Mini-State Fair brings thousands, sense of normalcy to Minnesota State Fairgrounds

The Giant Slide was open. Bands were out. Thousands of people were able to walk through the Minnesota State Fairgrounds, mostly without masks and with the smell of bacon, cheese curds and freshly baked cookies.

"Mini doughnuts!" shouted a group of boys running up to a booth on Monday, their parents lagging behind, as a sense of normalcy returned, if only for five days.

About 70,000 people attended this mini-State Fair, a fundraiser that ended Memorial Day to help the fair and some of its vendors recoup losses from the pandemic-canceled 2020 event.

It felt almost normal, said Connie Hune of St. Paul, who goes to the fair every year.

The smaller crowds reminded her of the regular fair's early mornings, before it begins to fill up.

"They're missing some things like funnel cakes and slushies for the kids," Hume said. "But for a smaller version of the fair this is pretty good."

The State Fair lost $16 million after canceling last year. It was too early to tell how much the event was able to raise throughout the week, said spokeswoman Danielle Dullinger. "It's been a tough year but we're just so thrilled we can actually bring people together again on the grounds where they can try some food, go down the Giant Slide, see live entertainment and just get a taste of the fair again after going without it for 20 or so months," she said.

The State Fair will be held from Aug. 26 to Sept. 6. Organizers are still determining whether it will open at full capacity or if there will be attendance restrictions.

Tickets were sold to the mini-fair through an online lottery. The event was planned before anyone knew if it would be able to go forward. Fortunately, Dullinger said, gathering restrictions were raised as vaccination rates have climbed to allow up to 10,000 people through the gates at a time. It was essentially a stripped-down version of the fair, with 24 food and drink vendors compared with the normal 300.

There were no animals or newborn calves taking their first steps. No misting stations to cool off from the sun. The Department of Natural Resources' native park was in full bloom but the pond was drained, leaving the shell of an empty pool.

But hundreds of people and families were able to eat some of the fair's staple foods. Two lines formed in front of the Pronto Pups stand, with people waiting for well over an hour.

"It's kind of heartwarming," said owner Gregg Karnis.

Pronto Pups is coming up on its 75th year at the fair, and it has now survived two health-related shutdowns — COVID-19 in 2020 and a polio scare that closed the fair in the 1940s, Karnis said.

"After so many years, it takes things like this pandemic and the closure to realize how important we are to a lot of people," he said. "To stay in line that long and for everyone's attitude to be through the roof happy and exhilarated. It was a good event."

Lines also stretched in front of other food vendors, including the Perfect Pickle, which sells giant pickles on a stick and deep-fried pickle slices.

When people got to the end of the line, most were excited or just thanked the vendors for being there, said owners Jeff Watson and David Finger.

"You look in the crowd and nobody really has a mask on and I think you can tell people are excited to be back and to feel normal," Finger said.

The mini-fair was a good teaser for the real thing, said Marc Jacobson, who takes his family to the fair multiple times a year.

Jacobson said they went to the drive-in parade of food vendors that the fair held last year. Everyone stayed in their cars, which just couldn't compare to the real thing.

"We missed walking around," Jacobson said.

Amy Woodward of Falcon Heights also takes her daughter, Marais, to the fair each year. This week she was able to take her on Marais' 13th birthday.

"I just missed the feeling of getting together with everybody. Everyone is welcome, everything is upbeat, the food," said Woodward. "The people, the camaraderie of it all."