The Minnesota State Fair is the best in the nation, rest of nation concedes

Date:2025-08-08 08:25:59 Category:US Views:2 Comment:0

The Minnesota State Fair is the best in the nation, rest of nation concedes originally appeared on Bring Me The News.

For all its diversity, a lot of blanket statements are made about Minnesotans. They all like Prince. They say "breezers" instead of "hockey pants." They all say "ope."

However, the one that may have the highest degree of accuracy is that Minnesotans believe the Minnesota State Fair to be the unequivocal best in the country.

Well, do some shoulder rolls and neck stretches before continuing this story, because, if you're from Minnesota, you'll be doing a lot of nodding. A Readers' Choice Award from USA Today 10Best has crowned the Minnesota State Fair the best in the nation.

Kickoff to Summer at the FairMinnesota State Fair

With nearly two million attendees last year, it draws a crowd for deep-fried Frankenstein's monster dishes, carnival rides, baby farm animals, and Grandstand concerts.

"It's one of the nation's biggest fairs, employing 80 full-time employees and about 2,000 people during fair time, and it has enormous economic impact on the Twin Cities and surrounding areas," USA Today editors write of the late-summer get-together.

Though that leaves out much of what draws the crowd, it's certainly part of why Minnesotans ditch passive-aggressive in favor of aggressive-aggressive when entities like, say, Amy Klobuchar or the Pioneer Press fail to bestow adequate laurels on the beer-battered gathering.

Meanwhile, the state fair that has caused the above-linked indecision, the Iowa State Fair, earned its status as a bitter rival, coming in second place.

Overall, the Upper Midwest proved it knows how to throw a state fair, grabbing the top three slots in the publication's ranking. (At a minimum, the Upper Midwest knows how to submit a boatload of votes in support of its state fairs.)

Here's the full top 10 from the USA Today 10Best ranking.