Minnesota State Fair, 2004

Friday morning the family went to the Minnesota State Fair. We had a great time. We got there, via bus, early in the morning which made for short lines, cool temps, discounted rides, and best of all fresh grease. We sampled a lot of food including cheese curds, fresh onion rings, fresh lemonade, Hawaiian Shave Ice, cotton candy, and a breakfast burrito. The kids loved the rides and would have gladly gone on all of them twice.

The kids were great to be with. They were so excited by everything they saw it made the fair even more fun for me. One newish exhibit especially caught their attention. There was one barn full of pregnant animals, about to, or just having given birth. It was a lot of fun to see baby pigs just a few hours old. Frankly, I am glad no animals gave birth while I was there. I mean who needs to see a Holstein give birth a few feet away in a hot barn full of state fair goers. Having the kids along also made it possible to spend more time in the animal barns. If I go the fair only with adults, it seems like people don't want to spend nearly enough time in the barns.

I haven't gone to the fair every year. In the past I found that it so much the same from year to year that waiting a couple of years between visits to the fair makes the experience much more enjoyable for me.

I was disappointed to not be able to see the art and food exhibits as well as the booths full of hucksters selling mixers, mops, knives or other magical space age gear. Oh, well maybe next year.

Check out my photos of the Fair.

In my personal opinion people displaying "Bush/Cheney" buttons far outnumbered the "Kerry/Edwards" faithful. However, the DFL plaza had more crowds than the Republican "Get out the Vote" Winnebago.