Over Labor Day weekend I visited my brother and sister-in-law in Minneapolis. This was my first time in the Twin Cities, and as I had multiple geography classes at Calvin with Professor Bjelland who used the Twin Cities as an example for every lesson, I was very excited to explore the cities.

We enjoyed the typical tourist activities such as a walk downtown, an amazing free art museum, and some great restaurants. Owamni, a Native American restaurant with only pre-columbian exchange ingredients, might deserve its own writeup. With a park system that routinely wins national awards, we were able to walk to multiple parks from their house. We even fit in a bit of an architecture tour around Cathedral Hill and the Cathedral of Saint Paul. All told, the Twin Cities lived up to their hype, and they imposed a rare desire within me to live in a larger city than Grand Rapids.

The most impressive part of the trip, however, was a last second decision to attend the Minnesota State Fair. So instead of an unnecessarily philosophical piece on urban living vs my desire to be in the woods all of the time, here are my five favorite things I experienced at the Minnesota State Fair!

5. Ranch Riding Horse Show

I know nothing about horses, but it is always fun to watch a show like this. I believe this category was actual ranchers and their horses performing realistic moves that are used in their everyday work. As we did not know anything about the scoring, guessing which riders won was an additional fun twist. We only stopped in for one short competition, but there appeared to be virtually non-stop action in the surprisingly large coliseum. It was a nice break from the crowd, and it had me trying to remember the last time I rode a horse.

4. Department of Natural Resources Building

I love a good DNR exhibit as much as anyone, and this was a great exhibit. All of the classics were there: animal pelts, native reptile exhibits, a live barred owl, and lots of taxidermied animals. A boat building urban ministry program was showcasing some of their work and building boats on site. Outside the building, a large pond held hundreds of native fish species, including catfish, gar, suckers, and even sturgeon.

3. Scale

From my understanding, if you live in the Twin Cities area, the question is not if you are going to the fair, but when and how often. It was astounding how big this event was. I would classify myself as a city boy that roleplays as a country guy when it comes to outdoor recreation, but that has never extended into visiting any county fairs in west Michigan, and I was not prepared. This was permanent infrastructure, paved roads, way too much to do, and over 100,000 daily attendees. The crowd picked up the longer we were there, and yes, it was borderline overwhelming, but there is a certain excitement I found in being at an event this large. After we left I had to look up some numbers, and I learned it’s the largest state fair in the country by average daily attendance. The population of Minnesota is around 5.8 million, and the fair typically receives two million attendees over twelve days.

2. Food

Of course food is going to make this list. That’s why you go to fairs, right? We started with Pronto Pups much too early in the morning for a corn dog and followed them with beer flights much too early before lunch. Next was the main course, chicken shawarma wraps with an excellent lemonade. Maybe not typical fair food, but it was delicious. For dessert, Martha’s Cookies sells cookies by the bucket and by the cup. Having already had lunch, we opted for the cup. One of their cookie stalls was next to an all-you-can-drink milk stand which feels like a uniquely midwest experience. On the way out we passed a fried pickle stand and debated the impact on our palates of cookies followed by pickles and decided against it.

1. Crop Art

This was the biggest surprise and my favorite part of the fair. Contestants created art pieces with only Minnesota grown seeds, stems, and other parts of plants. These art pieces included portraits, memes, and numerous reproductions of famous paintings. They were amazing, and some of my favorites included a number of takes on Girl with a Pearl Earring featuring native Minnesota fauna instead of a girl, a comical version of the quite dark Saturn Devouring his Son featuring an ear of corn, and a beautiful version of Van Gogh’s Olive Trees that we later saw in the Minnesota Institute of Art. This was easily the longest line we waited in and definitely worth it.

All told, it was an amazingly unique experience, and one I hope to do again sometime. I just have to make it to the fried pickle stand before the cookies.

Nathan Hilbrands

Nathan Hilbrands (’21) graduated with degrees in geography and environmental health and conservation. He is currently working for the Allegan Conservation District as a watershed technician. He enjoys collecting National Geographic issues that he rarely looks at again, playing disc golf a lot without improving, and trying new board games.