What Minnesota celebrities eat, drink and see at the State Fair

The 2022 Minnesota State Fair is fast approaching, so MPR News reached out to Minnesota celebrities for their Minnesota State Fair must-eat, must-drink, and must-see must-sees. Here’s what they said.

Keith Marler, Fox 9 meteorologist

• Food: Being outside almost every day makes me stick to my mantra “take a bite and keep moving” quite strongly. With all the old favorites and new stuff I’m exposed to on a daily basis, I’d have to be hauled out by Labor Day every year when I’ve finished everything I’m trying to do. But I’m always a sucker for Al’s Subs cookies and gravy a few mornings and Bayou Bob’s alligator sauté at least two or three times.

• Drink: A few years ago I was introduced to the wonderful concept of a fair breakfast beer by a friend, so he and I will meet at least once during the fair and toast to the morning at the Ballpark Cafe when the morning show is over (but only on one day I don’t have to do the 11 o’clock show)

• See: I think the “must-sees” just do the rounds by visiting the tons of friends I’ve made at various vendors, stands and exhibitions over the last 19 years. I only see most of these people once a year so the fair has really turned into a crazy 12 day family reunion for me.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz

• Food: Pork Chop on a Stick.

• Drinking: Not only do I enjoy visiting the all-you-can-drink milk stand, I’ll be volunteering this year.

• Behold: I will miss butter carver Linda Christensen, but I can’t wait to see Gerry Kulzer take over the butter!

Kate DiCamillo, Author

• Food: I love getting to the carnival very, very early in the morning. I’m getting a breakfast burrito.

• To drink a cup of coffee.

• See: The Animal Stables. There’s something absolutely heavenly about being down there early in the morning. Let me quote EB White (“Charlotte’s Web”): “The barn was very large. She was very old. She smelled of hay and she smelled of manure. She smelled of the sweat of tired horses and the wonderfully sweet breath of patient cows. It often smelled very peaceful – like nothing bad could ever happen to the world again.”

Bad Bad Hats, local band

• Food: Sweet Martha’s cookies and a stalk of roasted corn.

• Drink: The first and most interesting sounding beer we find.

• Behold: The award-winning giant vegetable.

Jana Shortal, KARE 11 journalist and moderator

• Food: Danielson and Sons Onion Rings

• Drink: The coldest or freshest local IPA. I’ll wander the fairgrounds far and wide to find it.

• See: Easy – Amateur Talent Show.

Fairborn and Fairchild, mascots of the Minnesota State Fair

• Food: We love ALL the food at the faire, but as ground squirrels we’re naturally herbivores – so don’t say it, we like to grab our snack from the crops grown near Little Farm Hands.

• Drinking: We naturally have a fondness for Gopher Dairy Bar’s malts. The name says it all!

• Behold: the daily parade of course! It features two of our absolute favorite mascots…US!

  State Fair mascot Fairchild in 1998

  Courtesy of the Minnesota State Fair Archives

Benjamin Percy, author and screenwriter

• Food: Food is the reason why I go to the fair. The Hot Chicken Sandwich at the Blue Barn is a favorite, but I’m about to shove some doggies (no corn dogs!) and cream puffs and cheese curds and buttered cobs in my mouth. We always check grocery lists ahead of time and come across some of the new and gourmet offerings as well. I’ll definitely be wearing the stretchy pants and treating myself to a helping of Costco-sized Tums.

• Drink: It’s a universally accepted truth that every day I attend the fair turns out to be the hottest day of the year. I always feel like a cold beer. I like the idea of ​​being adventurous and trying some of the more experimental beers, but… I tend to stick to my local IPAs: Surly, Summit and Mad Butcher to name a few.

• See: My wife was a 4H kid, so she has a long history with the show and might be its ultimate fan. She likes to go multiple times and plans all day in advance. I have my favorites, like the haunted house, but I rely on them. And her ultimate place – which she regards with almost holy awe – is the giant slide. She even has a t-shirt. And she claims she’ll go down it until she’s 100. So we always scream and cheer our way down.

Sven Sundgaard, MPR news meteorologist

• Food: I love visiting the turkey stand near the DNR area. I try to be reasonably healthy and the easy hot turkey sandwich is a must for me: TONS of protein and delicious! Then I feel less guilty about other things like fried pickles and mini donuts, which are also must-haves of mine. They’re simple, but the Tiny Tim donuts are nostalgic to me, I always got them with my late grandpa.

• Drink: Nothing sounds like an ice-cold Diet Coke when it’s lunchtime and hot, but we’ve become a fan of this new mini donut beer. Sounds weird, but it was great.

• See: All Animals. I think a lot of people forget what the fair is about. Growing up on a hobby farm with horses and goats, I’ve always wanted to see what everyone else’s goats and horses look like and my favorite animal: the pigs. I’ve always wanted a pig, but my parents never got me one… I’m still bitter… but I like to visit them.

Kelly Barnhill, Author

• Food: The corn on the cob or maybe Martha’s cookies or maybe those spicy walleye pies I once had at a stall I can’t remember and have been looking for ever since.

• Drink: The bottomless milk cups, how does it taste so much better there than at home?

• The new babies at the Miracle of Life Center, of course, and maybe the MPR booth, just like that.

  

  Two girls sit with their cows in the hay in the cowshed at the Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights, Minnesota August 23.

  Evan Frost | MPR News 2018

Jason Matheson, Host of The Jason Show

Yia Vang, Chef at Union Hmong Kitchen

• Food: This year it’s our food at the Union Hmong Kitchen booth in the International Bazaar, but I also love Turkey To Go’s smoked turkey leg.

• Drink: 1919 Root Beer, of course.

• See: It’s great to be high up on the ferris wheel and have a full view of the fair and all the people.

Angela Davis, anchor of MPR News

Joe Schmit, KSTP Sports Director

Lori and Julia, myTalk 107.1

• Dining: Cheeseburgers at Midways Men’s Club ($3.50!), along with a slice of pizza at the pizza truck ($2!), notice a trend? We know where there are good and cheap restaurants.

• Drink: Beer in the Frontier Saloon.

• See: music, on every stage.

Jennie Clark, Minnesota Aurora’s assistant coach

Leif Enger, former MPR News correspondent and local author

• I hate to admit it, but the last time I went to the State Fair was in the early ’90s when my brother Lin and I were writing crime novels together. I can’t remember what I ate but my wife Robin says I smelled like garlic so maybe a gyros. Sorry I’m a bad person to ask.

Minnesota Wild defenseman Alex Goligoski

• Food: I must have the cheese curds and vanilla milkshake from the Dairy building.

• Drink: mini donut beer is great too, as is the dill pickle beer.

• Look: we try to get a concert every year if we can and I love doing the big yellow slide with the kids.

  This sketch shows the giant slide and crowds of fairgoers walking past one of the fair’s oldest attractions.

  Courtesy of Bernstein Dash

Alec Soth, photographer

• Food: Liquid nitrogen ice cream at Nitro Ice Cream.

• Drink: Kombucha at the Commodity Exchange.

• See: The Miracle of Birth Center, always (but not when drinking kombucha).

Chris Carr, K102 morning show host

• Food: The pork chop on a stick. Sweet Martha’s Cookies and the Steak Bites at Lulu’s.

• Drink: The chocolate malt at Al’s Subs is delicious.

• The K102 stand, of course! But the Miracle of Birth Center is pretty cool too.