"In the lead-up to the Minnesota State Fair, a twelve-day fête of starch and fat which marks the end of every summer, the event's organizers release a highly anticipated list of competitively decadent new fair foods. The débutantes of 2025 included chicken-fried bacon, Grandma Doreen's Dessert Dog (vanilla ice cream encased in slabs of coffee cake, on a stick), and the Uncrustaburger (with deep-fried peanut-butter-and-jelly Uncrustables instead of a bun)."
"The fair dates back to the eighteen-fifties, and was conceived as a showcase of the state's flourishing agriculture, meant to attract settlers who might have otherwise continued to California. Today it sprawls across a permanent three-hundred-and-twenty-two-acre fairgrounds in St. Paul and draws some two million people a year. Attractions include kitschy traditions such as a butter-sculpting demonstration, in which a master carver crafts a bust of the winner of the annual Princess Kay of the Milky Way pageant,"
Many staffers at Sweet Martha's Cookie Jar begin as teenagers, and some remain committed for life. The Minnesota State Fair is a twelve-day event featuring competitive, decadent new foods alongside time-honored classics. Recent novelties included chicken-fried bacon, a coffee-cake–encased ice-cream Dessert Dog, and the Uncrustaburger. New vendors reflect changing demographics, offering items like a tahini-butter Fawaffle and Somali Street Fries. The fair originated in the eighteen-fifties to showcase agriculture and now covers 322 acres in St. Paul, drawing about two million people annually. Attractions include butter sculpting and a Miracle of Birth Center, while beloved stalls sell iconic fried cheese curds.
Read at The New Yorker
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