Minnesota State Fair!

Yesterday, we went to the State Fair!! It was a glorious day with temps in the low 70's and no humidity! We could hardly believe how awesome the weather was!!  We got to the Fair at about 11:00 a.m. and had no trouble getting into a parking lot. We wandered through the cattle, swine and horse barns and then walked out into the sea of people.........

I can guarantee you that I did not go on that ride. My husband would have but he knew better than to ask me to go along. LOL!

The State Fair is home to lots of good food and so many things to see. The fries are sooo good!

These little piggies were so funny as they tried to get some food, too!

I'm not so fond of the Swine barn but I love seeing the cattle and the Horses!!

But, turns out we were there on the day that the draft horse events were ending and the quarterhorses began today, so only a few horses were in the stalls. We've petted this horse before....one of the two horses that pull the wagon at the Minnesota Zoo!

We were getting hungry so we headed to the Hamline Methodist Church dining hall. My husband had checked out the lunch possibilities before we got to the Fair. Fittingly, I had the Ham Loaf sliders and topped them off with a really tasty slice of cherry pie!

Then my husband and I went our separate ways.......he went to see some Eco exhibits and other stuff while I spent an hour and a half in the Creative Activites building. There were hundreds of gorgeous quilts, clothing, beaded items, etc. This quilt caught my eye as it is so similar to one that my great Aunt Bell made.

And this one caught my eye because of the color. A lady in a wheelchair next to me exclaimed "oh, I love the color way on this quilt" and then we saw on the big blue ribbon that it won for "Best Use of Color"!!

My favorite quilt was this one. It was absolutely gorgeous, beautiful applique and exquisite hand-quilting. It earned a blue ribbon and the Helen Kelley award. Helen was a well-known Minnesota quilter. I wish I knew who made the quilt but most items do not have a name showing. I would love to tell the maker of this quilt just how much I enjoyed seeing this!

A couple of years ago at the Fair, I saw some doll clothes that inspired me to go out and buy a kit for a 12" doll. I was so taken by the cute doll clothes and I don't have a granddaughter but I thought......I'll make a doll for me. Well, once again, someone made some adorable doll clothes, so I can see I must get that doll kit finished so I can make a cute wardrobe for it. Maybe someday I'll have a great-granddaughter and she'll enjoy playing with my doll.

My mother-in-law, Ora, was an accomplished china painter so she would have loved this beautiful piece of china. It took more than one award and I thought how lovely that they all were so color-coordinated to the piece of art!

There is always a parade in the afternoon and it started just after I left the Creative Activities building. Here's Princess Kay of the Milky Way and her court.........

Of course, there are bulls............this is a Hereford Bull.........

and big cows..........this one is a Holstein........

and here is the Minnesota Zoo wagon being pulled along by one of the horses you met earlier in this post................

There were several bands...........

and always firetrucks and a dalmation, of course!

When the parade was over, we walked along to the Horticulture building. The center of the hall looked so festive!

I checked out the ears of corn and then the flower exhibits. This one was in a category called "Lift Bridges". I liked how they used popsicle sticks to make their Lift Bridge!

And these beautiful lavendar and purple flowers caught my eye, in part because the ribbons it won matched the colors in the arrangement!

I love to check out the "seed art" and so did a lot of other people. It was crowded and I was short. ;-)

It is just amazing what artistry there is in the simple seeds that grow plants!

All day, I had been looking forward to going here.........to Rosebud's Cottage! It's located in the West End Market section of the Fair. There were so many vendors in the Market but I found just what I wanted here. More on that in another post. :-)

Then it was time for a snack. My husband wanted to ride the monorail so he went on that and I headed back to check out the horses and cows one more time. And I got a corn dog on the way there. This is the kind of "selfie" one takes when you get the giggles while taking a photo. LOL!

There were even fewer horses in the Horse building but a young lady had this pretty little horse on display. She had braided the horse's mane and it looked so pretty!

I meandered through the cattle barn where there were many, many cows to see. This pair were sleeping in almost identical positions. Had to take a photo of them............

This cow kept inching along as if to say to the other cows...."would one of you please move so I can lay down?"

And then this pair were nuzzling each other and it was just too cute. Yes, it really was.

And that was just about the end of our day. One last photo of my husband who is wearing his blue ribbon pin. He successfully visited all the historic fair buildings and earned the pin and got a print of four vintage State Fair posters. They are neat and I'm going to frame them.

It was a grand day! We've never enjoyed the Fair as much as we did today. Hope you enjoyed going along with us in our photos!

Sandi