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And that’s just one little snippet of Dad’s day at the fair. He also made time for some political chatter for public access radio and TV amidst the festivities.
This, of course, wasn’t Walz’s first rodeo state fair. In 2018, he participated in the fair’s Agrilympics Butter Carving contest, where he cheerfully accepted light roasting from a commentator who pointed out that “I keep seeing pieces chopped off,” waving his little orange carving tool and grinning from under the brim of his now-signature camo baseball cap. In 2019, Walz once again carved out his place in both butter and history, making a crappy little school bus out of his hunk of dairy and proudly displaying the bright pink honorable mention ribbon he received for his efforts. Butter carving is an important tradition at the fair, with an artist carving likenesses of the fair’s finalists for Princess Kay, State Fair royalty, out of some 900 pounds of butter.
Do you need to see Walz cuddle a tiny pig like it’s his sweet porcine baby? He’s got you: In 2019, he stopped by the “Oink Booth” and happily gave a piglet a big ol’ huglet.
The fair has actually been around longer than Minnesota itself, beginning as a sort of agricultural booster event in 1854 and adopting the official title of Minnesota State Fair in 1859, just a year after Minnesota became a state. (Can’t be the Minnesota State Fair if Minnesota doesn’t technically exist yet.)
And lest you think Walz is a Minnesota-only guy when it comes to fairs, think again: He has deemed Iowa’s rendition (another frequent campaign stop for presidential hopefuls, where he stumped for President Joe Biden and Harris last year) the “second best fair!!!”
Sounds…fair enough. [Sips from “World’s Best Dad” coffee mug.]
And the best news yet is that this year’s Minnesota State Fair begins on August 22, overlapping with the final day of the Democratic National Convention. There’s still plenty of time for Walz to stump on the fairgrounds and get plenty of face time with both voters and his beloved corndog. Meet you at Ye Old Mill, Dad.