Fairs and Carnivals

North Dakota State Fair/Como Avenue Jug Band CD-Release Party

Minnesota State Fair glitter-bombed over anti-gay marriage booth [VIDEO]

Minnesota State Fair: Glitter-bombed from above.​Not even the Minnesota State Fair is safe from glitter-bombers. The Great Minnesota Get-Together attracted the attention of gay activists this weekend by allowing anti-gay marriage group Minnesota for Marriage to set up a booth at the fair. Local ... More >>

Gay marriage ban voted down at the State Fair

Minnesota State Fair fans are not afraid of gay marriage.​There aren't many places more heterosexual than the Minnesota State Fair: Jean shorts and sandals with socks are worn without irony; everything is fried, put on-a-stick, and fried again; and young married couples walk around with whole broo ... More >>

It's State Fair fabulous in the Best of Hot Dish: August 29 - September 2, 2011

It's all State Fair...​It's been over a week of political seed art, grilled corn, deep-fried things on a stick and the Hot Dish's fave, buildings and buildings full of livestock. Yep, it's the State Fair folks, and this week's round up is all about the great Minnesota get-together. Here are some f ... More >>

Marc Anthony woos fans at the Minnesota State Fair

Photo by Erik Hess​As part of our ongoing coverage of music at the Minnesota State Fair, we sent photographer Erik Hess to catch salsa kingpin Marc Anthony in the Grandstand last night -- and he returned with some incredible images. Click here for Erik's full slideshow, and see below for links to ... More >>

Get your favorite fair foods...without going to the fair

Avoid the chaos and the crowds, but still get your curds and corn dogs. ​Only a few days left to enjoy the Minnesota State Fair ... or not. If you're having a hankering for fried foods on a stick but can't bear traipsing through the stinky barns and stepping over the horse-plop-and-Sweet Mar ... More >>

Two men arrested for counterfeit State Fair tickets

Richard Hazeltine, Michael Horaas: Forgetting the State Fair spirit.​The Minnesota State Fair is a time for Minnesotans of all walks of life to come together -- including, it seems, the most sleazy among us.In separate cases, two men are being investigated for the sale of counterfeit tickets for t ... More >>

Minnesota State Fair

Richard Hazeltine, Michael Horaas: Forgetting the State Fair spirit.​The Minnesota State Fair is a time for Minnesotans of all walks of life to come together -- including, it seems, the most sleazy among us.In separate cases, two men are being investigated for the sale of counterfeit tickets for t ... More >>

Paul Captain charged with hate crime for threatening e-mails to Wisconsin State Fair official

WTMJ MilwaukeePaul Captain faces a hate crime charge for his e-mails.​Paul Captain has been charged with a hate crime for threatening, racist e-mails he sent to  Wisconsin State Fair spokeswoman Patrice Harris. Captain saw Harris, who is black, speaking on television about the violent, racial ... More >>

Deep-fried butter on a stick is all too real! [VIDEO]

KCCI's Eric Hanson tries deep-fried butter at the Iowa State Fair.​It's made its way to the Indiana, Wisconsin, Texas, and Iowa State Fairs. Even something called the Canadian National Exhibition has served it. Paula freaking Dean has a recipe for the stuff. But, alas, there's no deep fried bu ... More >>

Wisconsin State Fair wilding: Names and ages of the arrested

Fox6Now.comCell phone image of the Wisconsin State Fair violence​The Wisconsin State Fair police have released the names of 23 people arrested in connection with last week's mob violence. More than half are under age 18. Anthony J. Oblak, 39, is the oldest of the 23 people arrested. Oblak and Ed ... More >>

Wisconsin State Fair rampage: Cell phone video of the mob violence [VIDEO]

Fox6Now.comCell phone footage of the mob violence at Wisconsin State Fair​Last week's mob violence at the Wisconsin State Fair was been captured on cell phone, and we've got the video. Witnesses have described a mob of dozens to 100 African-American teenagers as attacking white patrons outside t ... More >>

Wisconsin State Fair wilding: police tapes document mob violence

Fox6Now.comCell phone image of the Wisconsin State Fair violence​Police have released their log documenting last week's mayhem at the Wisconsin State Fair. Witnesses say a group of dozens to 100 African-American teenagers ran wild at the fairgrounds last Thursday, fighting amongst themselves ins ... More >>

Local craft on draft at the 2011 MN State Fair

Surly Furious is among the local beers headed to this year's MN State Fair​In past years the craft brew selection at the Minnesota State Fair has been fairly limited. There was Summit and ... well there was Summit. Not that Summit is a bad choice, but a little more variety would be welcome. Ma ... More >>

St. Paul Summer Beer Fest this Saturday

St. Paul Summer Beer Fest kicks off the summer season​The summer beer festival season kicks off this Saturday, June 25, with the St. Paul Summer Beer Fest. In its third year, this is the biggest and best organized of all the Twin Cities' summer celebrations of suds. Formerly held in the parkin ... More >>

Minnesota State Fair's top 5 new desserts

Minnesota Prairie RootsThe State Fair gets a hot and sweet kick.​Last Friday, the Minnesota State Fair announced which new foods will be debuting on the Midway this year. And while newcomers Jamaican jerk fries and crab fritters sound delicious, we're making the most room in our fair schedule to ... More >>

Music and movie memorabilia sale at State Fair grounds

​The Minnesota State Fair may be over, but there are still opportunities to visit the fairgrounds. So if Princess Kay of the Milky Way isn't your idea of a celebrity and seed art isn't desirable memorabilia to you, then perhaps the Classic Movie and Music Memorabilia show and sale may be more ... More >>

Michele Bachmann runs away from CNN

Screenshot via CNNMichele Bachmann: Running at the State Fair​CNN tried to catch up with Rep. Michele Bachmann at the State Fair. But reporter Gary Tuchman figured out that these days, the congresswoman rarely talks to anyone other than known allies. The cable news network's cameras were allo ... More >>

Top 5 healthy State Fair foods

Mo Perry​The State Fair is the only place where even something as nutritious sounding as mixed fruit can be deep fried, impaled with a stick, and transformed into a heart attack waiting to happen. No one expects to leave the fair feeling like they just finished the Master Cleanse, but surely the ... More >>

State Fair animal crap and crap you eat are tested as fuel sources

Image by IntangibleArts on FlickrCan corndogs be turned into electricity? ​George Johnson, an environmental scientist, is trying to find out whether there's more energy in recycled animal dung or that nasty-ass but oh-so-good State Fair food.

Rosanne Cash at the Minnesota State Fair, 8/31/10

Photo by Nikki Miller​Rosanne Cash August 31, 2010 Minnesota State Fair, Leinie Lodge Bandshell On a summer night that brought two of music's biggest female artists to stages in St. Paul - Carrie Underwood at the State Fair Grandstand, and Lady Gaga at the Xcel Energy Center - it was on a thi ... More >>

Minnesota Cooks brings something rare to the fair--gourmet cooking

Photo: Crystal GrobeLocal chefs cooking today at the fair.​At the Minnesota State Fair we all make mistakes. With temptations on every corner, before you know it you've run out of money and inhaled a week's worth of calories. But there is one place to find gourmet, healthy cooking: Minnesota Cooks ... More >>

State Fair electricity down after truck hits powerline

Photo courtesy Minnesota State Fair.Not a great Minnesota get-together for everyone.​At least two people did not have a good time at The Great Minnesota Get-Together today. Just after 10:30 a.m., a semi-truck rammed a telephone pole near the State Fairgrounds in St. Paul. Details of the accid ... More >>

Minnesota State Fair's Top 10 things to do

The Great Minnesota Eat-Together​The main question we get asked when people learn we go to the MN State Fair four times each year is, "What do you do there?" When we learn that some people only go for a couple hours and then leave, we ask them, "How do you possibly see everything in such a sho ... More >>

State Fair cheese curds? There's an app for that, and more

Cheese curds and smart phones mix at the State Fair​Here's a fun way to get your geek on this year at the Minnesota State Fair: Navigate your way to the fair's smart phone web application. Let's say you want to find cheese curds -- not that this much of a problem at the fair, but stay with us ... More >>

Minnesota State Fair taste test: best new foods

These are the best new fair foods we sampled.​We put on our most obnoxious-sloganed T-shirt, slathered up with sunscreen, and braved the crowds to find out how this year's new Minnesota State Fair food options stacked up to our predictions. Here are our picks on what's worth stretching the ela ... More >>

George Jones playing for 9 bucks at Freeborn County Fair

​You want to see the greats of rock 'n roll - the McCartneys, the Jaggers, the Springsteens of the world - and you're gonna pay outta yer ear to see a dinosaur lookin' oh-so-tiny from your nosebleed seats in a giant arena. How 'bout this instead: avoid the arenas, say to hell with rock 'n roll, a ... More >>

Worst new Minnesota State Fair foods

www.wikipedia.comWTF is Cincinnati Chili doing at the Minnesota State Fair?​Yes, the list of new foods to debut at the 2010 Minnesota State Fair has been released, and on it are a few items that sound like clunkers at best, train wrecks at worst. Here are five new foods that the Hot Dish is fe ... More >>

State Fair's fried pig ears make list of nation's weirdest fair foods

tsuacctnt via Flickr.comSpam--a lot at the state fair​Here's a little preview to start you salivating for the State Fair: Minnesota made the list of the strangest state fair foods--twice--in this month's Travel and Leisure.

Caffetto Arts & Crafts Fair

tsuacctnt via Flickr.comSpam--a lot at the state fair​Here's a little preview to start you salivating for the State Fair: Minnesota made the list of the strangest state fair foods--twice--in this month's Travel and Leisure.

MSRA's Back to the '50s Car Show

tsuacctnt via Flickr.comSpam--a lot at the state fair​Here's a little preview to start you salivating for the State Fair: Minnesota made the list of the strangest state fair foods--twice--in this month's Travel and Leisure.

MCBA's SpringCon director talks Free Comic Book Day, hot comics

The comic-crazed month of May has plenty in store.

Target, high school streakers, and swine offend everybody

Minnesota corporation mistakenly sells "Illegal Alien" costume

Minn. State Fair pigs might actually have swine flu

If these results are correct, it would be the first time during this human pandemic that it spread to animals.

Fairmongering: Seven straight days at the Minnesota State Fair

Dizzy dispatches from the Great Minnesota Get-Together

Minn. State Fair catches H1N1, officials blame touchy-feely 4-H teens

You know why the greatest event of the year now has to madly try and save face so people still show up for the big Labor Day weekend? Those horny 4-H kids had a little too much fun at the fair and probably spread that H1N1 like candy.

How Minnesotan is the State Fair's fare?

One could spend an entire day at the fair without eating locally grown food

A Prairie Home Companion

One could spend an entire day at the fair without eating locally grown food

Fairmongering: Seven straight days at the Minnesota State Fair

Dizzy dispatches from the Great Minnesota Get-Together

Top 5: Most overrated fair foods

You've been eating these foods every year at the fair, but why?

State Fair tweeps bathe in chocolate-covered bacon, haiku love

Two-hundred happy people gathered under a tent in the pouring rain Friday, iPhones and Blackberrys unholstered and ready, clapping and cheering for chocolate covered bacon.

State Fair free music lineups

The Great Minnesota Get-Together is upon us.

Are You Ready for the Country: County fairs, cowboy boots and Sparks

Today I head back from my hometown's county fair; cheap Sparks and heckling Blake Shelton made for a rough three nights.

State Fair enters the twitterverse

After a dip into the social media universe last summer with Facebook, the Minnesota State Fair has now entered the Twitterverse. Cue Twighlight Zone music.

Minnesota State Fair: The countdown is on

While away some of your precious moments with the state fair food finder. You'll be glad you did.

The MJ Butter Chronicles: Fair sculpture plans scrapped

Iowa can't take the heat, calls it quits on Michael Jackson butter sculpture plans.

It's Not Just Corn Dogs Anymore

Iowa can't take the heat, calls it quits on Michael Jackson butter sculpture plans.