2010 Great Minnesota Get-Together A Success

ST. PAUL, MINN. (09/09/2010)(readMedia)-- Final numbers are in. The 2010 Minnesota State Fair was the second-best attended Great Minnesota Get-Together of all time. Total paid attendance for the 2010 Minnesota State Fair was 1,776,211. Despite extreme heat, humidity and cool temperatures during the 12-day run, the fair set three daily attendance records. Saturday, Sept. 4 was the best-attended single day in fair history with 234,834 guests.

The Minnesota State Fair's agricultural and creative competitions drew close to 36,000 entries this year, with competitors vying for a share of ribbons, trophies and more than $1 million in prize money. Competitions included events for livestock, school projects, dog trials, baked and canned goods, fruit, vegetables, crafts, bee and honey products, fine arts, farm crops, flowers, butter and cheese.

The Fine Arts Center featured the largest juried art show in the state. The People's Choice Award went to "Microdoodle Topiary," a pen and ink piece with phosphorescent acrylic paint by Jeffery Gauss of St. Louis Park. Arden Harrison-Bushnell of Shorewood, won the Kids' Choice Award for a textile work entitled "Dog Park."

The 4-H Purple Ribbon Auction brought in a record $326,500 to benefit 4-H programs.

In open class, supreme champion titles were awarded to the best grand champions out of all beef and dairy breeds. Supreme Champion Dairy Female went to a Holstein exhibited by Steven Boerchers of Beausejour, Manitoba. A Charolais exhibited by Chad Zehnder of Stanchfield, Minn. was awarded Supreme Champion Beef Female. Ryan Gerlach of Finlayson, Minn. exhibited the Charolais that won Supreme Champion Beef Bull.

For the first time in 2010, FFA Supreme Champion Breeding Female premiums were awarded. Supreme Sheep Champion Breeding Female went to Isaiah Bauck of New York Mills FFA. Mitchel Lexvold of Kenyon-Wanamingo FFA won for Supreme Dairy Champion Breeding Female. Supreme Beef Champion Breeding Female went to Seth Kaehler of St. Charles FFA. Elen Skaar of Minneota FFA took the Supreme Swine Champion Breeding Female award.

Supreme Draft Horse Stallion, Mare and Gelding were honored for the first time in 2010. Supreme Stallion went to a Percheron exhibited by John and Judith Josephson of Clear Lake, Wisc. Supreme Mare was awarded to a Percheron shown by David Anderson of Aurora, Ontario. A Percheron exhibited by David Schumacher of Plainview, Minn. was awarded Supreme Gelding.

The Douglas K. Baldwin Award for FFA?livestock show participation and leadership went to Matthew Pearson of Grove City from the Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City FFA?Chapter.

Katie Miron of Hugo was crowned the 57th Princess Kay of the Milky Way and will serve as the official goodwill ambassador for Minnesota's nearly 4,700 dairy farmers for the year.

The award-winning CHS Miracle of Birth Center welcomed dozens of baby chicks and ducklings into the world along with 184 other newborn animals including 144 piglets, 14 calves and 26 lambs.

High school marching bands from Minnesota and Wisconsin competed in the State Fair Daily Mall Parade. Rosemount High School won Class A honors, Waseca took first in Class B and Chequamegon School District won in the Class C division.

Grandstand attendance was 91,747?(not including Amateur Talent Contest Finals) with the Rush, Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood and KISS shows being sell outs.

Nearly 10,000 fans cheered on the best amateur talent in the state at the 37th annual State Fair Amateur Talent Contest Finals Sept. 5 at the Grandstand. Winners were:

Open Division: First place went to Nick Wishard of Somerset, Wisc. for his vocal percussion beatbox mix. St. Louis Park guitarist Jon Crumm took second place with the song "Romancia." Third place was awarded to Part-Time Heroes of Waconia for their A cappella song entitled "Top?5." Teen Division: The Five of Clubs juggling group of Edina took first place. Second place was awarded to Alex Shaleen from Lindstrom who performed a dance solo "Swamp Thing." Third place went to John Blanda of Maplewood for his piano solo "Night Train." Preteen Division: First place went to Alex Sesch and Zach Manske of Woodbury for their duet dance performance to "The Way You Make Me Feel." Josh Swenson from Waconia took second place with his vocal and guitar solo "Curbside Prophet." Third place was awarded to Alexandria's Josie Nelson for her vocal and guitar solo "Be Yourself."

Kim Robinson of Mounds View and Daniel Murray of Blue Earth were the overall female and male 5K Milk Run winners with times of 17:51 and 16:43 respectively.

The 2010 Outstanding Senior Citizen Awards were presented to Valborg Clauson of Spring Grove in Houston County and Lewis Leasure of Cambridge in Isanti County. A ceremony was held at the Leinie Lodge Bandshell on Thursday, Sept. 2 to honor 91 seniors representing 51 Minnesota counties.

New additions to this year's State Fair included: Seed Survivor, an interactive exhibit dedicated to teaching children about the elements plants need to survive and grow; The Dirt, an agricultural and horticultural live demonstration area; Green Street at the Eco Experience; A Fabulous Fair Alphabet Game designed to build vocabulary; the Ag Magic Show; Choo Choo Bob's Train Store & Exhibit; horse show performances by Charro Jerry Diaz; Windstorm, an amusement park-scale roller coaster; and a fine arts jewelry contest.

The 2010 fair featured more than two dozen new foods including corndog pizza, caramel apple and turtle puppies, chicken fried bacon, Cincinnati chili, mashed potatoes on-a-stick, deep-fried bologna on-a-stick, deep-fried shortcake, fried pig ears, grilled marshmallow-chocolate-banana sandwiches, Korean barbecue?tacos, hot apple dumplings, camel on-a-stick, tortas, sausage and cheese-stuffed jalapeno poppers, peaches and cream, the chocolate tornado, Danny Boy burger, and fruit salsa. In total, vendors served up more than 450 different types of food, 60+ of which were on-a-stick.

The 2011 Minnesota State Fair will run Aug. 25 through Labor Day, Sept. 5.

For more information visit www.mnstatefair.org, call (651) 288-4400 or e-mail fairinfo@mnstatefair.org.