A Fair to Remember

Photo by John Haynes

The Minnesota State Fair doesn’t just happen. It’s built—stick by stick, booth by booth, cheese curd by cheese curd—by the people who show up every August to turn 322 acres in Falcon Heights into the most democratic gathering in the state. Presidents have spoken here. Celebrities have wandered incognito through the crowds. And for 12 days every summer, nearly 2 million people come together to eat, compete, learn, and remind themselves what it means to be Minnesotan.

“I think it’s about traditions that are formed over generations,” says Renee Alexander, CEO of the Minnesota State Fair. “In some ways, we’re like a holiday people look forward to and celebrate every year.”

Alexander would know. She has spent more than three decades at the Fair—starting as an intern in 1989, later overseeing entertainment, and now leading one of the largest state fairs in the country. She has watched attendance continue to grow, the Grandstand evolve into a major concert venue, and entirely new food cultures reshape the midway.

But she has also watched what hasn’t changed. “The Fair can be whatever you want it to be,” she says. “Whatever is important to you, you can find things that become part of your tradition.”

And those traditions are what continue pulling Minnesotans back year after year.

Minnesota State Fair Archives

Rooted in Agriculture

The governing body of the Minnesota State Fair is actually older than the state itself. Founded in 1854 as the Minnesota Agricultural Society, it held its first territorial fair in 1855—three years before statehood—and spent decades moving between cities including Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester, Red Wing, Winona, Owatonna, and Ramsey County before settling permanently in Falcon Heights in 1885.

“The first Fair happened in 1859, and we’ve been in our current location since 1885,” Alexander explains. “Prior to that, the Fair moved around to different locations throughout the state. One year, there was a battle between Minneapolis and St. Paul, where they both held their own fairs. Nothing like a little friendly competition.”

Creative Crops

Since 1965, crop art has been one of the Minnesota State Fair’s most unique and beloved traditions. Made entirely from Minnesota-grown seeds and plant materials, the intricate creations fill the Agriculture Horticulture Building each year with nearly 700 entries.

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That permanence matters. The fairgrounds themselves—with their late 1930s-era architecture, century-old trees, and landmarks like the Grandstand (built in 1909) and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Building—create a sense of place that transcends any single year. The fairgrounds are a canvas, and every vendor, exhibitor, and visitor brings the paint.

“I think part of the magic is the mix of it all,” Alexander says. “It’s the fact that you have new next to old, and the juxtaposition from one thing to another throughout the Fair makes it such a unique place.”

The Fair’s longevity isn’t built on any single vendor, food stand, or attraction. Beyond the iconic Midway staples are hundreds of smaller traditions and institutions that together form the emotional architecture of the Fair: the Giant Slide soaring above the midway since 1965, Ye Old Mill quietly operating since 1915, the Fine Arts Center hosting the state’s largest juried art exhibition, and the 4-H Building where generations of Minnesota kids have shown everything from dairy cattle to robotics projects.

Fine Arts Center

Housed in a 1907 building, the Fine Arts Center hosts Minnesota’s largest juried art exhibition, which features more than 300 works selected from thousands submitted by Minnesota artists each year. The exhibition spans photography, ceramics, textiles, sculpture, painting, mixed media, and more, offering a quieter counterpoint to the Fair’s sensory overload. And unlike many juried competitions, artists also have the opportunity to sell their work during the run of the Fair.

Few exhibits embody the Fair’s agricultural mission more vividly than the CHS Miracle of Birth Center, where calves, piglets, lambs, chicks, goats, and ducklings are born live throughout the fair’s 12-day run. Since opening in 2001, the wildly popular exhibit has become both an educational centerpiece and an emotional touchpoint for families, staffed by volunteer veterinarians, University of Minnesota veterinary students, and Minnesota FFA members. About 200 animals are born inside the building each year, offering fairgoers a rare firsthand look at the role animal agriculture and veterinary medicine continue to play in Minnesota life.

“What makes the Fair is the people,” Alexander says. “There are multigenerational families who’ve shown cattle or swine or poultry for decades. The same thing happens in creative activities and fine arts, where people have participated in the competitions for generations.”

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The Vendors That Became Institutions

Ask anyone what they associate with the Minnesota State Fair, and the answers are remarkably consistent: Sweet Martha’s cookies. Cheese curds. The Giant Slide. The DNR fishpond. Pronto Pups. Corn on the cob. These aren’t just vendors or attractions—they’re landmarks.

Few places embody the Fair’s deep sense of continuity quite like the Hamline Church Dining Hall. Founded in 1897, the beloved cafeteria-style institution is the oldest dining establishment on the fairgrounds and one of the last remaining church dining halls from an era when dozens operated across the State Fair. Generations of fairgoers still return each year for slices of pie, chicken dinners, wild rice meatballs, and the dining hall’s famous ham loaf—served by an army of volunteers pouring coffee, clearing trays, and greeting customers like family.

“We’re known for our traditions,” says Mary Bloom, co-chair of the Hamline Church Dining Hall committee. “People come back year after year and say, ‘My grandpa brought me here,’ or ‘We always stop here first.’ There’s so much nostalgia tied to it.”

Tradition at the Fair doesn’t always require a century of history. In just a few decades, Sweet Martha’s Cookie Jar has become one of the State Fair’s defining hallmarks. What began in 1979 as what cofounder Martha Rossini calls “a complete and happy accident” has evolved into one of the Fair’s most recognizable traditions. “We never envisioned the crowds or the volume we have now,” Rossini says. “It just grew year after year.”

Courtesy of Sweet Martha's

Today, Sweet Martha’s produces millions of cookies during the fair’s 12-day run, but the appeal remains rooted in simplicity. “Our goal wasn’t to offer the most variety,” Rossini explains. “It was to do one thing exceptionally well.”

The result is a food ritual that generations of Minnesotans return to: warm, gooey cookies passed around on benches, carried between rides and concerts, and carefully rationed long after leaving the fairgrounds. And despite the scale, Rossini insists the heart of Sweet Martha’s hasn’t changed. “The sense of history and community, the happy and excited customers—that’s the magic of the Fair.”

Courtesy of Sweet Martha's

For Tom Garrison, owner of Mouth Trap Cheese Curds, the Minnesota State Fair is his Super Bowl. After 35 years in the food industry, he knew exactly what it would take to succeed here—and he was ready. “Being in my hometown of St. Paul makes it even more meaningful,” Garrison says.

The menu at Mouth Trap is famously simple: cheese curds. That’s it. No variations, no add-ons—just fresh Wisconsin cheese, hand-battered and fried to golden perfection. “When you’re producing 75,000 pounds of product, simplicity is critical,” Garrison explains. “Adding more items or variations would slow things down and impact quality. I’ve always believed, ‘If it’s not broken, don’t fix it,’ and focusing on doing one thing exceptionally well has been key to our success.”

The volume is staggering. Over 12 days, Mouth Trap goes through 75,000 pounds of cheese, more than 700 gallons of ketchup, and 18,000 pounds of batter. The operation requires a team of more than 200 employees, many of them high school students from local schools, churches, and community organizations. “The relationships I’ve built with schools, churches, and organizations that provide many of our workers,” Garrison says, “is what I’m most proud of.”

Courtesy of Mouth Trap Cheese Curds

The same could be said for the Corn Roast, where the scent of charred sweet corn drifting across the fairgrounds signals the Great Minnesota Get-Together. Founder Brad Ribar didn’t just build one of the Fair’s most beloved food stands—he grew up inside the culture and machinery of the fairgrounds. It’s believed someone in Ribar’s family line has been working the Minnesota State Fair since around 1919, with relatives serving everywhere from sanitation crews to popcorn stands and Fair operations over multiple generations.

Today, the Corn Roast sells hundreds of thousands of ears during the Fair’s run (roughly 25,000 per day), but its staying power comes from something deeper than novelty: tradition, memory, and the unmistakable sensory ritual of watching the booth emit sweet, smoky billows, donning a butter-drenched chin, and savoring the sweetest corn at the end of a Minnesota summer.

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These long-time vendors embody what CEO Renee Alexander calls the fair’s “80/20 rule”: 80% of what people experience is familiar, traditional, and expected—the things they came for. The remaining 20% is new: different foods, attractions, and evolving experiences. “There’s comfort in the familiar,” Alexander says. “People want the things they grew up with. The things they associate with the Fair.”

The Slide Everyone Remembers

Since debuting at the Minnesota State Fair in 1969, the Giant Slide has become one of the Fair’s most enduring traditions—a five-story thrill ride generations of Minnesotans still measure summer against. Standing 50 feet high and stretching 175 feet long with five rolling peaks and valleys, the attraction sends riders flying downhill on felt mats after climbing 100 steps to the top.

But for the Barona family, the Giant Slide is more than a midway icon—it’s part of their family story. Owned and operated by Robert and Stacey Barona alongside their daughters, they’re continuing a legacy that began with Stacey’s parents, Fred and Beverly Pittroff, who built the first Giant Slide in 1966 after being inspired by a smaller version at a California amusement park. Over the decades, the slide became woven into the emotional fabric of the Fair itself—equal parts nostalgia, adrenaline, and family tradition. In 1996, Stacey and Robert got married at the very top of the slide on opening day of the Fair, exchanging vows in front of family, friends, and thousands of fairgoers below.

Photo by John Haynes

A Place to Pause

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Building offers something entirely different from the sensory overload of the midway: shade, stillness, and a reminder of the world beyond the fairgrounds. Tucked among towering trees, the DNR complex has become one of the Fair’s quiet constants—a place where generations of Minnesotans pause to sit by the fishpond, climb the 84 steps to the top of the fire tower, or simply take a breath before heading back into the chaos.

The DNR’s roots at the Fair stretch back nearly to the beginning. Long before it became the Department of Natural Resources, the agency appeared at the Fair as the Department of Forestry in the late 1800s, and eventually as the Department of Conservation. Its current log building—constructed in 1934 by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression—remains one of the fairgrounds’ most distinctive structures.

Courtesy of Minnesota DNR

Over the decades, the DNR area evolved alongside the Fair itself. The fire tower arrived in 1966. Then, in 1971, the now-iconic fishpond replaced an aging fountain on the south side of the grounds. Today, the pond holds roughly 50,000 gallons of water and 40-plus species of fish native to Minnesota.

For Amelia English, the DNR’s event program coordinator, the appeal is as emotional as it is educational. “It just feels like a little tiny park in the middle [of the Fair],” she says. “A sharp turn from the concrete expanse and the heat of the Fair.”

Courtesy Minnesota DNR

Beneath the trees, visitors stretch out on the grass, children press against the pond railing searching for giant carp, and families carry on rituals that have existed for decades.

“I’ve heard someone say, ‘I always get my scotch egg and eat breakfast while I watch the fish in the pond,’” English says.

That sense of ritual is part of what makes the DNR grounds feel timeless. While the rest of the Fair buzzes with deep-fried novelty foods and sensory overload, the pond offers what English describes as “a moment of Zen.”

The DNR’s mission has evolved, too—not abandoning education but modernizing how it reaches people. Today, the focus leans toward conservation, invasive species awareness, outdoor recreation, and helping Minnesotans reconnect with the ecosystems around them.

One surprisingly effective tool? Temporary tattoos featuring invasive plants. Last year, English watched a Reddit thread unfold after a fairgoer recognized buckthorn in a St. Paul park because of a tattoo they picked up at the DNR booth. “That was such a magical moment for me,” she says. “We are making it fun and educational.”

Courtesy Minnesota DNR

Where Tradition Adapts

The Minnesota State Fair has endured for 165 years not by remaining frozen in time but by adapting alongside the people who attend it. This balancing act—preserving tradition while continually evolving—plays out across nearly every corner of the fairgrounds.

Few places illustrate that evolution more clearly than Machinery Hill, once the agricultural and industrial heart of the fairgrounds. In the early days, farmers arrived not just for entertainment but to buy equipment, compare machinery, and learn about the latest agricultural innovations. “Machinery Hill used to be all implement dealers,” Alexander says. “A lot more fairgoers were there to buy a combine.”

As the audience changed, the vendors adapted alongside it. Companies like John Deere still maintain a presence at the Fair, but today the focus leans more toward riding lawn mowers and lifestyle equipment than large-scale farm machinery. It’s a subtle but telling example of how the Fair has modernized without severing itself from its agricultural roots.

The same evolution transformed the Grandstand. Nicknamed “the house Dan Patch built,” the current structure was constructed in 1909 to accommodate enormous crowds drawn by the legendary racehorse and the 1-mile track. For decades, the Grandstand was synonymous with competition—first horse racing, then automobiles, then motorcycles—as the Fair steadily expanded beyond its agricultural beginnings.

Minnesota State Fair Archives

By the 1960s, entertainment had taken center stage. The Grandstand debuted its “name star” format in 1962, bringing in performers like Dennis Day, Jane Russell, and Jimmy Dean. The Supremes headlined in 1966. Alabama would eventually perform 19 times between 1983 and 2016, more than any other act in the Fair’s history.

Today, the venue hosts everything from country stars and hip-hop artists to legacy rock bands. The current attendance record—16,529—was set at a performance by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis in 2013.

And yet, underneath the concert seating, vendors still sell mattresses, kitchen gadgets, miracle mops, and vegetable slicers. “It’s such an interesting dichotomy,” Alexander says. “The Fair is one of the few places where urban and rural meet. We coexist in a beautiful way.”

That coexistence has become increasingly important to the Fair’s identity as Minnesota itself evolves. “We’re very much in the people business,” Alexander says. “We’re already seeing this in some ways, such as seeing foods from different cultures that are now a beautiful part of Minnesota and making sure those foods and entertainment and merchandise are well represented at the Fair.”

For Alexander, the Fair’s relevance depends on its ability to reflect the state as it exists now—not just as it once was. “The Fair is really a mirror of Minnesota,” she says, “and the rich cultures of Minnesota.”

Courtesy Minnesota State Fair

Built to Last

The Minnesota State Fair has never been just one thing. It’s agriculture and art, spectacle and education, indulgence and stewardship all unfolding simultaneously across 322 acres. It’s a place where you can ride the SkyGlider, eat a bucket of cookies, learn about invasive species, and buy a mattress—all in the same afternoon.

Maybe that’s why the Fair lasts.

Not because of any single attraction but because each generation inherits it a bit differently. Parents bring children who eventually return with their own children. Teenagers work their first jobs behind concession counters.

Families gather around the same livestock barns, the same Grandstand benches, and the same fishpond railings decade after decade.

Courtesy Minnesota State Fair

Alexander thinks about that responsibility often. “I look at it as, myself and our staff are merely the caretakers,” she says. “Our job is to make sure this place continues on so future generations can keep building memories and traditions here.” That stewardship may be the Fair’s greatest achievement: its ability to evolve constantly without losing the parts people hold onto most tightly. The foods change. The crowds grow. New attractions arrive. Old traditions quietly disappear. And yet the Fair still feels unmistakably like the Fair.

Maybe that’s because, for 12 days every summer, the State Fair becomes something larger than entertainment or nostalgia. It becomes a shared ritual—one capable of bringing nearly 2 million Minnesotans together around collective memory, familiar comforts, and the simple act of returning year after year.

This year’s state fair runs Aug. 27 through Labor Day, Sept. 7. To learn more about the fair and its storied history, visit mnstatefair.org.