With the help of a friend, I was able to procure a coveted ticket to the Drive Thru State Fair Food Parade for 10:00am today. We read all the rules and tips. We decided it would be best if Randy did the driving, as I’m quite easily distracted and need to take a thousand pictures.

We packed the new truck with a cooler, plates, ziplock bags, condiments, washcloths, filled my purse with the ticket, pens, money (cash and credit) and the the last thing I grabbed was a 9×13 pan, just in case we needed a food holder. We were ready for a different kind of State Fair adventure.

They had a well planned and executed car queuing system and we arrived a little early to stop by the Friends of the Fair Foundation booth to pick up our swag. I thought it was a car flag, but we had a choice today to get the commemorative pin set. I wanted the flag, but Jack (formerly Gray) convinced me that if Carol Jo were with us, she’d get the pins.

I got the pins. When affixed to the cardstock pattern, they collectively form the state of Minnesota. (Some assembly required) I’m not sure where else they might be available!

We headed to the check in station and picked up our swag bag. We were told there would be a commemorative lunch box. I imagined it bigger, but it is, in fact, a lunch box. I didn’t have time to unload the whole bag, as there were maps to go over, menus to fill out and bingo cards and pens to distribute and then our line of cars started moving ~before~ 10:00.

We filled out our menu, over estimating our gastronomical abilities, and stretching the budget, but after all this is our one day to get the goods.

We downloaded the iheart radio app, and connected to the State Fair radio station. You get great music, instructional messages and welcome and greetings from Jerry Hammer general manager of the fair.

The parallel lines of cars moved in unison toward the Midway gate entrance.

Where we had some time to get our trays, beverages, money and selves all situated.

There was a Jumbotron showing a State Fair memories slide show. We weren’t close enough to see much, because the line stared moving and I was busy offering up our food shelf donation at the first turn down Liggett St.

Once we rounded the corner, Adam Turman’s Minnesota icon sculptures were lined up down the street. He created this “Hang in there Minnesota” art when the fair announced it would be canceled for 2020.

The coliseum arch will not welcome all the livestock this season.

Jack & I were busy taking pictures so we had to scramble to get ready for our first food stop. Turkey to Go! It didn’t go so smoothly, as the first sandwich tipped out of the food boat and crash landed down the inside of the truck. The kid was super apologetic and ran to get another one as we cleaned up as best we could with limited time and not being allowed to get out of the vehicle. We shared one Giant Juicy and it was delicious!

All too quickly we were at the donut stand and luckily we had already come to an agreement on how many bags were required so there was no silly~dally~ing as we ordered… three bags. One for now, one for later and one for a little later than that.

We had a couple blocks to eat the turkey and have a couple donuts, wash our fingers and grab a drink while we bypassed the Fresh French Fry stand. We all like them, but there were other foods that took priority.

Along the route there are a few scenic distractions. A highlight reel of a walk through Ag/Hort.

The Captain Ken’s bean fire truck is parked nearby also. No rides in parades this year.

Next stop was The Mouth Trap! I’m not a cheese curd eater. I’m always concerned for the level of done-ness of the batter. I also don’t ever feel very well after eating them. Knowing that we’d be home in an hour or so, I threw caution to the wind and ate a few!

Each booth has a different set up for purchasing/ticketing and distributing goods. These guys had little tickets they stuck in your car door to indicate how many buckets. (One bucket fits all, no smaller option)

As we waited for our curds to arrive car side, we got lucky and Fairborne & Fairchild did a drive by!

Right next door was Que Viet with the giant egg rolls on a stick.

I ate more cheese curds than I planned to and my stomach was not ready for the egg roll. I placed them in our food tray and we passed by the cotton candy and caramel apples and rounded one more corner on Underwood where Randy was excited to get his Pronto Pup! The tray was filling up. Time to pull out the ziplock bags and save the egg rolls and remaining cheese curds for later.

I’m sad to say the Ball Park was not part of the day…. an ice cold beer would taste good about now on this sunny glorious day! It’s noon somewhere, but here it’s only 10:20am!

A slight jog around the block offered a little respite to drink some water, pack up some food and Randy enjoyed his dog. I wanted to stop for a better picture of the giant inflatable Paul Bunyan et al., but there’s no slowing down or stopping on this one lane track.

An ear of corn would have been tasty, but alas, they miss us too! I’m excited to see the remodeled booth next year! This image did check off “six people wearing yellow shirts” on my BINGO card!

Making our way back up Underwood we had to stop for a refreshing chocolate malt! It’s not the Kiwanis, but it’ll do during these trying times.

We had planned to purchase some jerk chicken wings at West Indies Soul, but our brains overestimated our stomachs and I had my vision trained on the foot long hot dog stand nearby. We declined the soul food and put pedal to the metal… well, maybe just accelerated to 8 mph and stopped at the kid in the hot dog hat!

They were wrapped up nicely in foil, and there were five quick stops up next, we we left them wrapped in the tray and headed for lemonade.

My stomach was so full, knowing I had a hot dog to eat and cookies were around the bend, I tossed the lemonade in the cooler to save for later.

We never eat the London Broil, but I know some friends are big fan’s, so we kept driving up to see Giggles. He’s grateful for the opportunity to be there and his kids are working hard. When I commented on how smoothly and quickly everything was moving, he said it best when he replied, “the fair under promised and over delivered”! I know so many more people would have loved to take part, but nobody knew how this would work and it was wise to be conservative and put forth an excellent product.

I sadly had no room in my tray or stomach for wontons or walleye.

Randy rarely makes it this far to the north end. Way up past his street…Randall Ave.

He wanted to try the Twisted Sausage Tater that’s on the menu at the Hangar now (formerly the Texas Steak Out)

We filled out more BINGO spots with the giant cow.

Our final stop was Sweet Martha’s cookies. I don’t know what I was thinking, other than I’m having friends over later this afternoon, but I told Randy we needed three buckets.

We decided to avoid the long line of cars waiting to purchase at the Fair wear stop, and found a parking spot to stop and eat the hot dogs. They still had the pop!

We also stopped to get the truck cleaned out. We had our own version of “street pizza” just now we call it “truck turkey”

In this version of the fair, there are no lines for the bathroom!

It was a fun food filled morning. We were in and out within an hour and a half. We ate too much, saw some stuff and Randy appreciated not having to walk 10K steps!

One nice benefit to this event is that more people are learning about the State Fair Foundation, an organization near and dear to my family’s hearts. From the check in area, to signs along the route, food & merchandise vendors offering donations and on all the paperwork distributed, people are being educated!

If you’re not already, become a “friend of the fair” and help keep it my favorite place on earth.

We got home and filled the fridge and emptied the bags. Here is the fun stuff from the swag bag! I even got the Star Tribune cheese curd chapstick. I have yet to smell it, my stomach is not ready.

See you there in 2021!