The Great Minnesota Get Together Now In Session

Happy First day of the Minnesota State Fair!! Today marks a great day for Minnesotans and also the beginning to the end of summer. We love, love, love our state fair.. ok, well, I do anyway. I look forward to these 12 days all year long and cant wait to get out there. Unfortunately, with a messed up toe, I wont be going until sometime next week. I usually take the bus out there (the BEST way to get there) on a nice evening and eat my way through that place in about 3 hours. The fairgrounds are huge, which requires a lot of walking.

Some interesting things about MN State Fair:

1). Attracted just over 1.6 million people in 2007

2). One of the first annual attractions was the sculpture made of butter. Each year, a new Princess Kay of the Milky Way is crowned to promote the dairy industry. Part of her job is to sit in a large cooler and have a 90 lb block of butter carved into a head of her likeness. It's pretty cool!

3). In 1901, then vice president, Teddy Roosevelt visited the fair and once said "Speak softly and carry a big stick".

4). Most foods come on a freakin stick.

Speaking of food on a stick, there are several new food items on the list each year that are introduced at the fair. If you would like to rent a booth at the fair, you must apply and have the best sounding food item in town in order to get in... otherwise youre put on a waiting list.. which is indefinitely long. In 2006, the big chow on the list was "HOTDISH ON-A-STICK" and in 2007 they introduced "Spaghetti on-a-stick". I didnt try the spaghetti, but I did try the hotdish because you know us Minnesotans LOVE our hotdishes!!

So, let's check out some of the cuisines on a stick....

Deep Fried Candy bar, walleye, cheese, chicken, pork chops, rueben, pronto pup/corn dog, salmon, tater tot hotdish, deep fried smores, scotch eggs, sausage, corned beef & cabbage, taffy, lamb chop, key lime pie dipped in chocolate, steak, alligator, pizza, fish, chips & shrimp, turkey... just to name a few! And keep in mind.. most of these items are DEEP FRIED and are sooooo good!!!

My personal favorite things at the fair are cheese curds (of course), corn on the cob, deep fried veggies, Sweet Marthas Chocolate Chip Cookies, the beer gardens (haha), the huge ass turkey legs and unfortunately that's all I can think of. That's sad considering how much food is out there. It's my goal to try something this year that I havent tried before.

Also, let me tell you some of the great things about the fair:

The University of MN has a live birthing center for farm animals. It's the most amazing thing I have seen. It's a pretty new facility and think it's only been open for a couple years. They actually post schedules when animals are going to give birth, they have bleachers to sit in to watch these births too. Although I have never seen a live birth there, those little babies are the cutest little things I have ever seen. The negative thing: It's elbow to elbow people in there.

GREAT people watching takes place here! There are some intersting characters out there and I will be sure to capture some of them on camera this year! It will make for some great blogging!

We attract big names in music. This year, we have 3 Doors Down w/ Stained & Hinder, Brad Paisley w/ Jewel, Backstreeet Boys, Johny Lang & Buddy Guy w/ Big Head Todd, Gnarls Barkley, The Black Crowes and Toby Keith. I have been to several concerts at the fair. They are fairly decent prices, however, the seating kind of sucks. The concerts are held in the grandstand and part of the seats are covered with a huge over hang.. and parts arent. The lines for beer are usually 5 days long. I wont be seeing any concerts this year because I have spent my money on other concerts already.

You can take the bus (metro transit) to the fair from shopping centers around the twin cities for $5 roundtrip. It drops you off at the front door and picks you up there also. There is no dickin around with parking (which sucks) and walking 40 miles from your parking spot to the front gate.

There are so many things to see.. like.. Livestock buildings (sheep, cows, pigs) and the horse shows, the Education building where you can meet reps from colleges all over the 5 state area, the fine arts building where you can see what local artists have stirred this year (knitting, crocheting, woodworking, clothing, quilting, paintings, drawings.. etc...), which are all entered into contests.. machinery hill (which is lame for me) where they have the latest and greatest in farming equipment, Agriculture and Horticulture building where you can see the pretty flowers, the U of M building where you can get merchandise and schedules, MIDWAY.. where you can go on all the carnie rides..lol. where all the toothless wonders work, but have some fun rides. There are soooo many places to visit and im quite positive you can purchase just about ANYTHING at the fair that your heart desires.

If you havent been to the Great Minnesota Get-Together, I would highly suggest it. Its ranked the 3rd best state fair in the country. I have lived in Florida & Colorado.. and they must be ranked at the bottom for state fairs...just horrible.

Moving on.. I want to acknowledge my friend, Basia Elmore who is walking the 3-day walk for Breast Cancer in September, here in Minneapolis. She is having a Beer Bust this Saturday at Boulevards Bar & Grill in Brooklyn Center from 12-2pm. The cost is $10 for all-you-can-drink beer (yes, I will be there) and will also have some food (probably not on a stick) and other items available for purchase. She needs to raise $900 more to make her goal of $2200. Go Basia. Click HERE to find out more about her and the 3-Day Walk for Breast Cancer.

GREEN-TIP: A Simple Recipe for Unclogging Drains

Remove all water from the sink or tub and pour about 1 cup baking soda down the drain.
Then pour 1 cup vinegar down the drain, plugging it immediately (if you’re unclogging a double sink, plug both drains). When the bubbles have died down (about 30 minutes), chase them down the drain with some hot water.

Nothing but blue skies out here today, 80 degrees & sunny!! A picture perfect day for the start of the Minnesota State Fair! Enjoy!

~Peace