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Twin Cities Mom Collective

The Nostalgia of the State Fair

I look forward to it all year long. I am giddy about it the weeks leading up to it. And once its all over, I begin the 365 day countdown for the next year.

When I express my intense love for the Minnesota State Fair to other people, I am oftentimes met with misunderstanding. Because as much as the fair is a very popular place, there are endless amounts of people who prefer never to step foot on the grounds. It’s not their jam. And I get it. The crowds, the lines, the heat. It can be a lot for people. And when I am not met with the same amount of enthusiasm that I feel when even just thinking about the state fair, I begin to wonder why did I love it so much?

And I believe it all stems back to my childhood. We lived out in Rice, Minnesota and would take day trips once a year to the state fair. and it was a definite summer highlight for us. We never did many rides or games, but we we ate a lot of food, walked around, people watched, saw the animals and explored the exhibit buildings. There are endless things to do and everyone has their go-to’s, and we had a great system.

When I return each year with my family, it brings all the sweet memories back and I can’t wait to make cherished new memories with my own children. Every year, we go 2-4 times and I never tire of it.

The Nostalgia of the State Fair | Twin Cities Moms Blog

When we go with my entire family, we try to wear our matching yellow shirts with a saying of what we like best about the fair and our own family hashtag, which always attracts some fun attention of people wanting to read each of our shirts. It also helps us spot one another great!

Here are a few tips to make your State Fair experience more enjoyable:

  1. Get your discounted tickets ahead of time at your local Cub Foods Store
  2. Buy the coupon book (you will have it paid for with the use of 1-2 coupons)
  3. Download the fair app here as a virtual tour guide
  4. Park at a shuttle site for an easy drop-off by the front doors
  5. Take a glance at the new foods featured this year to know what you want to hit up
  6. Check out Twin City Moms Blog’s 2019 Family Guide to the Minnesota State Fair!

The Nostalgia of the State Fair | Twin Cities Moms Blog

We always try new foods, but stick to our staples too. We need to hit up the corn, cheese curds, french fries, mini donuts, cookies and milk, fried pickles and mini donut beer every year. But it’s always fun to try the new released food and things we’ve never experienced before. The great thing about being in a big group is that we can all share so you basically never get full and can continue to eat and drink throughout the day.

The Nostalgia of the State Fair | Twin Cities Moms Blog

This was 2017, and my first year trying deep fried Oreos. They did not disappoint!

The Nostalgia of the State Fair | Twin Cities Moms Blog

We try to bring smaller compact strollers to get through the crowds and choose to go on weekdays instead of weekends when it is much more packed. If you can swing it to go on day that is a bit cooler, it’s more enjoyable because you aren’t parched and needing to drink water all day long. We always love to go and experience some live music somewhere and just sit down and relax for a bit.

The MN State Fair is what you make of it. It’s not for everyone, but it will forever be one of my favorite parts and times of Minnesota, and I always walk away with the sweetest collection of new memories.

The Nostalgia of the State Fair | Twin Cities Moms Blog

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1 comment

Heidi August 22, 2019 at 9:41 PM

All this, Meghan! Love the matching shirt idea. 🙂

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