By: Josephine Feliciano and Collette Uran

This year’s State Fair was the 167th year of the official MN State Fair. It was also the 100th year of the Tilt-a-whirl! We broke another record for attendance on the first day; the record for us to beat next year is 155,185 attendees on the first day. Lots of new foods were brought into the fair’s collection of famous foods to get; some on sticks and some not. The hottest newest foods this year that were getting people to wait in lines for hours were the Pickled Pizza, Bao barbecue, and Hmong corn dogs.

But we also can’t forget the stands with classic fair foods that topped the charts, like Sweet Martha’s Cookies, Fresh French Fry’s and, of course, the Pickle Stand. In the 2026 year of the fair, Sweet Martha’s Cookies raked in 5.24 million dollars, The Fresh French Fry stand made 1.59 million dollars and last but not least, the Pickle Stand made 1.71 million dollars.

Another big hit at the fair every year is all the shows and live music. This year the artists that were playing at the Grand Stand were: Bonnie Raitt, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Sierra Ferrell,  Tommy James & The Shondells and Herman’s Hermits, Hairball, AJR, Brad Paisley, HARDY, TLC and Salt-N-Pepa with En Vogue, the Amateur Talent Contest Finals, and CeCe Winans. The most attended show was a tie between “Weird Al” Yankovic and the triple threat TLC, Salt-N-Pepa, and En Vogue. They were both sold-out shows, with 14,018 attendees. 

Other popular shows at the State Fair this year include Durry, Margo Price, The Sugarhill Gang, Yacht Rock Revue, Nur-D, All-Star Stunt Dogs Splash, and the Timberworks Lumberjack Show. There are more than 100 acts and 900 shows across all the free stages at the fair. 

Top attractions to see at the fair include classics like the butter sculptures, crop art, the midway, and all the animals. This year at the fair there was also The American Wheel Honoring America 250. It’s the world’s biggest traveling ferris wheel, standing at 230 feet tall. It has 45 river gondolas, each one themed after a different US president.

Even though we broke a first day attendance record at the fair this year, it doesn’t mean the rest of the week was bursting full of fair goers. Many attendance trackers for this year said that attendance the rest of the week was significantly lower than the rest of the previous years. About 1.92 million people attended the fair this year, which is slightly fewer than the previous two years. Yes, the overall attendance was low this year, but some certain parts of the fair saw record attendance. The transportation agency of the fair saw record ridership this year due to people getting sick of paying high amounts for parking and also just even trying to find places to park. The buses allow faster and more efficient ways to get to the fair.

Many leaders of the fair staff say that a reason for lower attendance this year is because of the late start of the fair and its overlapping with many school start dates. This year, over half the schools in the Twin Cities started school either before or during the time of the fair, which makes it harder for families and teens to come to the fair on weekdays. But due to this overlapping, it made the weekends busier and full of families with young kids wanting to go to the fair on the few days they could.

Over the course of the ten days at the fair this year, we experienced high temps and high humidity. Even though the fair dates were closer to fall starting, we still had seasonably hot temps. The hottest days were the first Friday to Monday. Those temps reached 90 degrees or slightly above, but also, due to high humidity temps, it made the already hot air feel hotter. 

All in all, the 2026 Minnesota State Fair was a hit as always! Hundreds of thousands of visitors walked through the gates every day, and had a blast with both the new and the old state fair staples.