Minnesota State Fairgrounds

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1265 Snelling Ave. St. Paul, MN 55108

651-288-4400

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Best Tourist Attraction
Award Winner 2012

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Vintage Clothing, Jewelry & Textile Show & Sale

5:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. June 1

Featuring 45 booths of clothing, jewelry, and accessories. For more info, visit www.catspajamasproductions.net.
Minnesota Cheese Festival

June 3

For more info, visit www.mncheesefest.com.
Greyfest

10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. June 9

With vendors, contests, concessions, photo opportunities, speed alley, raffle drawing celebrating greyhounds. For more info, visit www.gpa-mn.org/g...
St. Paul Summer Beer Fest

2:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. June 16

Featuring craft beer sampling, commemorative tasting glass, live music, food, silent auction. For more info, visit www.stpaulsummerbeerfest.com .
MSRA's Back To The 50's Weekend

8:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. daily from June 22 until June 24

Featuring over 350 vendors and automotive exhibits, kids' entertainment, ladies showcase, craft fair, music, swap meet, more. Visit www.msra.com fo...

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2012 | Best Tourist Attraction

The Minnesota State Fair is often maligned by those who live near it, but for folks not from the Twin Cities, and especially those not from the state, the fair is quite a sight. After a series of territorial fairs, the first Minnesota State Fair was held in 1859 near what would become downtown Minneapolis, and it has now grown to become the second-largest state fair in the country. Its 320 acres include a number of historically significant structures, more than 450 foods from 300... More »
2012 | Best State Fair Food

Sure, the cheese curds are delightful, and there's always a healthy line for the walleye on a stick, but it's the unusual pairings and unique concepts at the Minnesota State Fair that adventurous attendees get really excited about. Enter the sweet-corn ice cream, a dish that blends a serving of veggies with your dessert. While this may sound like an odd duo, it's a satisfying alternative to the traditional fair gut busters. The cool treat manages to strike a pleasant balance between creamy... More »
2011 | Best State Fair Food

Okay, you win. Every year we try to find a different winner for this most subjective category, highlighting lesser-known delights such as sunflower-honey ice cream or extolling the virtues of old favorites like roasted corn on the cob. And every year, readers vote in the same champion: the old, faithful, artery-clogging curds of cheese available throughout the fairgrounds. We're willing to concede that the deep-fried cheese curds served at the State Fair are somehow better than those at all... More »
2010 | BEST STATE FAIR FOOD

The first order of business is to figure out how to get past the cringe-inducing name of this delectable snack. The most Minnesotan option is to ignore it completely. The teenagers behind the counter at Famous Dave's (near the Grandstand) will understand you just fine if you simply ask for a portion of chocolate-covered bacon. Another choice is to embrace your inner redneck (this is the fair, after all). If you can pull off "Gimme a order a them there Pig Lickers" without a hint of shame, go... More »
2010 | BEST NON-FOOD THING ABOUT THE STATE FAIR

The Great Minnesota Get-Together is something like a crowded subway car--mixed with the comfort of being among a great mass of your fellow man is the sublime realization that things could always be worse for you, no matter who you are. Feeling lousy about your beer gut Head to the Beer Garden and have the term radically redefined. Feeling guilty about the winter pounds you haven't shaken during the summer months Head to the line at Sweet Martha's and sigh in relief. There's no sense... More »
2009 | Best State Fair Food

You've waited all summer for this all-day gorging on the delectable treats and greasy goodness of the Minnesota State Fair: cheese curds, mini donuts, turkey legs the size of your head. But let's face it, there's only so much artery-clogging junk you can eat, and after a while you're going to want something more wholesome, a summer classic that will refresh your palate and make you feel good inside: sweet corn on the cob. Roasted in the husk, the corn is shucked and dunked in a luscious vat... More »
2008 | BEST STATE FAIR FOOD

Choosing just one favorite state fair food is like asking Hugh Hefner to pick his favorite girlfriend. There are lots of options and no reason to pick just one--you'll probably be eating 20 different things at the fair. That said, when we contemplated the question this year, one item emerged as a clear winner (after we overruled our sweet tooth, which was leaning toward the deep-fried Twinkie): What is a more quintessentially Minnesotan fair food than a fillet of our state fish, the... More »
2005 | BEST PLACE TO PEOPLE-WATCH

All of Minnesota gets funneled through this section of Dan Patch Avenue during the Great Minnesota Get-Together. The teenage lovebirds-for-a-day head to the Midway with a corndog in one hand and the fingertips of their Magnum P.I.-ride partner in the other. A stream of sweaty concertgoers leaves the Lynyrd Skynyrd concert (this year it's Mötley Crüe) determined to make their way to the Beer Garden through the huddled and glutted masses. Urban-chic parents pushing strollers or... More »
2004 | BEST STATE FAIR FOOD

It ain't fried and it doesn't come on a stick. Frankly, it's unlikely to build up in your arteries like stucco, or to accelerate the hour of your death. That's a sure turnoff when it comes to State Fair cuisine. And yet these plastic-wrapped tubes of locally pressed cider do kind of behave like a stick. You can carry them around, for one thing. And when you're sweating like a pig in the stanky pens of the swine barn, you can build up a thirst that can't be cured by any punch that's six parts... More »
2004 | BEST STATE FAIR RIDE

Maybe you're the kind of person who likes to spend $25 to be strapped into a nylon harness, hauled into the air by a discount winch, and then dropped about 75 feet, until the man-corset tightens around your corndog-bloated belly and you bounce a few times like a helpless and drooling toddler--all this while a small crowd sits on the ground in mini-bleachers capturing the whole process on video as if you were a topless hoochie mama at Mardi Gras fishing for beads. Hey, some people swing that... More »

Craftstravaganza features sweet goods from Tiny Hands

By Tatiana Craine | Fri, May 11, 2012

Combine the crafty internet sensations Pinterest and etsy, add some distinct Minnesotan flair, bring it to the Minnesota State Fairgrounds, and you've got Craftstravaganza. The seventh-annual event ... More »
2012 St. Paul Craftstravaganza

By Jessica Armbruster | Wed, May 09, 2012

This year's St. Paul Crafstravaganza promises to be bigger than ever as more than 140 vendors hit the Minnesota State Fairgrounds for a day of 100 percent handmade art. Thankfully, the space used for the super-popular annual event will be expandin... More »
Minnesota Cheese Festival founder says wheels are turning for June 3 event

By Mike Fotis | Wed, April 25, 2012

Minnesota is known for lots of things. Lakes, casseroles, and an intentional lack of eye contact immediately come to mind. What Minnesota in not particularly known for is cheese. That's been the hallm... More »
Twin Cities Okotberfest

By Courtney Algeo | Wed, October 05, 2011

Historically speaking, Oktoberfest is a celebration of the marriage between Crown Prince Ludwig of Germany and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. That reception must have been one heck of a party, because the raging has continued year afte... More »
Dr. John and the Lower 911 at the Minnesota State Fair Leinie Lodge, 9/2/11

By Danny Sigelman | Tue, September 6, 2011

Dr. John and the Lower 911 September 2, 2011 Minnesota State Fair Leinie Lodge Bandshell On the first of two nights on the Leinie Lodge Bandshell stage at the Minnesota State Fair, Dr. John and his t... More »
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Minnesota State Fairgrounds

1265 Snelling Ave. St. Paul, MN 55108

651-288-4400

Description

5:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. June 1

June 3

10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. June 9

2:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. June 16

8:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. daily from June 22 until June 24

2012 | Best Tourist Attraction

2012 | Best State Fair Food

2011 | Best State Fair Food

2010 | BEST STATE FAIR FOOD

2010 | BEST NON-FOOD THING ABOUT THE STATE FAIR

2009 | Best State Fair Food

2008 | BEST STATE FAIR FOOD

2005 | BEST PLACE TO PEOPLE-WATCH

2004 | BEST STATE FAIR FOOD

2004 | BEST STATE FAIR RIDE

By Tatiana Craine | Fri, May 11, 2012

By Jessica Armbruster | Wed, May 09, 2012

By Mike Fotis | Wed, April 25, 2012

By Courtney Algeo | Wed, October 05, 2011

By Danny Sigelman | Tue, September 6, 2011