food and doing more kid centric stuff on that trip.

MikeinMpls: "
4. rhubarb-blueberry cobbler (crap...a cookie in bad compote)
"

Hey Mike.....I had to laugh at your #4. I too was completely disappointed in that Rhubarb-Blueberry Cobbler from the Farmers Union. I think calling that cornmeal blob a "cookie" is being generous. The advertising photo showed chunks of rhubarb and whole blueberries. As you know, that compote was an unsweetened slurry with absolutely no visible blueberries or chunks of rhubarb. My wife and I both agreed that is was so tart that it was almost inedible. I felt so bamboozled that I actually complained to the manager of the Farmer's Union Cafe. They offered to give me my money back which helped, but I have to wonder how many others got flim-flammed.

I would highly recommend the Nordic Waffles at the West End Market though. The cinnamon sugar waffle was delicious!

We hit the MN fair yesterday and having grown up in Canada, I appreciate that they have a food truck devoted to our beloved Poutine. Delish! Haven't had a good serving of it in quite a while.

inspector13: "
I once ate camel on a stick as belly dancers shook their ample hips in my face...


"

Nice visual :)

mooseplums: "

inspector13: "
I once ate camel on a stick as belly dancers shook their ample hips in my face...

"

Nice visual :)"

Heheheh, I was thinking the same (LOL)!

At our local "District Fair" I always get several of the "Home-made" lemonade, the BBQ stand, and a funnel cake. As for the funnel cake, no funky flavors or extra toppings, just a funnel cake with powdered sugar the way it oughtta be! Every year there is a new "Fried on a stick" candy bar, Twinkie, etc, but not a fan. Sounds like MN has a lot of different "Tastes" than we do?

And, if there was a "Strawberry rhubarb" combination of ANYTHING, I'd go for it! Which gives me the opportunity to "Plug" Trail Center's Strawberry-Rhubarb malts if you ever get the chance!