The MN State Fair With Sharon - Day 2

Day 2 at the Minnesota State Fair is always our full day. We're there as soon as the first bus can get us to the gates, and we often stay until the fireworks after the evening concert (they usually are sent up between 10:00 and 10:45 pm) after DH has joined us after work. We didn't make it quite that long this time, but we did stay past sunset and wandered through the Midway, lighted everywhere by moving lights and bright neon. It's our major day for exploration and to return and purchase things we saw and wanted from the previous day. We also know that Day 3 will be shared with DH and Chickie, so Saturday is our main "must see this and do this" day. Warning - today's blog is photo-heavy. So ... here we go - a full day at the Fair. 

We started out with a peach-filled scone and cup of coffee. Sitting
at the table, we were joined by a talkative woman who worked
at the Bonsai exhibit in the Horticulture building. We actually had
toured the exhibit on Day 1. She also told us about her husband of
more than 50 years having proposed to her on that very day at
the Minnesota State Fair. Sweet! 

After breakfast we headed west to the animal barns and exhibits. Although
it sometimes doesn't seem like it, the State Fair is also an active livestock
fair with hundreds of milk cows, sheep, pigs, goats, horses,  rabbits and
chickens being exhibited and judged. Minnesota is a largely rural state and
the chance to show your animal in the State Fair is huge. Here, cows are
waiting their turn to pass into the Colosseum for judging.  

We continued through the cow barn which is huge with hundreds of cows,
and went through to the Swine Barn to look at the piglets and the
largest boar. 

The piglets were already pretty big, all crowded on top of Mama for
milk, and all grunting and rooting for a better position. 

Next to the piglet pen was the Largest Boar pen, with one very big,
very lazy boar named Charlie. He's not the biggest we're ever had
exhibited, I think that one was more than 1400 pounds, but
Charlie was impressive. 

He's definitely a big boy, just lazing around during his twelve
days at the Fair. I picked up my "I Went To The Oink Booth"
paper headband, affixed it around my hat, and we were off
once again. 

On our way to the Horticulture building, we also walked the aisles of
the milk goats in the Sheep and Goats building. These three were
a fine example of milk goats waiting their turns in the ring. I've always
loved goats, so walking through the aisles, looking at the various
breeds and petting and stroking a few of them always makes my day. 

The other half of the Sheep Barn building is the Poultry Barn half. This
switches between poultry, ducks and geese, and rabbits - usually meat
rabbits, but also rare breed exhibitors. This lovely velveteen lop-eared
bunny caught my eye. So soft and so sweet. 

A quick stop at the fish pond and wander through the DNR (Department
of Natural Resources) building, and Sharon saw an old friend. I couldn't
resist a photo of Sharon and Smokey, together again. 

We then proceeded to the Horticulture Building and waited
in a VERY long line for the Crop Art exhibit. A word of
explanation about crop art. The pictures must be made from
seeds ONLY. The detail work on them is amazing and
skilled. I'm only showing you the Blue Ribbon winners here.
I took WAY more photos of the crop art than just the
blue ribbons. 

You might get a better idea of the seeds by looking at this lovely
example. You can see the texture as well as the list of seeds used
below it. 

I loved this one - Harold Lloyd, if I'm remembering the old movie
correctly. It's a beautiful job and that cutout form isn't easy to
fill properly. 

I really loved the brilliant colors here. The artists
are allowed to dye or color their seeds, and this
dragon was beautifully done. 

The text in each of the boxes is also done with seeds. The detail work
in this piece was amazing. 

The Junior Crop Art Champion did a view of
one of our tourism campaign posters. I love the
mix of large and small seeds giving the podium
a rough look and adding dimension to the
background trees. DAMN, that reminds me - we
didn't wander through the Christmas Trees this
year. Oh well, can't catch everything. 

The Reserve Champion was a twelve-year-old from
Saint Paul. Really not bad at all for that young age. 

For "Hamilton" fans, this one should look familiar. It
richly deserved the Blue Ribbon it was awarded. 

The last Saturday of the Fair is always a busy and crowded day. I know many
of you will look at this scene of packed people and shiver. It's really not
that bad, and there are always open spaces available too. The main streets
can be crowded in some areas, but the crowds lessen a little farther on. On
this Saturday we had 266,412 people attending, on our way to a record
attendance of 2,126,551 for this year's State Fair. 

We dropped by the Grandstand a second time to purchase some
T-shirts and other items that we had seen on Friday. I loved
this hat on Sharon, but she said it was too large and didn't
buy it. I think she looks really cute in it, though. 

Our final meal of the day was two new foods from RC's Bar-B-Que.
The Jammin' Grilled Cheese was a grilled cheese with bar-b-que brisket
and a sweet onion jam. It was fabulous. The Hot Hen to the left was
barbecued potato chips smothered in pulled chicken, jalapeno peppers,
and two different types of blue cheese. I'd eat either/both of these again. 

DH came out after work and we continued wandering the Fair. I had TONS more photos, but really, I've probably photo-bombed you enough. After a long wait for our bus, we returned home and totally crashed. Tomorrow's post will be Sunday at the Fair. I'm sure it's going to be less photos, just because we were with DH and Chickie, so we were moving throughout the Fairgrounds with a different cadence and focus. Have a great Thursday and I'll return with Day 3 tomorrow.