Attending the great Minnesota State Fair is akin to making a pilgrimage. I have been going to the Fair on a regular basis since the mid-50's. It is an annual "fix" for all things Minnesotan, minus the ice and snow.
The family started attending the Fair regularly when my brother and I took place at the local county 4-H demonstrations events. Our demonstration was a visual presentation of a home's electrical wiring system and the dangers of using the wrong sized fuses or (worse) putting a penny behind a blown fuse. (You can guess that this was before circuit breakers came into general use.) Having won the county competition, you were entitled to enter the 4-H state competition at the Minnesota State Fair. We won several years in a row, hence I got hooked on going to the Fair.
We left Hammal lake as the sky was clearing from an overnight thunderstorm which lasted well into the morning. We found our lodging place and Jan did laundry while I caught up on some computer work. Then we set out for our first day at the Fair.
The folks who run the Fair have come up with a way to handle the problem of parking all the cars of those who want to visit the Fair. They have set up a host of park and ride locations, with motor coaches that make a regular circuit to pick up and deliver pilgrims like me to the Fair gates. So getting there was a whole lot easier than was the previous experiences.
Once inside the fairgrounds, the familar smells and sights greeted us as old friends. There was the Culligan booth with free water to keep one hydrated. We found a booth selling non-alcoholic pina coladas served in a hollowed-out pineapple. There was the smell of roasting corn competing with the corn dogs on a stick. And that was within the first ten minutes.
Tomorrow we return for a full day at the Fair and a grandstand show in the evening. I'll keep you posted...
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