Everything That’s New at the 2024 Minnesota State Fair

We're just 20 days away from the Minnesota State Fair and I'm unreasonably excited! Plus, the fair just announced a bunch of new stuff coming to the 2024 fair this year.

The new things are everything from new craft vendors to new rides to a new interactive exhibit that sounds awesome.

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New Foods and Food Vendors at the 2024 Minnesota State Fair

In case you missed it, they also announced a few weeks ago all of the new food that's coming to this year's Great Minnesota Get-Together. I'll have the list of the new foods plus the new food vendors at the bottom of this post for you to peruse.

Everything New at the 2024 Minnesota State Fair

The new things coming to the fair have a little bit of something for everyone.

First, they just debuted their new featured design for the 2024 fair.

Plus, they announced that there is a new state fair app! Let me tell you, their app is super helpful to see what's going on that day and also to hunt down the food that you HAVE to have.

(Another app that's super awesome is our station app, so make sure to download that too!)

Get our free mobile app

Also new this year is the Minnesota State Fair Foundation's Welcome Wall. You can purchase a tile for yourself or someone else, have the name of your choice put on it, and you'll be forever commemorated on the Welcome Wall starting at the 2025 state fair.

I thought, 'oh my gosh, I need to get one of these tiles! I'm such a huge state fair fan!', but it's $600 so... probably not.

The state fair also has some additions to its accessibility and guest services. Those include a virtual visual assistant service, an audio-described crop art tour, a new sensory-friendly space, family care expansions, and they've added an adult-size changing table.

There are two new rides coming to the Mighty Midway! The Kraken and The Defender are the new additions you can try if you're up for the adventure.

They've also added some historical highlights from past state fairs and they've made enhancements to different areas of the fair for guest benefit. For example, they've made upgrades to the Fine Arts Center and have added more space to enjoy some food and drink at The Garden.

There are some new competitions and themes at this year's fair. It includes fermented products, quilt on-a-stick, cake decorating, decorated cookies, decorated cupcakes, Minnesota State Fair Flower Show (Aug. 26 and 27), and FFA Landscape Design and Construction.

New promotional exhibits will also stop by the fair if you like free samples. Plus, the fair has expanded their transportation options to get to and from the fair. The transportation options include their free park and ride, Metro Transit, and SouthWest Transit.

There's also going to be a really cool new interactive exhibit called Cats and Dogs The Exhibition. As they say on the state fair website:

"Go inside the minds of our favorite furry friends at Cats & Dogs The Exhibition, a sensory and interactive journey devoted to understanding and decoding the behavior of our beloved, entertaining (and sometimes confounding) fluffy family members."

You know that's something I will be spending some quality time at.

And finally, on top of the new food vendors, there are a bunch of other new vendors coming to the fair as well.

If you like artisan crafts, there are 7 new vendors who will be at the fair. If cooking is your thing, there will be 7 new vendors selling items perfect for your kitchen.

There will also be 5 new vendors for apparel and accessories, 8 new vendors for gifts and souvenirs, 7 new vendors for outdoors and entertainment lovers, and 5 new non-profit and/or educational organization vendors.