State Fair 2018 (First Visit) - CHS Miracle of Birth Center

Saturday, September 25, 2018

According to the according to the State Fair walking tour brochure:

"CHS Miracle of Birth Center"

"Opened 2001, moved to current location 2006"

"Then: Oohing and ahhing over baby animals has been a fair tradition since 1956, when the Future Farmers of America (now the National FFA Organization) created the Children's Barnyard. The Miracle of Birth Center exhibit joined the Children's Barnyard in 2001 and gave fairgoers a chance to reflect on the importance of four-legged creatures to Minnesota's well-being. Quickly outgrowing its space, it moved to its current location and was renamed CHS Miracle of Birth and FFA Chapter House & Leadership Center."

"Now: About a million visitors come to see 150 to 200 calves, goats, piglets, and lambs being born during the run of the fair. Animal species are chosen based on their tolerance for people watching their birthing process. The Minnesota Veterinary Medical Association coordinates over 150 volunteer veterinarians to staff the center, as well as University of Minnesota interns and FFA members who feed and care for the animals."

Minnesota State Fair 2001 Part 2

I remember on our 2001 visit to the fair Dale and I saw Paul Wellstone, the U.S. senator from Minnesota, and his wife Sheila doing a meet and greet over by Machinery Hill. We thought about getting in line to shake their hands but the line looked long and it was starting to get later in the afternoon. Dale and I had been there since about noon and we were getting tired and ready to go home. "Next time", we thought. Sadly, Paul Wellstone, his wife and daughter were in a private plane that crashed shortly before the election in 2002. All on board were killed.

In the summer of 2002, just months before his death, I did the Twin Cities to Chicago AIDS Ride. As I was riding down Summit Avenue in St. Paul with no one in front or behind me for a few blocks I noticed a man with a handmade sign standing all by himself on a corner. As I rode by he yelled out some words of encouragement. I said thank you and only moments later realized that it was Paul Wellstone. He didn't have an entourage around him and there was no media there because that's just the kind of guy he was. I sure he just showed up on his own.

I found the above photo on the internet. It shows Senator Wellstone and two women at the Minnesota State Fair.

Minnesota State Fair 2001 - Food

Dale and I had never been to the fair together before. We decided to go in 2001. Shortly before the fair we had started a new diet called Body-for-Life. It was a great diet that focused on eating six small reasonably portioned meals a day that were balanced between protein and carbohydrates. The part of the diet I really liked is that it offered a free day where you could eat as much of anything you wanted including junk foods. That year we made sure that our trip to the fair fell on our free day. We worked out at our downtown Minneapolis gym that morning and then hopped a downtown bus that dropped us off right at the gates of the fair. Just before catching the bus we stopped by a coffee shop and each got a chocolate chocolate chip muffin and a personal sized bottle of orange juice. At the fair we each got the foods we really wanted to eat. I know for sure that I got the Tom Thumb mini-donuts, a corn dog and corn on the cob. I know I got a lot more but that's all I can remember for sure. We stayed until the late afternoon/early evening and took a bus back to our car in downtown Minneapolis. It was quite a day of food and fun.