Another County Fair

 Fairmont, MN

I am in Fairmont, just 8 mines from the Iowa border eating my porkchop on a stick!

The Martin County Fair

Today Donna and I drove south about an hour and 40 minutes to Fairmont, MN, the county seat of Martin County.  The drive took us through 6 new counties as we chip away at a Minnesota completion.  It was a really nice drive down US 169 Dude!  We saw a lot of cornfields because we were pretty much in Iowa.  We also saw a lot of old barns with grain silage.  

Donna didn't snap any photos of the barns but they all looked like this pretty much.

We arrived at the fairgrounds and found parking in a grass lot and then paid our $10 each to get in.  We were there at around 11:30 on a Tuesday so the crowds were light.

Marty is Martin County's mascot.  I guess Martin County is the Bacon Capital of The US.  It's the #1 pork producer in Minnesota.

We each got a porkchop on a stick at the official Martin County Pork Counsels building.  Other rando venders were selling them also but we wanted to support local pork.

I don't know why I took this.  We didn't enter to win although I would love the Bacon Capital T-Shirt.

Donna has wanted a porkchop on a stick since getting one last year at the Kanabec County Fair last year (see here).  Our memory is faulty because we both remembered the porkchop on a stick but it wasn't on a stick.  It was just as delicious as we remembered.

I know I am intimidated by whatever this is.

This is just before Donna got to pet the donkey.

Little Sebastian! 

You're going to want to stay clear of the beater.  It looks painful.

Can I get $10 for wearing one while I am in the grandstands?

I guess there is no data on what chickens look like in 2024.

The porkchop wasn't enough so we got some more food.  Donna wanted Pie

We ended up getting pie and a Hot Turkey Commercial (see below info)

The Hot Turkey Commercial is a regional name for a Hot Turkey or Hot Turkey Sandwich or Open Face Hot Turkey Sandwich or Turkey Manhattan.  I know of this dish as a Hot Turkey Sandwich and ate them a lot while working at Disneyland in the employee cafeteria.  The term commercial probably comes from the fact that it is served at school lunches and so it isn't a thing you would make at home much.  At any rate, it was good, salty, and fun to eat.  

I haven't thought of 7Up in a long time.  This clock is old.

On the way home we took a different rout home so we picked up another county.  Here is where we stand in Minnesota as of today.

The purple counties are this year's new counties.  We will grab a few more to the southeast this month.  We are approaching 50% Complete for Minnesota.

That's it for today.  If you missed, Swing Dancing in a Cave, check it out.

MN Summer Is In Full Swing

 Rochester, MN

The Olmsted County Fair

The other day Google surfaced a blog to me.  A blogger ranked the Minnesota County Fairs from 1st to worst so I took note and we added some of them to our list of things to do.  Last year we visited 2 county fairs here and loved them and they weren't even in the top 25 so this list of top 10 fairs must be amazing right?  

Our idea of a good fair is good food, seeing animals, and other weird stuff.  We aren't into the rides or the concerts so maybe the top ranked fairs aren't ranked for our tastes.

The fair complex also featured 4 hockey rinks.

What would be your snacking hat trick?  I think mine would be corn dog, hot dog, and popcorn.

We also got to visit the Rochester Hockey Hall of Fame for the price of admission, which was free.  It looks like the Stuart Family has had some success in hockey.

I didn't know animals could read.

We got to see medium sized goats

Tiny goats

This Jazzercize Goat

We got to see beavers cosplaying as rabbits.

Here you can see what the inside of a rabbit looks like.

This rabbit looks like they had been drinking all night and fell asleep leaning on the toilet.

We also got to see chickens.  They had crayons so you could color your own image of a chicken.

We visited the Olmsted County Milk Association.  So Milk!

We bought milk and saw a giant corn on the cob

We also saw lemonade.  I went around the corner to see if they had fudge but they did not.

This cabbage won grand champion.  It's a good looking cabbage.

These bell peppers won Reserve Champion just incase the cabbage can't fulfill it's duties.

Orange you Gladiola I didn't say Banana?

Someone won a ribbon for picking flowers.

Cow!

Donna and I saw some evidence of hoof performance enhancing going on.

We got to meet Nelson, the Underbite Champion of Olmsted County

I learned that there is an alpaca that grows acrylic fibers.

My milkshake brings all the milkers to the yard.

Donna got to meet a baby chick born a couple of days ago.

These facts fail to mention the part about them being invisible!

Donna also got to pet the tiniest baby goat.

This kid was indeed born yesterday.

The fair was a lot of fun but it wasn't exponentially more fun than the fairs I wrote about last year.  Here and Here.  

Torchlight Parade

Later that evening we walked outside to see The Torchlight Parade.  It's a part of the whole Aquatennial celebration here in Minneapolis.  The parade was right outside our front door so we had the stamina to watch it.  

We could see the parade staging from the elevator.

And out of our lobby.

We saw a few dance and drum corps which were the highlight for us.  These kids were so enthusiastic.

This group behind me was giving me a contact high.

The parade is a big advertisement for other county and city celebrations.  I guess Anoka County is known for its Halloween Parade.

Minneapolis is incredibly diverse.  We got to enjoy the Brazilian Dancers.

And the Dragon Dance.

This person went with the Back to the Future II car.  Bold choice!

Woodbury didn't bury the lead at all, Visit Woodbury Days says it all.

We got to see a Loon Mascot because Minnesota!

The Whiz Bang Days name is a bit dated but we might go.

There were also art cars associated with the parade.  This one had 2 working fountains.

That's it for today.  If you missed, Becoming a Pinball Tech, check it out.  I fix the flipper on our Tommy Pinball Table.