Guess what? Today is the last day of the Minnesota State Fair. The art, crafts, food, and animals have been judged. The performers have performed, the rides have given thrills and everything-on-a-stick has been eaten. After today the fairgrounds buildings will be closed and the thousands of people that crowded the streets will have vanished back to their lives outside those sacred three hundred square acres.
Images of the fair will linger in my mind for weeks to come. Who could forget canoeing raccoons?
And what could be more nostalgic than an old-fashioned side-show? “They’re all alive on the inside!” The headless woman, the human blockhead who hammers nails into his head, the woman who, before your very eyes, turns into an 800-pound gorilla! The best part of the side-show is the ballyhoo outside the tent, giving us a free taste of what we can see inside.
The people watching at the fair is phenomenal too. Sometimes you see people you knew from years ago. Sometimes you see people who look just like Rod Stewart. Hey, maybe that really is Rod Stewart!
And speaking of music, the state fair is the best place to go if you want to hear some old-time cowboy music and to watch the ghouls dance.
The Cactus Blossoms
Freddy, Scary Clown, Elvis and Michael Jackson dancing at the Haunted House. The Burger King is dancing with the monsters and the dead, as he is about the scariest creature there is.
What would the Minnesota State Fair be without putt-putt farm equipment and pirates?
Captain Jack Sparrow
September brings the beginning of autumn, the beginning of a new school year, and for my nephew Fojo, the beginning of adulthood. (Happy Birthday Fojo!) The sun will set on the Minnesota State Fair today, bringing to us a new season and 365 days to anticipate next year’s fair.
Auntie B's Wax 