7 Things You Didn't Know About the MN State Fair

It's State Fair time! That means giant, smelly crowds, overpriced food that by all rights should kill you with two bites, and black boogers the next day. Hooray!

That is some genuine excitement right there.

Realizing that the State Fair is the most popular thing going in Minnesota right now, and numbered lists are about the most popular articles on the internet, I've decided to shamelessly combine the two in a desperate attempt for affection traffic. You could consider this post "Undocumented Facts - MN State Fair Edition." But no one is going to do a web search for that. I'll gladly toss away any kind of  creative continuity on this site if it gets me nine page views. Because I care.

So on we go to 7 totally real, not at all made-up on the spot, things you didn't know about the MN State Fair! It's so exciting it's stupid!!!




1. The MN State Fair started in the late 19th century and was originally called the "Areas of Minnesota and Iowa Good-Time Faire for Decent Folk" and was a joint venture between Minnesota and Iowa. After a few years Minnesota decided to ditch Iowa and strike out on their own. Because seriously. It was Iowa.

He knows what I mean. 

2. After realizing Minnesota wasn't going to show up that year, Iowa sent a tear-soaked letter to Minnesota . The letter read "Great, Minnesota. Get together. See if we care." With some changes in punctuation and dropping the last few words, MN had a slogan for their new fair.

3. Back in the '30s the fairgrounds were overrun with millions of gophers. Since weapons were prohibited on the fairgrounds, there was little anyone could do to stop the pests. Crafty food vendors started selling their food attached to sticks so that fairgoers could use them to club the fluffy rodents to death. After a few years, the Fair had it's most popular style of food and the University had a mascot.

And a ferocious looking mascot at that.

4. If you were to take all the people at the Fair at any given time and put them on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, that island would have a shit-ton of fat people on it.

But at least the ending would make sense.

5. At the '87 Fair the winner of the coveted  "Largest Pig" award, JoJo, was stripped of its blue ribbon when it was later discovered that JoJo was actually 3 smaller pigs duct taped together.

6. All quilts made at the State Fair are stored until the next year's Fair, when they are shredded into tiny pieces and used to soak up vomit.

7. If one of your family members is killed or seriously injured on any of the rides on the Midway, you get 50% off your next corn dog.

You also only get 50% of a corn dog.