Minnesota State Fair
| Minnesota State Fair | |
|---|---|
The State Fair Gopher 'Fairchild' greets fairgoers. | |
| Genre | State fair |
| Dates | 12 days before and including Labor Day |
| Location(s) | Falcon Heights, Minnesota |
| Years active | 1859–Present (excluding 1861, 1862, 1893, 1945, 1946, 2020) |
| Attendance | 2,126,551 (2019) |
| Website | www.mnstatefair.org |
The Minnesota State Fair is the state fair of the U.S. state of Minnesota. Also known by its slogan, "The Great Minnesota Get-Together", it is the largest state fair in the United States by average daily attendance and the second-largest state fair in the United States by total attendance, trailing only the State Fair of Texas, which generally runs twice as long as the Minnesota State Fair. The state fairgrounds, adjacent the Saint Paul campus of the University of Minnesota, are in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, midway between the state's capital city of Saint Paul and the adjacent city of Roseville, near the Como Park and Saint Anthony Park neighborhoods of Saint Paul. Residents of the state and region come to the fair to be entertained, exhibit their best livestock, show off their abilities in a variety of fields including art and cooking, learn about new products and services, and eat many different types of food—often on a stick. The Minnesota State Fair was named the best state fair in the United States in 2015 by readers of USA Today.
The fair runs for twelve days from late August into early September, ending on Labor Day. Around two million people attend the fair annually. Attendance in 2019 was a record 2,126,551 people. The highest daily attendance in the history of the fair was 270,426 visitors on Saturday, September 1, 2018.