It’s time for my annual recap of our trips to the fair. We did opening day a little differently than most years where we all have the day off and go together. One big difference this year is that I no longer have a parking spot on the St. Paul campus which meant a different way to get to the fair. And I didn’t have enough vacation days to take the opening day off. Instead, hubby and Miss M met each other at the fair and I met up with them a few hours later.
All the lots had filled up by before noon I believe but I know there is a first wave of people who went to the fair early and after lunch, they were ready to head for home. I timed it perfectly and found a parking spot about 3:00 on opening day. And the bus came five minutes later. On other trips we weren’t as lucky and had to wait for a bus for about 30 minutes once. Taking the bus is a great option for us as there are many lots nearby to park for free and the bus takes you to the fair for free. We even tried a different lot this year because we had volunteered for a 2 hour stint at my new department’s tables at U of M Central in the Crossroads building. And that was a Sunday which meant that all the church lots around us didn’t open until 1:00 and we had to be there at 11:00 so we parked in another lot not owned by a church. It went amazingly well :)
We had lots of fun at the fair again this year. Great food, great company, great art and great stuff in the agriculture building, as usual. Fantastic crop art again this year and you’ll see some of that in my galleries below. We saw some animals and old tractors too.
For the floral displays in the center of the agriculture building this year was a theme of “Minnesota Grown”. Here’s the wording from the fair’s website:
This year’s floral extravaganza features large-scale handcrafted and personalized designs created by local florists to celebrate the lives of iconic “Minnesota Grown” hometown legends such as Judy Garland, Charles Schulz, Prince and others.
I really enjoyed this year’s floral extravaganza. I actually never knew it was called an extravaganza. The things one learns. Below is a gallery of those displays. I loved it so much I had to take a second and third look. See what you think.
Next, some scenes at the fair:
Another great year for art, both in the art building and the crop art in the agriculture building:
To end, here are some antique machines and some animals that we saw:
travels with toby 
Toby, I love the iconic art and pictures. I feel like I was there with you, except for the sounds and smells. Thanks, Keith
Thanks! Glad you liked them.
Well… I feel some people have too much time on their hands. Folding magazines? Wow. But I do like the political art – though I’ve not a clue what crop art is (I guess I could Google it, but I “don’t” have so much time on my hands…. ) Nice array of pics, as usual!
Glad you enjoyed the photos. Here’s the wikipedia’s definition of crop art: Crop art is an environmental art practice using plants and seeds in the landscape to create statements, marks and/or images.
also, if you look to the left of the crop art of Stan Lee you’ll see a card the artist put together with all the materials used in that piece.
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