My husband Mike and I are hardcore Minnesota State Fair people—every year we spend a 12-plus hour day at the fairgrounds consuming deep-fried everything, collecting government agency-branded swag, and buying random stuff we never knew we needed (e.g. a two-person hammock).
In the wake of rising fair prices (all-you-can drink milk is $3 (!!!) this year), I was curious to tally up the cost of our annual fair outing. So here’s my hour-by-hour chronicle, cataloged in the spirit of Racket's dormant-yet-beloved Money Journal series.
7:47 a.m.
Inside the North Gate! We bought our tickets ($30) in advance at Cub Foods to save a few bucks per ticket and also pre-purchased an indispensable Blue Ribbon Bargain Book ($5). Free street parking was available about a mile from the fairgrounds.
We kicked off our day by splitting a 20-ounce maple cream nitro cold press from the Minnesota Farmers Union Coffee Shop ($9) and a bag of mini donuts from Tom Thumb ($7), the hands-down (thumbs-up?) best mini donut vendor at the fair. Not much was open yet, so I grabbed my brochure to start the free self-guided History Walking Tour and we observed the fish inside the DNR pond.
9 a.m.
It was Indigenous Peoples’ Day at Dan Patch Park, so we attended the opening ceremony with a drum circle and dancers. Afterward we spotted reluctant State Fair booster Sen. Amy Klobuchar greeting voters on our way to the Dairy Building, where I got a chocolate malt ($9) and Mike got a piece of string cheese ($1) from Dairy Goodness.
10 a.m.
Mike was drawn to the Education Building for a high school robotics demonstration, and I was drawn there by the freebies. We scored swag including pens, pins, a tote bag, a bouncy ball, and a tiny canvas with my name hand-calligraphed onto it in Arabic. The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis booth had a poll set up for fairgoers to vote on where they feel inflation the most by dropping a pompom into a large plastic tube labeled consumer goods, food, housing, or transportation.
“I don’t even need to think about it!” said the woman in front of me as she dropped her pompom in the “food” tube, and with the $9 malt fresh in our minds Mike and I followed suit. The food tube was at least a quarter full already, and the other choices had only a handful of pompoms apiece. Thank you for the clarity, tube-providing economists!
11 a.m.
Somehow I had never gotten a photo with State Fair rodent mascot Fairchild, so we went to the mascot meet-'n'-greet to rectify that situation. Mike bought a root beer from Bridge & Barrel ($3, using a $1 off coupon from our Blue Ribbon Bargain Book). We shared a “value bucket” of cheese curds from Mouth Trap ($20), which made us feel old—in the early days of our relationship the value bucket was a mere $12. The real mouth trap? Inflation!
12 p.m.
We headed to the West End, where Mike bought an official State Fair hooded sweatshirt from Fair Wear ($58, using a $10 off coupon from the Blue Ribbon Bargain Book). I got a pair of handmade earrings from Jewelry by Wagman Designs ($21), and Mike ordered a beer from LuLu’s Public House ($12 plus a $1 tip). While we were at the West End, we watched a set by bluegrass band High & Rising and a performance by Twin Cities Trapeze. The intoxicated man who sat next to me during the trapeze performance kept saying, “This is free! Can you believe this is free?” which demonstrates the weird dichotomy of State Fair pricing: The good stuff is either absurdly expensive or included with admission.
1 p.m.
At Bridgeman’s, Mike got a brownie sundae ($6, thanks to a $4 off coupon from the Blue Ribbon Bargain Book), while I got the Gray Duck sundae ($9.50). By this point I had completed the History Walking Tour, so I collected my ice cream prize. We refilled our water bottle for at least the sixth time thus far; bringing a refillable water bottle and grabbing a fair map with the refill stations labeled was the most budget-friendly decision we made all day.
2 p.m.
We perused the Fine Arts Building and the Eco Experience, where I played the free bingo game to earn a cute monarch butterfly pin.
3 p.m.
I revisited the Fed booth to see how the inflation poll was going—weirdly, the “food” level was lower than the others, which still had only a token number of pompoms. “Food was so full that we just emptied it!” said Christina, one of the booth’s volunteers. Is that a metaphor? I'm not sure. The most delightful thing we did all day was watch the (completely free) draft horse barrel racing competition at the Coliseum. The riders looked comically tiny perched atop their massive horses, many of whom seemed to feel that barrel racing was below their dignity and completed the course at a stately trot.
4 p.m.
Mike got a black cherry soda from Spring Grove Soda ($4), and then we shared an enormous order of spiral-cut chips from Sonny’s Food ($12). Honestly, it was so much deep-fried goodness that I wasn’t even mad that the price has gone up 50% since I started buying them in 2017. At the International Bazaar, Mike got a mint lemonade ($6), gyro on a stick ($5), and sauce ($1) from the Holy Land—there was a $3 off coupon for the gyro in the Blue Ribbon Bargain Book. I bought a pair of handmade earrings from Global Mamas ($13). We also caught a set by Rumba Nueva, a Dominican group that performs merengue, bachata, and salsa music.
5 p.m.
After admiring the crop art and the giant vegetables at the Agricultural Horticulture Building, we headed to Tasti Whip, where I got pineapple soft serve ($8) and Mike got the chili mango whip ($12). We just dropped $20 on soft serve, but our brains were so fried by heat, humidity, and sodium that it seemed perfectly reasonable.
6 p.m.
We bought two one-way tickets on the SkyGlider ($12), which took us to the north portion of the fairgrounds. Once back on solid ground, we split an order of fried pickles from the Perfect Pickle ($9).
7 p.m.
After watching the Timberworks Lumberjack Show, we noticed the line at Rick’s Pizza was shorter than usual, so we queued up for a slice of pickle pizza ($9), the 2022 sensation that ushered in pickle mania at the fair. The line was oriented in such a way that customers couldn’t see the menu prices until they were almost at the register, so we overheard several disbelieving exclamations of “Nine bucks for a piece of pizza?!” as we waited in line.
8 p.m.
We walked around to the fairgrounds for awhile to enjoy the evening vibe, and then I ended my day of State Fair eating the way I always do: deep-fried cookie dough ($12) from Sonny’s Food. Sugary, deep-fried, on-a-stick, overpriced, amazing—the ultimate distillation of State Fair food. Then we bought tickets for the Great Big Wheel ($14) to admire the fairgrounds from above.
9 p.m.
With the buildings closed and most food vendors winding down, we made our way to the Hangar and listened to some live music, mostly ’80s covers ($3 musician tip). We left the fairgrounds at 9:13 p.m., bellies full and the capably executed chorus of “Don’t Stop Believin’” ringing in our ears. Our wallets were $300 lighter, yes, and I woke up at 2 a.m. with a massive stomach ache, but even with a heat index of 99 degrees and $9 slices of pizza, it was totally worth it.
Admission: $30
Food: $120.50
Beverages: $35
Shopping: $92
Rides: $26
Miscellaneous (bargain book & musician tip): $8
