Illustration by Dan Page
Illustration of two Gophers with masks on
It was a year ago that an unthinkable reality sunk in: For the sixth time since it began in 1859, the Minnesota State Fair was unlikely to open its gates.
Minnesota State Fair general manager Jerry Hammer remembers the exact date: April 11, 2020.
“We were all staring into the abyss, learning nothing other than why we couldn’t open,” he says.
Sympathy cards rolled in from as far away as Australia.
Fast-forward a year, and it’s still pretty hard to imagine walking through those green-and-blue gates with throngs of people. But even as white tents cover one of the fair’s parking lots, serving as a makeshift vaccination site, some are daring to believe that the Great Minnesota Get-Together may just happen safely this August—and not via Zoom.
That list of hopefuls includes Governor Tim Walz, who has pointedly mentioned eating a corn dog while strolling down Dan Patch Avenue; the state’s COVID response team; University of Minnesota health researchers; and even infectious disease experts.
“We’re now in a whole different place where things are opening back up, we’re turning the dials—and vaccines are the big thing, of course,” Hammer says. “So, the environment is very different.”
Here’s how those optimists say the fair could open this August, and what it could look like.
First of all, most agree, the timing couldn’t be better. With an opening date of August 26, there’s plenty of time for vaccines to change the calculus from that dark abyss organizers were facing last year. Now that all American adults are eligible for the vaccine, what matters is that people keep rolling up their sleeves.
“Activities like the State Fair are largely going to depend on how many people are getting vaccinated—and that the vaccines remain efficacious against any variants that emerge in a community,” says Jill Weatherhead, an infectious disease expert in Texas, the only state with a bigger fair than Minnesota’s. “And so far, so good. If [the vaccine] continues along that trajectory and people are taking it, then those activities are more likely to happen and happen safely. That’s a reasonable thing to look forward to if people get vaccinated and if people keep their masks on so community levels are driven down and more variants don’t emerge.”
The late-summer date also gives fair organizers the benefit of learning from fairs that happen earlier, not to mention local attractions such as pro sports, shopping malls, county fairs, Canterbury Park, and Valleyfair.
Already, county fairs across the country have begun tentatively opening their gates. In Florida, county fair season has begun, and its state fair is slated to run April 22–May 2. And you can already buy tickets for grandstand shows at the Iowa State Fair. Others, like Ohio’s, meanwhile, will stay limited to livestock and educational competitions.
The other thing is the Minnesota State Fair—where the majority of attractions take place outside, the grounds are vast, and managers can control the number of fairgoers—is probably more COVID-friendly than anyone realized last April. A year ago, few people understood that large outdoor spaces where the virus can disperse into open air can be fairly safe so long as people stay physically distant—and get vaccinated.
But what will a 2021 Minnesota State Fair look like?
In normal times, fair managers would be buttoning down details in April. This year, few of the details—other than the dates, if the fair is a go—are set. Hammer says every option is still on the table.
For example, indoor buildings could have one-way walking paths. The Giant Sing Along could happen without microphones or not at all. 4-H kids may not sleep in the dorms. Most vendors could offer touch-free, cashless payments. There’s also the very real potential for reduced capacity.
Some fair participants are already planning for additional precautions. At the University of Minnesota’s Driven to Discover (D2D) Research Facility, for example, organizers and university health and safety personnel are drafting operations for what the building will look like this year. Organizers are optimistic that researchers will be able to run 40 studies out of the D2D building this year over the course of the fair, though they had to nix a few COVID-risky studies, such as a dental study that involved taking photos of kids’ mouths, and a Breathalyzer study. They’re planning to add tents, double the size of the booths inside, and install extra fans to increase air circulation in the building.
Even though “it seems like science fiction, in a way” that the fair could open, “we’re getting this kind of energy and excitement like usual, imagining the Great Minnesota Get-Together,” says Ellen Demerath, an epidemiology and community health professor who helped launch D2D.
Photo by Caitlin Abrams
Two women at a food booth
Hope on a Stick
Whether it’s the promise of a Kiwanis milkshake, some Sweet Martha’s cookies, all-you-can-drink milk, or a ride on the Giant Slide, the fair can clearly be used as a carrot.
“As the governor has said, the State Fair is absolutely within reach,” says Nicholas Kimball, communications director for the Minnesota COVID-19 response. “We should all be optimistic about the potential to be eating corn dogs and mini donuts while taking in great musical acts, checking out antique farm equipment, and exploring the Midway this year. Each vaccination gets us one step closer, and we’re making great progress every day.”
Hammer doesn’t remember missing a single day of any fair (he grew up less than a block away from the Fairgrounds, married a woman who lived two blocks away, and now lives four blocks away), so he understands, maybe more than anyone, how transformative walking through those gates and leaving the real world behind for a day (or 12) can be for a community.
“We can handle the truth, but we also need hope,” Hammer says. “It can’t all be black crepe paper. We need something to look forward to, and this is realistic.”
Originally published in the May 2021 issue.
