State Fair 2019 (Second Visit) - The Giant Slide

Friday, August 30, 2019

We made it to The Giant Slide and discovered the line for tickets to be very short. Dale surprised me by saying he wanted to go so we purchased a couple tickets, hopped in line, grabbed our mats and made the hike up the stairs. 

This year is the 50th anniversary of the Giant Slide.

The line for tickets was short.

Lots of steps to get to the top.

Obviously it takes longer to get to the top than down to the bottom.

Quite fun for just $2.50. Wow, 1969, 50 years ago. I don't exactly remember it but Mom says I was there. Mom, Dad, Grandma Alice and Grandpa Louie came in the late 1960s starting the year or maybe the year after I was born. I'm still attending more than half a century later. 

State Fair 2013 - Midway

Next we took a rather thorough tour of the Midway. We didn't play any games. We didn't ride any rides. We just watched. It was crowded and noisy but, oh, what a good time people were having. It was really quite fun to watch. I remember being at the Fair when I was little. My younger brother Sam was in a stroller  which would have made him one or two and me four or five. Grandma Alice and Grandpa Louie were in town from up north to go visit the fair with us. We were just outside the midway because I remember looking in at all all the bright lights. Grandma had gotten a little stuffed toy somewhere at the Fair and I remember her handing it to Sam in his stroller. It don't recall us going in the Midway but I do remember the appeal and excitement that it seemed to offer. It was dark and probably just about time for us to leave so Sam and I coulc get to bed. It's still a lot of fun - even if you just watch.

In Leavenworth

I'm in Leavenworth, KS visiting my brother Sam and his family (he's in the military, not the prison). We went to a rib joint for dinner tonight and were reminiscing about going to the fair as kids.  I talked about saving money a little bit at a time for the whole year and also saving some of the Eisenhower silver dollars that Grandma Alice would give us for our birthdays and on holidays. I remember one year we went, Mom pulled out a light jacket for me since it was starting to get cool at night aroud the time of the fair and finding 20 dollars in the jacket pocket. I really felt like a big spender that year. We talked about starting out at the Mexican Village and getting Mexican food, which I loved, and then shopping in the market after that. We also talked about getting our photographs taken and having them put onto buttons that we could wear. I asked Sam if he knew the difference between corn dogs and pronto pups. He didn't. I told him that I had only found out in the last couple years - a pronto pup batter is flour based and a corn dog's batter is corn based. These buttons were probably taken in 1973 and 1974.

Minnesota State Fair Memories

I have some very early memories of attending the Minnesota State Fair. I remember going with my Mom and Dad and my Grandma and Grandpa (on my Dad's side) in what would have been the late sixties or very early 1970s. In some ways the Fair is like Christmas. It comes but once a year, it's exciting, I have memories of it that go way back, it brings to mind a specific time of year, and the anticipation preceding it (especially as a kid) is intense!