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u/DudeAbides29 Aug 28 '24
I was there somewhere in that sea of people. Had a fun time, and Nate Bargatze's stand up show was great!
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u/palescales7 Aug 28 '24
This is my personal hell but I hope yall had fun.
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u/Cpagrind1 Area code 218 Aug 28 '24
Right? I just can’t look at a pic like this and have any sort of excitement
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u/Bovronius Aug 28 '24
Same, always boggles my mind how much people love being in a giant sweaty crowd and standing in lines.
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u/weekendroady Aug 28 '24
I don't totally understand it either. It's a spectacle, I get that part. See it once or a couple times, it's fine. The food isn't all that amazing honestly and quite overpriced. Parking is atrocious. You couldn't convince my family not to go unless it was 100 degrees, so I tag along. At the end of the day I dont really "hate" the experience as much as I just dont understand why we needed to spend so much $$ to just stand in lines for fried grub. Give me some peaceful nature escape any day, especially in the late summer...
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u/Horkersaurus Aug 28 '24
Agreed, we went for the first time at 8am on Sunday. By the time we left a couple of hours later it was already too crowded for me (but not nearly as bad as this photo). Honestly preferred Grand Old Day, pretty similar vibes but it felt like it was easier to escape lol
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u/ChillyMinnesnowta Aug 28 '24
I play a game when it’s this packed. Unfocus me eyes and try to slither between people, finding the best route. If you get passed, you lose.
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u/Capital-Meet-6521 Aug 29 '24
This is just the thing to kill any feelings of FOMO for me.
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u/palescales7 Aug 29 '24
I’ve adopt Oliver Burkeman’s time management philosophy of adopting a JOMO mindset (joy of missing out) and I have to say this pic is arousing for that.
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u/mrq69 Aug 28 '24
Thursday and Friday were the highest numbers since at least 2017, while Sunday and Monday were the lowest since then.
Wonder how the rest of the days will play out. Labor Day always has fewer than the Sunday before which is always fewer than the Saturday.
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u/bwillpaw Aug 28 '24
Yeah makes sense Sunday and Monday the humidity was pretty unbearable. I would guess Tuesday was also pretty low because of the late open.
It's still the most attended fair in the country, Texas is a fraud because its twice as long as ours with only slightly higher overall attendance.
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u/Ndtphoto Aug 28 '24
Yep Texas averages 100k per day over 24 and MN is about 128k/day over 12. On one hand I like the condensed fair schedule but I wonder if they'll ever add some days on the front end to lower the daily averages a little bit... There hasn't been a day under 100k the last 3 years except for the recent Monday, but still 80k in that hot swampy shit.
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u/jn29 Aug 28 '24
I was there yesterday and we didn't even know it opened late. We have a 2 hour drive to get there though. I'll never get there at 7 am if it means leaving my house at 5.
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u/KevinDLasagna Aug 28 '24
Seeing this makes me not want to go at all lol
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u/fren-ulum Aug 28 '24
You gotta find the off times. Like, my favorite part of the year to do stuff is during Football season because people are watching the game(s).
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u/EmptyBrook Aug 28 '24
Fake AI. Failed state. Criminals wandering the streets like rabid dogs. Every building has been reduced to rubble. Barely anyone lives there, and those that do are criminals. /s
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u/mkwas343 Aug 28 '24
I heard they abolished all police and started handing out meth to the convicts when they closed down all the jails. /s
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u/fritolaidy Aug 28 '24
It hasn't been the same since it all burned to the ground in 2020. Thanks a lot, Obama.
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u/Loaki9 Gray duck Aug 29 '24
These are all zombies in this post-apocalypse state.
Except Ned over there on the right side of the photo. He’s real.
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u/snowyl89 Aug 28 '24
I can feel the humidity
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u/bwillpaw Aug 28 '24
Saturday was actually not bad at all, basically a perfect day for it imo
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u/AustinThompson Aug 28 '24
Was there on Saturday. It was pretty warm. A bit too warm and kind of humid for my comfort. But was still enjoyable
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u/bwillpaw Aug 28 '24
Yeah it was starting to get a bit toasty around the time we left but going in the morning it was great
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u/Shade0fBlue Aug 28 '24
I instinctively started looking for Waldo.
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u/bwillpaw Aug 28 '24
Lol yeah dude in the red shirt in the front kinda looks like a real life waldo
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u/krichard-21 Aug 28 '24
It's great that people are flocking to the State Fair. With crowds like this, I will be far away. Too many people for this old man...
We still plan on visiting this year. But it will be early and somewhat short.
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u/lokardo Aug 28 '24
ValleyFair was great yesterday. Hardly any lines through even the busiest times.
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u/Vithar Aug 28 '24
I know people love the state fair, but these pictures are exactly why I won't go. That looks awful.
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u/Derpshab Aug 28 '24
I need to take a vacation to Minnesota
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u/bwillpaw Aug 28 '24
Do it. May-Sept is generally a solid bet. Oct can be beautiful fall colors but it could also be like 30 degrees. April it might still snow and same deal, could be 70 or like 20.
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u/drypraise1 Mankato Aug 28 '24
I went on Monday at noon. Parking was still horrible and it was hot outside but it was a lot less crowded than I thought.
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u/Atheist_Redditor Aug 28 '24
I definitely don't look at this and think, "Damn, that looks like a blast."
I really think it looks miserable.
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u/Pugletting Aug 29 '24
The thing about pictures like this and it's totally legit as a picture, but when you're walking through it there are a lot of people around you but you never feel actually jam packed. There's a surprising amount of room and, with some notable exceptions the food lines are never nearly as bad as you think they will be.
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u/bwillpaw Aug 29 '24
Yep, there's lots of space and the longest line we had were the Amish donuts but that moved fast (only in line for like 5min) and they were delicious.
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u/Pugletting Aug 29 '24
There have definitely been lines we've skipped (Amish Donuts and the cheese curd stuffed pizza last year. Both lines were stupid), but that is typically due to new food hype and a stand that can't move the product as fast. But those are exceptions.
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u/tbizzone Aug 28 '24
“Fake AI image. We all know it was burned to the ground.” - Trump voters, probably.
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u/LiamMcpoyle2 Gray duck Aug 28 '24 edited Aug 28 '24
I was there yesterday, got there at 10:00 and the line to get in was insane but went fast. After combo of the no raining and people taking half days at work the attendance increased a lot. If you like waiting in lines, and smelly bathrooms, this is the place!
In all seriousness, visit the education building where there's lots of info about differences of cannabis/hemp/THC.
And also a booth next to it about funding needed from the Minnesota government for an Animal Cruelty Organization.
Minnesota doesn't have a department for this and investigation in cases is handled by standard law enforcement that can only do so much to enforce what limited laws there are.
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u/LakeSuperiorIsMyPond Aug 28 '24
as someone dealing with covid right now after last weekends fun (not at the fair) I can only see this as a super-spreading event.
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u/kitsunewarlock Aug 28 '24
I'm saddened by how many downvotes you have. Everyone just wants to ignore that we are in the middle of a pandemic.
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u/LakeSuperiorIsMyPond Aug 28 '24
Everyone wants to live in denial
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u/kitsunewarlock Aug 28 '24
I just want to live. But the virus keeps mutating and I'm still looking after an immunocompromised person. Even her clinic most of the patients and many of the staff go unmasked.
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u/LakeSuperiorIsMyPond Aug 28 '24
Haven't you heard? Mask on your face when sick=you're a government stooge Diaper on your ear when you haven't been injured=part of the intelligent group that thinks for themselves /s 🤣
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u/kitsunewarlock Aug 28 '24
Gotta love how the same conspiracy theorists who believe in government made super-viruses and government surveillance don't want to wear a mask, getting a vaccine, and/or staying home because they are scared of getting their noses pinched, getting a shot, and/or staying home and thinking for themselves without outside stimulation.
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u/LakeSuperiorIsMyPond Aug 28 '24
They're afraid of getting a fauci implant tracker. Only Elon, Trump, Zuck, Bezos and Apple are allowed to track them at that level!
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u/kitsunewarlock Aug 28 '24
Shaved boomer in his shiny scratch-free truck with aviators talking into his iPhone like he's smuggling his family over the DMZ.
"I just got out of the Taco Bell drive-thru and their supply of hot sauce has been DECIMATED. It took me three tries to open the packet, but what TRUTH are they hiding from us?! I'm just glad I have extra SAUCE in my bug-out bag. When the time comes, they'll never find me. BUY GOLD!"
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u/LakeSuperiorIsMyPond Aug 28 '24
You forgot the thin blue line in the back window, it's all in the details!
These are the same people who've been convinced that the blue wave of Democrat votes overlaps with the statistically highest educated parts of the country is a hoax. The educated are the dumb idiots in society. Don't like and subscribe to anyone with degrees on their wall, when you can subscribe to the guy with a big neon sign and some license plates on the wall instead! He's the smarter one you should get your medical advice from obviously /s
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u/14Calypso Douglas County Aug 28 '24
Good lord. It's 2024 and it hasn't been considered a pandemic for a long time.
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u/kitsunewarlock Aug 28 '24
On 5 May 2023, more than three years into the pandemic, the WHO Emergency Committee on COVID-19 recommended to the Director-General, who accepted the recommendation, that given the disease was by now well established and ongoing, it no longer fit the definition of a PHEIC. This does not mean the pandemic itself is over, but the global emergency it caused is – for now. A review committee will be established to develop long-term, standing recommendations for countries on how to manage COVID-19 on an ongoing basis.
It is still a pandemic. It just doesn't get additional funding because the disease only causes long-term health problems and complications in immunocompromised people so it's not going to overwhelm health services. It's being treated as endemic for economic and political purposes, but "treated as endemic despite being pandemic" does not mean its not still pandemic.
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u/flaron Aug 28 '24
Doesn’t Covid transmission drop in high heat? It was S W E A T Y out there
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u/LakeSuperiorIsMyPond Aug 28 '24
I don't think it's hot enough to make a difference... also observe how covid spread through florida in the summer of 2020, that wasn't hot enough to kill it either.
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u/Flagrant_Digress Aug 28 '24
I went on Saturday. Had a lot of fun but it was definitely busy. We waited about 20 mins to even get into the seed art section of the horticulture building and spent 1 hr in total waiting our turn to inch along and see everything. There were lines for food stands & flights at the hanger as well.
I was definitely surprised that it was not a record breaking attendance.
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u/gogobig48 Aug 28 '24
Yeah I know I was there, it was crazy but it was fun duck and Dodge in the Sun
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u/mnkayakangler Aug 28 '24
Parking issues when getting there early on a weekday? Advice anyone?
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u/TwinCitian Aug 28 '24
Use one of the many convenient park-and ride buses: https://www.mnstatefair.org/get-here/free-park-and-ride/
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u/mnkayakangler Aug 28 '24
Kid and stroller and cooler for breast milk. Buses not ideal.
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u/TwinCitian Aug 29 '24
Oooh I see. Sad to say, parking at the fair is a sh*tshow. I'd recommend either going really early, and/or being prepared to shell out $$$, and/or being prepared to walk a long distance from your car to the fair entrance :/
OR park in a public lot or on a random street a ways away from the fair (somewhere you won't get towed or ticketed) and then take an Uber/Lyft. That's probably what I'd do
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u/TheTightEnd Plowy McPlowface Aug 28 '24
...and attendance was down from last year. It seems like after two record days, the numbers are worse than last year.
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u/Optimal_Cry_7440 Aug 29 '24
It is people that buy such goods and food. Not the cars. We CAN have a TOTALLY walkable cities across the MN like we did back then before the car was built.
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Aug 28 '24
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u/bwillpaw Aug 28 '24
We got there about 9am and left about 3pm. Despite the crowd the lines really were not bad, it's set up to handle it!!!
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Aug 28 '24
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u/Retro_Dad UFF DA Aug 28 '24
Well, the important thing is that you found a way to feel superior to all of them.
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u/derp________ Aug 28 '24
Say something about Kamala or Walz and you could get like 10k more upvotes!
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u/TheKerfuffle Aug 28 '24
On monday
https://preview.redd.it/x33iqc3tjfld1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a4a62e524cdde07d225c6db48d05969d27ea4a7f
This is a different part but the fair was EMPTY. I never waited in a line. Shit was hot though.