Last night my wife and I hooked up with Mr. and Mrs. Marcos for an evening of people watching, fried food on a stick, and good old fashioned fun at the 2009 Dakota County Fair in Farmington. While my sole purpose for this visit was to take in the excitement that is the demolition derby, my wife had other ideas including spending an insane amount of money on food. Both were accomplished and we both went home more or less pleased with the way the night went.
Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Marcos we were able to gain entrance into the fair for free. We arrived at 6:30 and wandered the grounds for a bit. I was surprised that my wife wasn’t as interested in the animals at all but she seemed in a rush to go somewhere else. We made our way through a few exhibitors and saw several there were ok, many that were weird, and several that were just downright frightening. People, keep your weird social organizations and desire to educate the public in the way you feel necessary away from places that the rest of us want to go. We’ll find you if we’re interested, cool?
Eventually we found the food vendors and the wife was now quite interested. We spent some time wandering the dirt street noticing a high concentration of cheese curd vendors. The first thing we bought was for me, a pickle on a stick (which I promptly removed) and a can of soda. Then we moved on to deep fried olives (batter was sickeningly sweet as opposed to the bite of the olive) and the ever so expensive grilled chicken on a stick with fried rice (at least they had Sriracha!). The chicken and rice was an astronomical $8 and even though it was of decent size, the food just wasn’t worth that kind of cash. Come on, this a county fair, not an overpriced food fest.
While eating the chicken and rice, we heard the repeated calls for deep fried apple pies nearby. They had cut their prices in half and were offering two for $5 and waters for 50 cents. People lowering their prices to move product was something which I saw several times throughout the evening and it was definitely nice to know that we didn’t get raped as hard as some others did early in the fair. The apple pies had the option of coming with cinnamon or vanilla ice cream for $1 more so I ordered two pies and one scoop of ice cream along with a water. For $6.50 we got the most food out of anything we paid for at the fair and while they were tasty (like a McDonald’s microwave pie) I’m not quite sure even they were worth the $6.00 for two plus ice cream.
Next up we wandered to our front row seats, courtesy of the ever so wonderful Marcos family, and sat down. Entrance into the grandstand for this event was $12/ea and boy was it worth it. From the woman with the NASCAR t-shirt that read, “If it’s wet, just slide it in!” to the dude with hair spiked in so many places he just had to be a Vidal Sassoon model, this place was a people watching dream. The fact that there were numerous people proudly wearing their Dakota County Demolition Derby t-shirts from as far back as 2004 showed me that this was an annual event for many in the crowd.
The demolition derby was entertaining with some parts requiring me to jump up and pump my fist wildly in the air but some, especially the “old iron” portion, were a little dull. I enjoyed it immensely because, honestly, who doesn’t like to see mud-flying around a pit full of cars bashing the hell out of each other? I mean, seriously, cars throwing smoke and blasting noise while revving the engine in an attempt at the impossible–dragging a bare wheel through the mud–is just downright awesome. While I doubt that we’ll make this a yearly outing, I am definitely glad that I got to see my first derby. Maybe I’ll return in another 5 years of living in Dakota County to try it all again.
After the derby we wandered through the midway on our way to find my wife a way to eat some more food. We stopped for deep fried Oreos with the original intention of having deep fried candy bars at a stand that made funnel cakes the size of your head. Due to fear of peanuts, she settled on the apparently inferior cookies that were just not up to snuff for her. When I was sent off to get a drink, I passed a booth selling cheesecake on a stick for a reduced rate. I picked up a raspberry one to which another vendor, seeing me hold it as they got my soda for me, said, “Oh, those are great!” My significant other agreed and only when there was a tiny morsel left did she look up at me with eyes pleading for the proper response, in her favor, and asked if I wanted any. I shook my head in the negative and she scarfed the rest of it down smiling. After the Oreo debacle and cheesecake rebound, we made our way towards the parking lot, stopping once more for a pickle on a stick and a Sprite. The wife made note that we started the fair the same way we ended it–bitter sweet I say.
The Dakota County Fair was an interesting experience and one I’m glad we had. While I don’t think that it quite lives up to its motto that it’s a place where memories are made, I suppose it isn’t half bad. For now, we’ll save our money for future excursions to the State Fair instead.
Have you been to the Dakota County Fair or the Demolition Derby? If so what do you think about it? What do you eat when you’re there? What other events do you normally catch in the grandstand? Whatever you have to say about the fair go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear what you think!
See all the pictures from the Dakota County Fair on Flickr here.
Related posts:
- MnGCA/Dakota County Parks International CITO Day: Thompson County Park; West St. Paul, MN
- Favorite Thing About The Minnesota State Fair Poll
- Minnesota Scottish Fair and Highland Games: Farmington, MN
- Dakota County Volunteer Appreciation at the MN Zoo: Apple Valley, MN
- Best Values at the 2008 Minnesota State Fair
Dakota Complaints Map
Dakota Inmate Dashboard
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August 15th, 2009 at 11:36 am
I don’t know about that, Bill. I ‘made a memory’ of the look you gave that little shrieking brat two rows behind us. I just wish you would have shot him that look earlier in the evening, might have saved some wear and tear on my ear drums. Here is a parenting tip for all the readers – if your kid shrieks louder than a demolition derby happening 20 feet in front of you, your kid is too fucking loud and needs to be told to shut the fuck up.
I enjoyed the demolition derby more than I had anticipated I would! Although it really wasn’t that different than watching morning rush hour traffic on Cedar avenue during a light snow storm morning in January. Wait, actually the demolition drivers were more polite than the rush hour drivers.
Now to a little comment for my dear friend, Mrs Robinson. I’ll call this segment Here’s To You, Mrs. Robinson… I noticed an absolute ABUNDANCE of Pepsi Cola products at the Dakota County Fair! Naturally this caused some pain and discomfort for me as I had to consume plain water to quench my thirst! THE HORROR! Luckily, some individual concession stands outside the Grandstand did offer cans of Coca Cola for 75 cents, though said cans weren’t ‘ICY’ cold as promised by their signage.
The rest of the food offerings were typical fair food, nothing really stood out (though we didn’t eat much since we got there right before the derby and left soon after). I prefer to save my fair food dollars for the Utopia that is the State Fair! Can’t wait!
August 15th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Just got back from the Dakota County Fair! Really only went to eat some cheese curds and pet the goats. My two favorite fair activities. Got there shortly after 9AM which is too early. The grease isn’t really getting warmed up until after 10AM. Supported the 4H’ers by buying a malt and nachos grade. Mini-doughnuts were tasty. Not too much else to see since we went into the historic buildings last year.
Next year I may have to check out the demolition derby! Now…time to hit the Pepto.
August 15th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
We didn’t take in too much of the fair besides the derby and a couple of the foods that I tend to look for at any fair – Italian sausage and a bucket of fries this time.
At the sausage stand they have a few full 14″ sausages on the grill. But when they serve you one, they cut it in half, then slice it the long way, skew two of these quarters in a bun so they extend just about the full 12″ of the bun, bury it in almost-cooked peppers and onions, and charge $7. At least it was an actual Italian sausage, not a bratwurst in disguise, which is one thing I learned the hard way to look out for at the state fair last year. It was pretty spicy and tasted about right.
The derby was very cool! If I were looking for another time-consuming hobby this would be it. I had an ’84 Grand Marquis sitting in my driveway for a few years and I gave it some serious thought before selling it last winter. Like Bill was saying, just seeing the cars from the giant leaky 4bbl carb era roaring and spitting fire was way cool. Then when they are tearing each other apart and parts are flying, it’s off the chart. At times it seemed like they were all instructed to go easy on each other, but I think that was a matter of strategy and maybe lack of traction or power. Then entered a car numbered 00 that took most of its shots at full speed with a good running start. He did a lot of damage but still only made it to the consolation heat. There was another car that survived the last 10 minutes of the heat without half of the rear axle and the wheel that was attached to it, both removed from the track after being torn from the car, probably by 00.
I think next year we’ll check out the pickup trucks – I’m guessing with twice the traction they are a little less gentle on each other overall.
August 15th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Despite having lived in Dakota County for many years, I’ve only been to the Fair a few times in my life. I think the last time was at least ten years ago. It used to be free; I’m not sure when they started charging. Now that they do, I personally think the State Fair is more worth the money (though I only go to that when someone I know invites my wife and I, as we’re not into it enough to go on our own).
August 15th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Yawn.
August 15th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
never never land!
never been there, never plan to!
bb
August 15th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Growing up at the age of 12 to 17 I would work for my uncle who owned a business in Farmington and lived 2 blocks from the fair grounds. I would work from 6:30 to 5 every day and then at night would hike over to the fair through a fence where someone had cut an enterance through a chain link fence. I think back to this and now am astonished how when I was 12 I was allowed to go off and attend an event such as a fair with no adults and no one thought anything of it. I have been to probably 6 Dakota County Demo Derbies in the ’80s but it has been several years since attending the Demo in Dakota County. They were always a good time. The Balsam Lake, Wisconsin Fire Depratment puts on a demo derby every year over Labor Day weekend. This is the most intese Demo Derby I have seen. They people are very serious. Last year I took the boys and had to remove them from the stands as there were fist fights in the crowd as pit crews were arguing over wheter a drivers hit was attemtping to hurt the driver with a direct shot to the drivers door. I think the $1 beers may have contributed to the hostility.
Bill, Kim and the Marcos, did you go check out Johnny Holm last night? I beleive he was playing the fair last night.
August 16th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Thought Leader – yes, we caught a few songs but about the time we wandered near enough to actually see Johnny Holm, they took a break so we bailed and left for home. He puts on a good show, we sat for quite a while last year and enjoyed the performance.
August 16th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
I grew up going to the Canfield Fair, in Canfield Ohio (Youngstown). It’s bigger than the Dakota County Fair, but smaller than the MN State Fair. I love going to Fairs. I have to get a corn dog at the Fair. It’s a requirement. :) I am doing the 5k at the State Fair and for a “reward” they give you free malt coupons and stuff so I’ll be sure to get my corn dog and free malt post-race. YUMMO
I still haven’t tried the cheese curds. Can’t bring myself to eat a curd… :P
August 17th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Attended the DCF with my husband and 4-year old kid. The single best value at the fair this year is the large area of bouncy houses for the kids. There are at least a dozen, and while the fair rides are totally overpriced at no less than $3 per for one 2-minute ride around the kiddie car racetrack, an all-you-can-jump bouncy house wristband was only ten bucks. The kid jumped, and jumped, and jumped while ma and pa sat in the grass and digested all the fried food. It was fantastic for the kids, and not overly crowded. A+
August 18th, 2009 at 11:58 am
I hate the Fair. All Fair’s to be fair. It’s a bunch of overpriced vendors feeding people unhealthy foods. You have to deal with crowds, unbathed nasty smelly people, people with strollers who think their kids own the paths, un-parented teens who are just there to cause trouble and destroy things, and vendors who feel they need to “fill you in” on things you don’t give a rats ass about.
The only good I see in the fair is the young adults in 4H or other organizations who get to show accomplisments, and for Getney to give me another Blue prize winning jam… :)
May 25th, 2010 at 7:32 am
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