Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Can Someone Mail Me A Straberry Milkshake, Please?
Being in Columbus for the summer means for the first time since I was born I will miss "The Great Minnesota Get-Together." Minnesota's State Fair is the second largest in the country (only the Texas fair is bigger). It actually has a higher daily attendance than any other state fair.
Every year 1.7 million yuppies, suburbanites and country-folk pile through the gates in Falcon Heights, which lies midway between Minneapolis and Saint Paul, to stuff their faces with a countless array of fried foods (most on a stick), gaze upon busts of young ladies carved in butter, see the state's biggest pig, look at farm machinery, watch peddlers try and entice you to buy every possible knickknack and gizmo imaginable, and be 'entertained' by random musical acts of every genre.
Ever since I was a baby, my parents would take us to the fair. We wake up at the crack of dawn, pile into the car and get to the fairgrounds super early so we could park inside the gates. We'd spend the whole day there (taking a break for lunch and a nap back at the car) and head home after the sun set, tired, dirty and getting our fix of fair food filled for another year.
Over the years going to the fair became an event to do with friends. Suddenly looking at tractors with dad and riding the Giant Slide on a burlap sheet was replaced by rides at the Midway. And then after I got to 21, evenings in the beer garden. But certain traditions remain the same: A strawberry milkshake from the Diary Building and checking out the butter busts, cheese curds from the Food Building, seeing the cute doggies and the Pet Center,
seeing the giant pig and the mother with her piglets at the Swine Barn, checking out the massive Clydesdales in the Horse Barn, walking through the Grandstand and seeing all the jimcrack people waste their money buying, flowers and apples in the Horticulture Building, getting an overflowing pile of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies in a cup that isn't made to hold them, gazing upon a seemingly never-ending sea of people down the main drag, the artwork in the Fine Arts Building, watching people scream their brains out on the extreme rides, mini-donuts, and enjoying the absolute best people watching anywhere.
It's hard to believe I'm missing the fair this year. I had expected to be back in time for it. It's not the most crushing thing to miss in the grand scheme of things. Ultimately it's the exact same thing every year. But I guess it's the tradition of it all. Knowing there are some things that always stay the same (relatively speaking). Little pieces of your childhood preserved and still relevant that make you remember simpler, less complicated times. And I'm sorry but fair food is a treat. I couldn't eat cheese curds every day but I sure do like them once a year. I'll miss ya state fair! But I know someday I'll enjoy you again. Don't you go changin' too much ya hear?
Posted by soft rock star at 10:17 PM
Being in Columbus for the summer means for the first time since I was born I will miss "The Great Minnesota Get-Together." Minnesota's State Fair is the second largest in the country (only the Texas fair is bigger). It actually has a higher daily attendance than any other state fair. 
Every year 1.7 million yuppies, suburbanites and country-folk pile through the gates in Falcon Heights, which lies midway between Minneapolis and Saint Paul, to stuff their faces with a countless array of fried foods (most on a stick), gaze upon busts of young ladies carved in butter, see the state's biggest pig, look at farm machinery, watch peddlers try and entice you to buy every possible knickknack and gizmo imaginable, and be 'entertained' by random musical acts of every genre. 
Ever since I was a baby, my parents would take us to the fair. We wake up at the crack of dawn, pile into the car and get to the fairgrounds super early so we could park inside the gates. We'd spend the whole day there (taking a break for lunch and a nap back at the car) and head home after the sun set, tired, dirty and getting our fix of fair food filled for another year. 
Over the years going to the fair became an event to do with friends. Suddenly looking at tractors with dad and riding the Giant Slide on a burlap sheet was replaced by rides at the Midway. And then after I got to 21, evenings in the beer garden. But certain traditions remain the same: A strawberry milkshake from the Diary Building and checking out the butter busts, cheese curds from the Food Building, seeing the cute doggies and the Pet Center, 
seeing the giant pig and the mother with her piglets at the Swine Barn, checking out the massive Clydesdales in the Horse Barn, walking through the Grandstand and seeing all the jimcrack people waste their money buying, flowers and apples in the Horticulture Building, getting an overflowing pile of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies in a cup that isn't made to hold them, gazing upon a seemingly never-ending sea of people down the main drag, the artwork in the Fine Arts Building, watching people scream their brains out on the extreme rides, mini-donuts, and enjoying the absolute best people watching anywhere. 
It's hard to believe I'm missing the fair this year. I had expected to be back in time for it. It's not the most crushing thing to miss in the grand scheme of things. Ultimately it's the exact same thing every year. But I guess it's the tradition of it all. Knowing there are some things that always stay the same (relatively speaking). Little pieces of your childhood preserved and still relevant that make you remember simpler, less complicated times. And I'm sorry but fair food is a treat. I couldn't eat cheese curds every day but I sure do like them once a year. I'll miss ya state fair! But I know someday I'll enjoy you again. Don't you go changin' too much ya hear?
