Fairs and Carnivals

Smoking is slowly becoming illegal in Minnesota

One day after Gov. Dayton proposed a 94-cent increase in the state's cigarette tax, State Fair officials announced that smokers will be huddled into pens starting with this year's Great Minnesota Get-Together.FROM OCTOBER: State smoking ban turns five today In other words, smoking continues down the ... More >>

Punch Brothers

Two separate pig-borne flu strains now linked to State Fair

See also:-- New flu strain acquired through contact with pigs-- State Fair pigs examined, none sent home due to flu concerns-- Second case of pig-borne flu reported in Minnesota-- Fourth case of pig-borne flu linked to State FairTwo cases of flu strain H3N2 have been linked to the Minnesot ... More >>

MN Music-on-a-Stick at the Minnesota State Fair, 8/31/2012

MN Music-on-a-Stick With Semisonic, The Jayhawks, Dessa, Jeremy Messersmith, and Lucy Michelle and the Velvet LapellesMN State Fair Grandstand, St. PaulFriday, August 31, 2012After a summer of record temperature highs, August was the perfect month for outdoor shows, ending with MN Music-on-a-Stick a ... More >>

Best of Hot Dish: August 27-31, 2012

Another fine week of food and drink news has flown by as quickly as a summer day. Here's a few recent stories we wouldn't want you to miss.~ We take a whirlwind tour of the MN State Fair food stands and share our adventures in this story, as well as a delicious slideshow.~Also reporti ... More >>

Lamb Fries: The tastiest testicles at the State Fair

See also: MN State Fair food adventures by the dozen MN State Fair's newest foods: Camel burgers and lamb testicles Let's face it, some foods at the State Fair feel more like dares than actual entrees. You hear about them so much that a legend builds around the food that is almost impossible for th ... More >>

MN Music On-a-Stick without the fair schtick

Jeremy Messersmith chats about his adopted state fair

Second case of pig-borne flu reported in Minnesota

See also:-- New flu strain acquired through contact with pigs-- State Fair pigs examined, none sent home due to flu concernsMinnesota has recorded its second case of the flu that had State Fair workers examining 250 pigs last week as a precaution.

MN Music on a Stick lineup: Semisonic, Jayhawks, Dessa, & Jeremy Messersmith

Related:Dawes leads Minnesota State Fair free shows lineupKiss, Motley Crue lead Minnesota State Fair 2012 offeringsJust when you thought they'd put everything on a stick already, local star power combines for this year's MN Music On-A-Stick show at the Minnesota State Fair.As you can see at right, ... More >>

Ice cream and beer bookend this summery Week in Food

While we wouldn't necessarily put ice cream and beer together (that beer/ice cream float idea is better in theory than practice) we don't mind that our Week in Food begins with free ice cream and ends at the State Fair Grounds sucking down 85-plus premium brews. 6/12 This sounds like the best idea ... More >>

The 2012 State Fair poster looks like something out of a drug-induced nightmare [PHOTO]

The 2012 State Fair poster has been released, and put it this way -- you probably won't want to plaster it on little Johnny's wall. Under the cold gaze of a gigantic rooster, he'd probably wake up in the middle of the night with cold sweats.The poster, which the normally staid Minneapolis/St. Paul B ... More >>

Is Wiz Khalifa as "raunchy" as a Star Tribune writer says?

Related:Up in the air: How Minneapolis became a flyover city for major rap artistsKiss, Motley Crue lead Minnesota State Fair 2012 offeringsStar Tribune published two stories Tuesday detailing the Minnesota State Fair's latest Grandstand additions, but one would've been plenty. A couple hours after ... More >>

Dr. John and the Lower 911 at the Minnesota State Fair Leinie Lodge, 9/2/11

Photos by Steve Cohen​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 three-piece back-up band, the Lower 911, wasted no time getting the party ... 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 >>

The Hot Dish's top 10 summer posts

​Happy Labor Day weekend! Some may call this the unofficial end of summer, but let's not be hasty. We still have a few weeks of warm weather left, and you can even relive the best of summer by catching up on our most popular Hot Dish posts, including guides to the State Fair, a look at Minneso ... More >>

The Blotter's top 10 posts of summer 2011

​Where has the summer gone? You try to soak it in with a couple chilled beverages and some time in the sun, next thing you know it's September. With the last three months now nothing but a hazy memory, City Pages is looking back on the most popular blog posts of the summer that was.What were you p ... More >>

Critics' Picks: Weezer, Blondie, Patches & Gretchen, and more

A Prairie Home Companion

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 >>

James Rogers, convicted sex offender, arrested in Cookie Monster costume at Iowa fair

James Rogers could get two years in a prison without delicious cookies.​A registered sex offender, dressed up as Cookie Monster, greeted children as they entered the Mississippi Valley Fair in Iowa.James Rogers, 25, was arrested Friday for his creepy costume, which was actually part of his job, ac ... 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 >>

Twin Cities Oktoberfest

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 >>

Top 5 places to get State Fair-quality curds outside the gates

Cheesy, greasy, salty, melted love​It's hard to imagine now, as you nurse that case of curd-induced gut rot, that there could ever be a time when Dan Patch Avenue won't smell like deep-fried cheese. But in less than a week your curd cravings will have to be addressed outside the fair's walls, ... More >>

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 >>

RetroRama comes to the State Fair

​In case you missed it earlier this year RetroRama, the annual old-school runway extravaganza, is back and coming to the Minnesota State Fair. The event will be a part of Minnesota History Center's History Day at the Fair. Five local designers will each be tackling one decade in fashion history an ... More >>

State Fair slaps Michele Bachmann for copyright infringement

Via Bachmann for CongressMichele Bachmann, intellectual property thief​It's one thing for Michele Bachmann to drape herself in the American flag. But if she's going to  try to drape herself in the mantle of the State Fair, she's going to have to contend with trademark law.

Butter head trivia: 5 things you never knew about butter heads

Butter heads up!​The Wall Street Journal looked into butter head carving at the Minnesota State Fair, and taught us five fun facts about our favorite edible sculptures: 1. The dairy industry has used butter carvings since the 1890s, but most large butter sculptures today are molded over a woo ... 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 >>

What are the best state fair foods?

​My husband didn't grow up in Minnesota and has never been to the state fair. (The horror, I know!) I'm taking him there to experience it for the first time this weekend. What are the foods he must try?

Minnesota State Fair

Third Thursday: Art Perchance

Turkey To Go street cart roasts State Fair food all summer

Michelle BruchFrom the fair to the mall: Minnesota-raised turkeys.​A State Fair staple is now open for lunch on Nicollet Mall, serving slow-roasted turkey drumsticks and giant turkey sandwiches. You can't miss it--the Turkey To Go truck is in a prime spot at Eighth and Nicollet. (At the Stat ... 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 >>

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 pig officially had swine flu, but keep scarfing the bacon

Don't worry, folks. Your bacon is totally safe.

Readers respond to "The Deadly Road to Wellville"

Franken draws U.S. map from memory... and remembers Alaska and Hawaii!

Sen. Al Franken pulled out his familiar, but still impressive, trick at he Minnesota State Fair last week.

Minnesotans embrace greasy grub, State Fair sets all-time attendance record

We're so proud: The Minnesota State Fair beat the all-time attendance record set in 2001.

A Prairie Home Companion

MPR: Day of State Fair eating improves your cholesterol!

Despite their attempt to scare us with their full day of eating and calorie counting at the "Great Minnesota Get-Together" they actually gave us the greatest state fair news yet!

DFL candidates for Minn. governor debate tonight at State Fair, watch online

Be prepared for all sorts of "aw-shucks" state fair jokes that will surely have your food baby rolling.

Porta-Potty State Fair memories

"One of the few things you can do at the Minnesota State Fair that leaves you feeling better AFTER you're finished."

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.

Behold the Bacon Chocolate Conan O'Brien head!

Conan's reaction: "I've long dreamed of this. But I never thought I'd see it happen."

Two MN foods on 10 most unusual state fair foods list

You won't believe what California fairgoers can find stuffed between a Krispy Kreme...

Cafe Scientifique: Is America Seeing Green?

Fair Fare