Fair and Square

The Minnesota State Fair is a festival of regional favorites and food-on-a-stick. These photos first appeared with the June/July 2012 issue article Fair and Square.

Competing cakes from the Minnesota state fair are displayed after tasting and judging.

A meatball "sundae," one of the foods served at the fair.

A fairgoer enjoys an apple dumpling a la mode.

Canning is one of many categories of culinary arts at the fair eligible for ribbons and prizes--here a fairgoer samples a jar of pickled beets.

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A server at a fairground church dining hall. Local church suppers, insulated from the surrounding commotion, are a tradition at many fairs around the country.

Cured meats for competition are displayed in the Minnesota Fair's Creative Activities building.

Miniature doughnuts are one of the many fried delicacies available for purchase at the fair.

Swedish coffee, colloquially known as Lutheran latte and familiar to many Swedish-Americans of the upper Midwest, is made by adding an egg before boiling the brew, which clarifies the coffee and removes any bitterness.

A volunteer gazes out at the fairground.

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The Salem Lutheran dining hall, where one of the fair's church suppers is in swing.

A cup of the fair's perfect french fries, available salted and topped with ketchup or spritzed with malt vinegar.

Vendors shuck corn for sale at the fair.