How I Plan My Fair Days

My schedule is mostly dictated by the day of the week and much less by what is happening any given day. I always go the first day of the fair because I love being there on day one. I never go on Saturdays because it is busy. I go most of the remaining days! Because I go frequently the daily schedule is less of a concern for me. You are likely limiting your State Fair experience to one day, here is the information you may want to take into consideration for planning your visit.

Decide what is important to you and use that to select a day to visit the fair. Do you want to see a specific show? Are there a particular animal you want to visit? Do you want to save money? The fair has full daily schedules available for each day of the fair.

If you can only attend on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday the crowds will be larger; arrive as early as possible to avoid as much of the crowd as possible. On Fridays and Sundays I typically leave the fair no later than 3PM.

Discount Days

The fair hosts multiple discount days; this year’s discount days are:

• Thrifty Thursday – August 23rd
• Seniors and Kids Day – August 27th
• Military Appreciation Day – August 28th
• Read and Ride Day – August 29th
• Seniors Day – August 30th
• Kids and Last Chance Day – September 3rd

Discount days offer discounted admission tickets and various additional discounts from vendors. The full list of discounts and freebies is available on the MN State Fair site.

Free Entertainment

Next, check the free live music and shows schedule to determine if you may want to see a particular show. (I’m assuming if you had an interest in a paid Grandstand show, you’ve already got that covered.) Most shows are at the fair for a 3 day tour. The evening entertainment is typically a more popular act and only on stage for 1 or 2 nights. The Family Fair Stage has kid-friendly entertainment all day, every day.

Animals

Check the daily schedule for animal exhibits. The state fair puts on an amazing livestock competition and free horse shows. I watched barrel racing for the first time last year and I’ll be back this year. Do you want to see rabbits or llamas? What about the chickens? The barns change over a couple of times during the fair so you want to check the schedule for your favorite animals and shows.

The Lee & Rose Warner Coliseum offers free horse shoes every day of the fair, but the show is different every day. Draft horses show August 24th-27th and barrel racing is September 1st-3rd. There are also English and Western shows and various breed specific shows.

Time of Day

Time of day is important unless, like me, you plan multiple days over 12 hours. Certain fair activities only happen once per day and some activities are best enjoyed at a time of day. Here is a list of my time-based activities.

• CHS Miracle of Birth Center – go early; this exhibit is wonderful and NUTS all at the same time. This is best enjoyed early in the day. The exhibit opens at 9:00 am.
• Barns – go early; the barns get very warm later in the day. I’m not even going to comment on barn hours. View barn hours for the day you are visiting the fair here. Barn hours vary by day and by barn. Generally barns are open at 9am. Please note that the livestock in the barns changes over multiple times during the fair and the barns close early on change days.
• State Fair Parade – daily at 2:00
• St. Paul Police K9 Demo – daily at 7:00 pm. If you have never seen this demo it is well worth your time. The K9 officers and their dog partners are engaging, funny, and provide a great demonstration of the amazing abilities of K9 officers.

Tomorrow’s post will focus on tips. My Mom and I will be writing a post tomorrow on a day at the fair with kids, but I expect it to take us a significant amount of time. Look for a kid focused post on Wednesday.

I had a long day today. I am posting this without proofing – forgive any mistakes!