After a record-setting year for attendance, the Great Minnesota Get-Together is set to grow even bigger. And so are its admission prices.
The Minnesota State Fair's board on Sunday approved nearly $20 million in improvements and maintenance projects. Most of the money will pay for a new exhibit complex on the north end of the grounds, where Machinery Hill once dominated.
The complex, now under construction, will feature a 12,000-square-foot exhibit hall to house annually changing museum-quality exhibits.
Very little on the north end was permanent, said Jerry Hammer, the fair's general manager. "Now we are bringing some of that permanency there, creating a whole new neighborhood."
The board also approved a $1 increase in admission fees for the 2019 fair, citing rising costs in facilities upkeep and services such as the free Park & Ride system.
Tickets are available at last year's pre-fair prices through Feb. 1 on the fair's website.
Before factoring in the capital improvement costs, the expense the fair took on for every visitor last year was about $18, Hammer said. That amount is subsidized by what the fair takes in for food and space rental. Admission prices usually rise every few years.
"I'd still stack the value of the fair ticket up against anyone else," Hammer said. "We've always given you more than your money's worth and we'll continue to do that."