The first year I lived in Minnesota, I heard a lot of talk about the state fair. It seemed like the Minnesotan event of the summer, the one thing that everyone seemed to go to. I was intrigued. I’d never been to a state fair before. Oh, sure, Michigan has one, and New York has one too. New Jersey even has a state fair (although I didn’t know until I looked it up just now)! And yet I’d never been to any of them.

Growing up, I thought only people who raised livestock went to the fair. I was slightly disturbed by the whole idea, having grown up reading and watching Charlotte’s Web. I didn’t want to see cute little(!) pigs and cows that would be eaten when they got home. My parents weren’t interested in going to the fair either, but for different reasons. It seems the Michigan State Fair is held in a somewhat sketchy part of town. Neither of my parents grew up going to fair; it just wasn’t the thing to do there. So I was pretty surprised to find out that it IS the thing to do here in Minnesota. So that first year, Jim and I hopped in the car and drove out to the fair to see what it was all about.

On that first visit we didn’t really check a map and headed north to see what there was to see.  It seems the northern part of the state fair is where the farm equipment is displayed.  I’d never seen so many tractors in my life, and was in awe of the size and variety of tractors and tillers available.  Being a city girl, I didn’t even know what a lot of the stuff was used for!  It was a real eye-opener for me, knowing that I truly was in the heart of farm country.  We also got to see some of of the logging equipment in use, classic cars and tractors and the dog show.  It wasn’t until we started to get hungry that we ventured over to the south end of the fair.

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