Corn Stand at the State Fair is Missing
I was at the State Fairgrounds the other day and happened to notice that the iconic Corn Roast stand, last seen as below, full of corn, was missing. The above picture shows the space where the Corn Roast belongs, which is also known as: Nothing. Zip. Nada. Zero. I immediately checked my pockets: Nope, I didn't have it. Do you? Is it under your couch? Did you leave it on the bus?
As I continued to look for it in the last place I saw it, which really, quite plainly, was not where it was, I happened to run in to Brad Ribar, who I met when I wrote about him for the best ever profile of the owner of the Corn Roast at the Minnesota State Fair. He told me he knocked the whole thing down and threw it in the garbage!
Well, I never!
It was the first step of a million-dollar renovation which will add 23 more feet of counter-space, doubling the previous 23 feet of counter space, leading to, work with me here, 46 running feet of counter space! This, Ribar told me, should lead to shorter lines, and, he hopes, an increase of 20% more corn being sold. Last year the Corn Roast made more than $800,000, so this may well mean that we State Fair goers eat a million dollars worth of corn this year!
"The first thing I did was call Jerry and make sure he's gonna be doing this for a while," Ribar told me. Of course as you know the Corn Roast has a dedicated sweet-corn grower, and yes, Jerry the sweet corn farmer is in for the expansion and in fact planted more corn.
This new renovation will allow for additional roaster space, and a new ADA compliant bathroom for employees. Plus it will make some other small changes that have to do with getting the corn towards the roasters.
Needless to say, questions remain: Will it have the delightful corn-signage of yore? Will you eat more corn if the lines are shorter? Will you send your best friend to stand in line for two Big Bacons while you stand in line for two corns and then meet up to share but then you pretended you dropped yours and you just ate that much corn?
You'll find out August 22nd people, we are on the countdown.
