MN State Fairgrounds

Great time! Great food! Great people! Great get-together! We took our two year old granddaughter this year and had a blast. First time to visit the kidway with rides for kiddos of all ages. Buy tickets ahead of time for a discount. Some food places only take cash, and it'll save you a trip to the ATM later. If you bring your own water bottles, you can save several bucks, too, with the bottle refill stations located all over the fair grounds.

What else can I say other than it's perfect. It's wonderful. Well, there is no better way to spend a day. However, this year there seem to be fewer vendors and fewer exhibitors, especially in a creative arts area. My favorite thing is on Wednesday evening when 4-H kids take over the coliseum with the llamas in the alpacas.

The fair is what it is. Tons of people, lots of walking, food on a stick, and beer. Food is hit or miss, the fair staples are staples for a reason: fries, cotton candy, cheese curds, elephant ears, bacon wrapped pork belly, the milk shakes, corn dogs and all the other yummy fair food. The cookies were only so so this year. The steak and egg breakfast from Mancini’s, eggs were very good, but the steak was a dry hockey puck. Do yourself a favor and get the breakfast sandwich or the sausage and eggs. Kim at the Toe Ring shop at the International Bazaar was very nice and had the best rings. Go early to have time to walk around without too many people there. The DNR fish pond is always a big hit.

Lost track as to how many years I've done the Minnesota State Fair. I've seen MANY changes to the fairgrounds many of which im not sure were for the better. Starting with the $20 admission. Going to the fairgrounds if you are bringing the family is going to be out of reach when you total up everything for the day. The old Machinery hill is a shell of its former self. This year (2025) it seemed like there was even less. The choices of food remain abundant but make sure you bring plenty of cash. This year pronto pups were $7, crab fritters were $12, the larger order of cheese curds were a whopping $22, and a lemonade was $7. We skipped our usual fudge when we seen $27 a pound. I cant speak to the Midway prices as we dont do that. We were disappointed to find the horse barns closed all day because of a "changover". We were able to catch a horse show in the Colosseum but not get up close to the horses. In 2025 post it to your website or social media so people can adjust their trip if they wish. Parking I would never park on grounds at the $25 per car when there are free park n rides with a less than 10 min bus ride. I miss the days of state fair i remember growing up.

This may be the best state fair I’ve seen and experienced. From the bus shuttles and drop off to the speed of entering and the massive food selections, this was a great time for us. If you’re in town just visiting while it’s going on in late August, you’ll be glad you went! 🎡🎠🎟️

The Greatest State Fair in the Country. Went three times this year and started going there about 55 years ago, each year and every year. I love it. Tons of people, great guilty-pleasure food, music, beers and rides.

Had the best time at the state fair for my first visit to MN! I was blown away by the amount of food vendors, the variety, how clean it is. Will definitely be back!

It definitely takes more than a few days to see everything due to the amount of people that are there when it is going on but was so very much fun to go in experience. Things that they had there indefinitely ride that skyline. Gives you a great view. I'm everything...