The Minnesota State Fair is all about stick-laden, stick-to-your-stomach food, livestock barns and giveaways. Unless it's about Machinery Hill, free music and cheap milk. Or the barkers for midway games and Ginsu knives, the seed art and Ye Old Mill. Or the slide, the Skyride and, of course, the people-watching.
But the fair also is about tradition and legacies -- and the trivial things.
What was the first food on a stick? (Pronto Pups in 1947.) How much butter goes into making the Princess Kay sculpture? (90 pounds.) What factor reduced attendance in 1875? (Grasshoppers.) How many mini-doughnuts are consumed every year? (4.1 million.)
So as a tasty -- and calorie-free-- appetizer before heading to those 320 wondrous acres of fried fare and hilarious hats, here's our Quiz on a Stick to prepare you for this year's festivities, which start Thursday.
1. Which musical act has made the most grandstand appearances?
- A. Kansas.
- B. Alabama.
- C. Chicago.
- D. Boston.
2. What provided the first evening performance at the grandstand in 1899?
- A. Harness racing and fireworks.
- B. A unicycle race.
- C. A re-enactment of the Battle of Santiago.
- D. An Alabama concert.
3. Who sold the most tickets for any concert?
- A. John Philip Sousa, in 1927.
- B. Frank Sinatra, in 1957.
- C. Christina Aguilera, in 2000.
- D. Kiss, in 2010.
4. In how many years were locomotive collisions staged at the grandstand?