The Star Tribune's lip balm flavor for this year's State Fair is ...

It's an iconic pairing that won't disappoint.

August 18, 2022 at 10:00AM
The new flavor of Star Tribune lip balm. (Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

It's not every day that a lip balm induces hunger pangs. Then again, it's not every day that the Star Tribune turns to a Twin Cities breakfast icon for its new lip balm flavor.

This year we celebrate the State Fair debut of Dinkytown mainstay Al's Breakfast. The restaurant's pancakes — both blueberry and original — will be available at the Hamline Church Dining Hall, and the flavor of its blueberry pancakes will be available in lip balm form at the Star Tribune's booth (syrup not included).

Getting yours is easy. The Star Tribune will be giving away its "Blueberry 'cakes" lip balm daily at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. (one per person, while supplies last) starting Aug. 25, the fair's opening day. Find us on Carnes Avenue, at the end of the grandstand ramp. Don't wait too long — they disappear faster than you can flip a pancake.

Last year's flavor was Sweet Martha's Cookies, the first time the Star Tribune collaborated with a State Fair vendor for its lip balm. Previous years brought a litany of out-of-the-box flavors, including bacon, buttered corn, ketchup and mustard, pickle, brat, fresh-cut grass, mini-doughnut, French fry, "stick," "traffic cone," root beer and cheese curd.

What should next year's flavor be? E-mail your suggestions to taste@startribune.com.

about the writer

about the writer

Nicole Hvidsten

Taste Editor

Nicole Ploumen Hvidsten is the Minnesota Star Tribune's senior Taste editor. In past journalistic lives she was a reporter, copy editor and designer — sometimes all at once — and has yet to find a cookbook she doesn't like.

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