What’s New at the Minnesota State Fair

MSHS has a new look to its display and several new features during the Minnesota State Fair. We hope you’ll visit us in the Dirt Wing of the Horticulture Building and check it out.

Here’s What’s New:

Garden to Glass. This year’s educational display is all about using the fruits, herbs, veggies and other good things you grow in your garden in delicious beverages. We have partnered with the folks at Quincy Street Kitchen to develop interesting and garden-centered recipes for cocktails, mocktails and smoothies just for the Minnesota State Fair. We’ll have pictures of the items and a way for you to snap a photo of each recipe so you can make it at home. We’ll also have information about growing herbs plus plants to admire. Give the lavender a sniff for instant relaxation at the fair!

Lettuce Turnip the Beet and other fun shirts: We have some new and fun T-shirts at the fair, in addition to the flower- and butterfly-themed shirts we’ve sold in the past. My personal favorite is The Sodfather shirt, which is great for all those turf-loving dads out there. Or, get a Plant Mama shirt for the houseplant lover you know. Our merchandise booth will be in its usual position in the center of the Dirt Wing, right in front of The Dirt stage. (Check out the stage program for some fun and enlightening presentations. Also, a great place to sit down for awhile!)

Join the Hort and Get a Cool Tote! As always, we will be selling membership and renewing memberships and subscriptions to Northern Gardener magazine at the fair. We have a new cloth tote (with some goodies inside) that will be given to members who join or renew at the Minnesota State Fair. Don’t forget, members get a 15 percent discount on merchandise, which applies to shirts, books, garden tools, gloves and other items we have at the fair.

Put Your Face on a Seed Packet. The nice folks from Seed Savers Exchange will be joining us on the first weekend of the fair. You can grab some garden props and get your photo printed on a seed packet.

Plus all the usual good stuff: Of course, we will have our MSHS Potted Plant Show that runs the first couple of days of the fair, our beautiful State Fair Garden, which includes a sample of the box we supply to our Garden-in-a-Box program participants, and all your favorite garden books, tools and gloves for sale.

See you at the fair.