The Oldest Fairs in Minnesota

The Minnesota State Fair is one of the largest state fairs in the United States, drawing over two million visitors during its 12-day run in late August and early September. It's been held since 1859, one of Minnesota's most enduring county fair traditions. Held at the permanent fairgrounds in Falcon Heights just north of St. Paul, it is known as the "Great Minnesota Get-Together" and is a beloved annual institution.

In Rochester, the Olmsted County Fair celebrates the home of Mayo Clinic — Rochester is one of the most visited medical destinations in the world, and the county precision agriculture, IBM campus, and the agricultural heritage of the Zumbro River valley come together at a well-organized fair. Dating to 1860, it ranks among Minnesota's oldest agricultural fairs.

The Stearns County Fair has been held in Sauk Centre, Minnesota since 1903, when a new fair association organized and opened new fairgrounds there — now celebrating well over a century of continuous operation. Sauk Centre sits in the heart of Stearns County's dairy and crop farmland in central Minnesota.