For the past five years (ever since I first moved back to South Louisiana and my Minnesota friend traveled to me on my birthday and got stranded with no electricity for three days thanks to my birthday being a hurricane magnet), most years I’ve traveled to Minnesota to celebrate my birthday and attend the intensely popular Minnesota State Fair.

This year, my plan was to write this Day Thread last night after attending the fair to regale y’all with the tales of our pre-birthday adventures. Unfortunately, I forgot the reality of fair attendance, which is that the only activity possible after a day at the fair is sitting on the couch staring vacantly at the TV and wondering if it’s worth moving to get one more of those weirdly addictive bucket cookies.

So anyway, now it’s the morning of my birthday (happy 48th to me, y’all!), and I’m going to write this quickly so I can go back to sleep before helping my friend install a microwave and dispose of a distressingly large dead snake that decapitated itself in her HVAC unit (oh the bonds of friendship). And then I’m going to meet up with some awesome fellow Avocados!

Here are the new fair foods we were most excited to try this year:

Pictures courtesy of mnstatefair.org

Of those, my favorites were . . . none of them. Alas, the nature of a beloved state fair*, especially on opening weekend, is such that we couldn’t get near any of these vendors. It was just. so. crowded. The lines were such that I’m not sure I’d stand in them if there were a life-saving organ on the other end. We couldn’t even get to some of the fair classics — the apple cider, the roasted corn, the pickle lemonade, and more. The only foods we actually ended up eating were some serviceable corndogs because the line was short and we were getting hangry; a really good chopped turkey sandwich, the booth for which (along with giant smoked turkey legs) is directly across from the entrance to the poultry exhibition, which is just mean; and some pretty good duck bacon and sweet corn wontons. So a mixed bag on the food end, all in all.

*Seriously, y’all, I’m sure Louisiana has a state fair, but I couldn’t tell you a thing about it.

Still, despite our shared hatred of lines and crowds, my friend and I managed to spend six hours wandering around the livestock exhibits, checking out the nature and education stuff, crowd watching, and of course grousing about how great the fair would be if it weren’t for all the people. But I truly do love the vibe of the fair and particularly how excited people get about it, especially the locals. And it really is a sight and experience not to be missed. I’m pleased to share my birthday with the MN State Fair. Everyone should go! Just don’t get your heart set on that Hmong corn dog.

Have a great Day Thread, Avocados! Stay safe and kind out there.