The Minnesota State Fair is a state fair held annually in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Also known by its slogan "The Great Minnesota Get-Together", it is the largest state fair in the United States by average daily attendance and the second-largest by total attendance, trailing only the State Fair of Texas, which generally runs twice as long as the Minnesota State Fair. The state fairgrounds are in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, midway between the state capital of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, and adjacent to the Saint Paul campus of the University of Minnesota. The fair runs for twelve days from late August into early September, ending on Labor Day.
Residents of the state and region come to the fair to be entertained, exhibit their best livestock, show off their abilities in a variety of activities including art and cooking, learn about new products and services, and eat many different types of food. Around two million people attend the fair annually. The highest annual attendance record is 2,126,551 people in 2019, with the highest daily attendance being 270,426 visitors on the second Saturday of the 2018 fair. The Minnesota State Fair was named the best state fair in the United States in 2015, 2025 and 2026 by readers of USA Today.
History
The Minnesota Territory first held a Territorial Fair in 1854, although the first Minnesota State Fair did not occur until 1859, the year after Minnesota gained statehood. In its early years during the 19th century, the fair was held in many different locations. Some were not far from the current site, but others were held in more distant parts of Minnesota, including Rochester, Owatonna, and Winona. For a time in the 1870s, the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul held competing fairs. Minneapolis, the younger city of the pair, eventually outdid its neighbor by staging the larger fair with the help of businessman William S. King.
In 1884, a committee was put together by the Minnesota State Agricultural Society to select a permanent site. One site that was considered was an area around Minnehaha Falls, but the final site chosen was the Ramsey County Poor Farm, which remains the fair's current site. It was a politically neutral site, being about halfway between Minneapolis and St. Paul. The fair first opened its doors there on September 7, 1885. The fairgrounds were at the time, but now cover . The fair ran six days from 1885 to 1918, eight days from 1919 to 1938, ten days from 1939 to 1971, and 11 days from 1972 to 1974. It has been 12 days long since 1975.
One of the first annual events to occur is the creation of a butter sculpture. Each year, a new Princess Kay of the Milky Way is selected to promote Minnesota's dairy industry. Part of the job involves posing for several hours in a walk-in, glass-walled refrigerator as a block of butter is carved into a head with her likeness. Butter makers started sculpting their products at the fair as far back as 1898, although the head-sculpting tradition did not begin until 1964.
The main entrance to the fair from Snelling Avenue heads onto a road named Dan Patch Avenue for a pacer horse who won every race he ran in from 1900 until his retirement in 1909.
In 1898 the Spanish–American War broke out. The states were requested to provide volunteers and Minnesota quickly had enough to form four Regiments. They were initially numbered 1–4, but GAR veterans felt that they should continue the numbering used during the Civil War, so they became the 12th–15th Minnesota Infantry Regiments. All four were mustered and organized on the State Fair Grounds.The Minnesota Volunteers, Minnesota in the Spanish-American war and the Philippine insurrection, Franklin F. Holbrook, M. A., Published by the Minnesota War Records Commission, Saint Paul, 1923, The Riverside Press, Saint Paul, p. 18 Camp Ramsey on Machinery Hill was the encampment site.
One of the most significant dates in the fair's history was September 2, 1901, when then–Vice President Theodore Roosevelt visited and famously quipped, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." Roosevelt became president 12 days later, after William McKinley was assassinated.
By 1967, annual attendance figures had reached well over a million people and the record day that year was about 197,000 visitors. By 2016, attendance neared two million and the record day was about a quarter-million people. The all-time attendance record of 2,126,551 was set in 2019, along with the all-time single-day attendance record of 270,426 in 2018 on the second Saturday.
Cancellations Since 1859, the fair has been held annually except for six different years. In 1861 and 1862, the fair was not held due to the ongoing American Civil War and the Dakota War of 1862. Scheduling issues between the fair and the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois, caused the 1893 fair to be cancelled. The fair was also not held in 1945, as fuel was in short supply as a result of World War II, and it was cancelled again in 1946 because of an outbreak of polio.
The fair was most recently cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the decision announced on May 22, 2020. Fair manager Jerry Hammer had previously stated that the 2020 fair would not be a postponed or scaled-back event; it would either run unchanged or be cancelled entirely. Of the decision to cancel, Hammer stated "this is the time of year when things really need to take off, and we can't do it. There's not time." Instead, a food parade featuring several well-known State Fair vendors was held on several dates in October.
To make up for 2020's cancellation, the fair management hosted its first-ever spring event, entitled "Kickoff To Summer", the following year, featuring scaled-back concessions and attractions. It also served as a test to the fair's eventual return in 2021. The "Kickoff to Summer" event returned in 2022 after positive reception in 2021.
Attractions Livestock A large portion of the Fairgrounds are occupied by livestock barns where various farm animals are displayed. The animals and their owners take part in livestock shows to compete for awards. Most of the shows take place in the Lee & Rose Warner Coliseum, a large indoor arena on the fairgrounds. The Coliseum was completed for use in the 1951 fair, replacing the Hippodrome, which had been rendered structurally unsound by its use as a Propeller Plant by the A. O. Smith Corporation during World War II and razed in 1946. Open-class livestock competitions are held in horses, beef cattle, dairy cattle, swine, sheep, dairy goats, llamas, poultry (chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, pigeons), rabbits, and stock dogs. On August 31, 2007, a bull escaped from its handler and charged several fairgoers before fatally injuring itself by charging a fire hydrant. No people were seriously injured in the mishap.
Food
Foods served at the annual Minnesota State Fair have traditionally included watermelon, pickles, baked beans, buffalo burgers, deep-fried cheese curds, cotton candy, glazed ham, Australian battered potatoes, chimichangas, and homemade apple pie.Blue Ribbon: A Social and Pictorial History of the Minnesota State Fair, p. 5 Some foods reflect Minnesota's agriculture, including cheese curds, milkshakes, and corn dogs.
Many foods at the fair are deep-fried or come on a stick, from the classic corn dog to alligator-on-a-stick, lobster-on-a-stick, and deep-fried candy bar on a stick. New to the fair in 2006 was hotdish on a stick, a variant of a classic staple of Minnesotan cuisine. In 2007, one new food was spaghetti on a stick. 2008's new foods included two types of bacon, one called "Pig Lickers", which is chocolate-covered, and the other, called the "Big Fat Bacon", which is of maple-glazed bacon. Another staple of the state fair is "Sweet Martha's Cookies", a stand that serves fresh and warm chocolate chip cookies in large buckets.
In 2018, 27 new foods were introduced to the Minnesota State Fair, including Firecracker Shrimp Stuffed Avocado, Honey Cream Soda Float, Mangonada Shaved Ice, Messy Giuseppe, Nordic Waffles, Smoked Soft Serve Ice Cream, and the UpNorth Puff Pastry.https://assets.mnstatefair.org/pdf/18-new-food.pdf New foods for 2019 included fried tacos on a stick, stuffed cabbage rolls, feta bites, shrimp and grits fritters, blueberry key lime pie, Buffalo chicken chimichanga and assorted other dessert selections.
Machinery Hill/The North End Machinery Hill is a large area of the fairgrounds. For several decades, it held the largest annual display of farm equipment in the world, with many companies showing off tractors, combines, and various attachments. However, modern displays generally focus on cars, trucks, lawn mowers, hot tubs and recreational machines like motorbikes. Farm implement dealers tend to direct their efforts to more targeted "farm shows", abandoning the State Fair to more urban or suburban types of exhibitors. Machinery Hill also contains an interactive exhibit for kids called Little Farm Hands. In this exhibit, children get to experience life on the farm from planting seeds to selling goods at the farmers market.
Machinery Hill is gradually being rebranded as "The North End". In 2019, a new main entrance gate was created in addition to the new North End Event Center, which hosts traveling events and expositions. Its 2019 inaugural event was Angry Birds Universe: The Exhibition.
Shows
The State Fair hosts concerts, comedy shows, product demonstrations, the State Fair Talent Contest and other shows. WCCO radio host Al Sheehan was the fair's superintendent of attractions in the 1930s and 1940s, and was a liaison between the performers and the fair's board of governors.;
The Grandstand is a large outdoor concert venue that also features three floors of interior exhibition space. It hosts the largest of the fair's concerts and until 2002 was also the site of stock car races run on a small oval track. In 2003 the facility completed the first phase of a $35 million remodeling project that removed large sections of bleachers and increased seating capacity to 17,000. Most local television and radio stations set up temporary studios at the State Fair in permanent buildings or booths.
In 2012 the fair began holding the Walker Art Center's Internet Cat Video Festival at the grandstand. Fairgoers view the year's most popular cat videos and memes and award the best videos with cat trophies, the most prized being the Golden Kitty. Guest appearances have included the Internet stars Grumpy Cat and Lil Bub, as well as the creator of Nyan Cat, Christopher Torres.
Art The fair displays an annual art exhibition that is the result of a juried competition of works of fine art. Media include watercolor, oil, and acrylic paintings, photographs, sculptures, pastels, ceramics, glass, and textiles. Entrants must be living residents of the state. In 2010, a total of 2,330 pieces were submitted, and 413 works were accepted.
One unusual display at the fair consists of the entrants in the crop art competition. The artwork must be made of plant matter (seeds, stems, flowers, fruit, etc.) suitable for growing in Minnesota. For decades the display was dominated by Owatonna native Lillian Colton (1912–2007), who created seed portraits professionally, having effectively captured scores of celebrities such as Ernest Hemingway, Barbra Streisand, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prince, Princess Diana, and Willie Nelson in her crop art. After winning nine purple ribbons, she stopped competing, but continued displaying her work at the fair.
There are competitions in dozens of categories in needlecraft, garment-making, woodworking, models, painting, doll-making, taxidermy, stamp-collecting, scrapbooking, baking, canning, and others.
Milk run The annual 5K run begins on the fairgrounds, winds its way through the Saint Paul campus of the University of Minnesota and the Saint Anthony Park neighborhood, and ends back at the fairgrounds.
4-H