Minnesota State Fair

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Image:MNStateFair2003.JPGThe Minnesota State Fair, marketed as "The Great Minnesota Get-Together," is one of the largest state fairs in the United States. It is held at the state fairgrounds, adjoining the Saint Paul campus of the University of Minnesota. The site is in the suburb of Falcon Heights, Minnesota, adjacent to the state's capital city of Saint Paul, Minnesota. At the fair, residents of the state and region come to be entertained, exhibit their best livestock, show off their own abilities in a variety of fields including art and cooking, learn about new products and services, and enjoy many different types of food—often on a stick. It typically runs for twelve days, running from late August into early September with the last day being Labor Day. In 2005, attendance was 1,632,876, up nearly 1,000 from 2004.

Minnesota first held a Territorial Fair in 1854, although the first Minnesota State Fair didn't occur until 1859, the year after statehood. Since then, the fair has run annually except for five different years. In 1861 and 1862, the fair was not held because of the Civil War and the Sioux Uprising. Scheduling issues between the fair and the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois caused the 1893 show to be cancelled. The fair again closed because of war in 1945, as fuel was in short supply. It was again closed in 1946 because of an outbreak of polio.

However, the story is a bit more complex than that. 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 relatively far-flung, including years where it was held in 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 Colonel 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, the fair's current site. It was a politically-neutral site, being about halfway between Minneapolis and St. Paul at the time. The fair first opened its doors there on September 7, 1885. The site was then 210 acres (0.8 km²), but it now stands at 310 acres (1.3 km²).

Image:MNStateFairButterHead2005.jpgOne of the first annual events to occur is the creation of a sculpture made of butter. 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 90 pound (41 kg) 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 didn't 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 1905 to 1909 when he was retired.

One of the most significant dates in the fair's history was September 2, 1901 when then-Vice President Theodore Roosevelt first uttered, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." Roosevelt became president just days later after William McKinley was assassinated.

Machinery Hill is an area of the fairgrounds worth noting. 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, as the state's population has now largely moved away from farm life, modern displays generally focus on cars, trucks, lawn mowers, and recreational machines like motorbikes.


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