MY STATE FAIR

I grew up in a large family (9) and a trip to the Fair was the thing we looked forward to every year -- my mom used to enter quilts & crochet every year until 1963 ... I was given the last quilt she made to enter -- Mother Goose Tales all in appliqué -- I loved it until it was nothing but a rag ... as an adult my mother gave me an appliqué/piecing quilt she had planned to enter but just lost interest in (no I haven't even touched it, I don't really have an interest either)

Our family could go, spend the entire day - opening to closing of the Midway - for around $100 (I think, I never asked but I can't see my father ever spending more than that).

It always started at the Church Dining Hall (there was only one and it burned down several years ago) for a quick meal - it was veeeerrrryyy good - I just didn't like green beans at the time and they seemed to always have green beans on the menu

Then my brothers would get their money and scatter, but always in pairs ... Frank & Pete, Tom & John, Joe & Dan .... I got some much appreciated time, and spoilage, with my parents.

I have no idea what my brothers did but my folks and I would go to the auto races (when the Grandstand was used for what it was designed for, races .... only it used to be HORSE races), then we'd go inside or "UNDER THE GRANDSTAND" and see all the new "barkers" and see what was offered for FREE, Ma always made sure we'd get to the Catholic booth for their free rosaries - usually just string & plastic beads, but they were nice to get - the cardboard fans with advertising on them from the massaging chair people, the free trials of those chairs, and dipping our hands into the whirlpool equipped pool in the middle of the floor ... the absolute best was the Hammond organ display.

Way before I was born but well after my folks were married (around child 4 or 5 I think) Dad & Ma were Under the Gandstand when they found the organ guy was gone, on break I guess, so Dad ... well you've gotta know about Dad, he played completely by ear, he could hear a tune and BOOM he could figure out how to play it on the accordion (not the Concertina, that didn't come until much later) so he looked at the organ, pressed a couple keys and then sat down and started pumping out the tunes!!!

Lots of polkas, some Glenn Miller, Tommy/Jimmy Dorsey, he was having a blast! He also drew quite a crowd - and every one was interested in buying an organ when they found out it was the FIRST time Dad had sat down to it!
The salesman GAVE my Dad the organ for FREE - all he had to do was play the organ for the rest of the time the salesman was on shift that day!  So for the next 3 hours I guess Dad played every tune he knew, even religious stuff, and never repeated a single tune (at least that's I remember Ma saying, but perhaps it's just a daughter's memory of her father)

At 3pm we HAD TO meet up at the car -- no if, ands or buts ... parking was FREE then too.  Ma had packed a picnic lunch of pickles, chips, apples, and either a loaf of bread with lunch meat or a box of Banquet Fried Chicken - since she kept it in the trunk of the dark car (Dad liked Black cars for the longest time) the heat in the trunk would "cook" the chicken - and we never got food poisoning either (she gave me that picnic basket some 20 years ago - it holds a very special place in my heart)

From here it was Midway time - dad doled out the money again and swoosh the boys were gone!  Sometimes Ma & Dad would take me to The Barn to see the cows getting milked, the pigs lounging about, or the sheep being judged - but we nevertheless stayed for very long, I didn't like the smell after the heat of the day and mom said she had allergies to all the hay.  Oh but they were fun to watch -- one year we even found the horses stable and I got to pet one

We would stop by the Milk booth - all the milk you could drink for 5¢ as long as you didn't lose the cup ... in the 70s they switched to small 5oz paper cups which simply could not last for very long and the price was raised to 25¢ for all you could drink - I don't even know if they even have that booth any more

Ma always wanted to go to the Womans Building to see what the other ladies were doing, and I don't think any of the work could equal my MA's!  That was a fun building ... that and the K-9 building!  When my folks joined St. Paul Dog Training Club and the Twin City Poodle Club they got to be in that building -- the obedience club did demonstrations, and the Poodle club was there on Poodle Day where they gave out information on the breed and showed the tricks their dogs knew ... I thought it was great - but this was before a/c and when it got to 90F the building was sweltering!  Many dogs were getting way over heated - they still have this building but now it's climate controlled and each dog is REQUIREDto have fresh water available at all times not just a shared dish.

When I was a little kid until high school there was a Grand Carosel there - it's well over 100 years old by now ... and it was the only ride I knew I would be going on - once in a great while I got to go on others, but always there was the Carosel ... there was gold foiling (not just paint) on some of the horses, and I swear I remember some had jewels on them too ... Ma always wanted to sit in one of the sleigh things but I wanted to sit on one of those horses and bob up & down!! I still love the Carosel - but his one has been moved, the family/company who owned it found out how much it was worth and sold it even though there's was a great outcry not to do i


I remember the the night the guy who ran the pony rides (yes we used to have them here, before PETA) - he let me ride for free ... dad had ran out of money and all the boys were showing up, I think the guy simply took pity on me - not that we ever asked for any ... 
It was the last ride of the night and he took us (there were like 3 other kids there) around a couple of extra times.  He got a hugs from a strange kid with pony tails and think glasses.

I want with my folks to the Fair up until about 9th grade -- the parking was no longer Free ($5/car) and the aisles the entrance fee to like  $10  a person (although it may not have been quite that high) ... I was the only kid home but there was a lot of crap going on I wasn't aware of until the end of the year ... 

I did get o again with a friend in 10th grade to see a concert (I couldn't hear for days) ... and then with my best friend in our Senior year in high school, but it was really just a way for her to meet up with her boyfriend (15 yrs her elder and I didn't really like him, but he turned out not to be too bad, they're still married after 35 years) I hated being the "3rd wheel" ... and the Fair had lost its glimmer to me ...

After I got married and had kids we went back ... ONCE ... it cost $15/person, $10/ages 4-12yrs, under 4 was FREE ... we had to pay $10 for our 4 year old - could not believe it ... 
very few free things -- the Rosaries were still there (now offered by MCCL), food prices were outrageous!  $5 for a corn dog! 

It has gotten ridiculous ... even though we have 4 children, only the first 2 got to ever go with us... it's so sad - I have so many happy memories that wanted my kids to have but it just never happened.  I did share other things, but until my kids got old enough to earn their own money and go with friends they never got to go.

This year I heard it cost $15 to get in, but there's a way to get in for only $12.50 -- even people who WORK at the Fair - whether it be for a business or for the Fair itself -- have to actually PAY to get in!!!!! 

That's ridiculous