Big pigs and barn tours
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by Mary Turck, 8/28/08 • The big boar is back, despite a dearth of entries that put this year’s exhibit in doubt until the last minute. On August 14, the St. Paul Pioneer Press headlined “State Fair’s ‘big boar’ contest remains short on sizable swine.” According to the PiPress, the all-time record pig was 1,340-pound Curt in 1994. Last year, Guy Noir said he “was hired by the Minnesota State Fair to provide security for Minnesota’s Largest Pig Ricky, a 1200-pound porker in a pen in the Swine Barn.”
At the intersection of folk art and politics
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Mary Turck, 8/25/08 • Though Lillian Colton, the mother of seed art, died last year at the age of 95, seed art continues strong at the Fair. Her family graciously allowed the continued exhibition of some of her classic portraits. But, as with any art form, the genre keeps on growing.
I doubt that Lillian would have created anything like the seed art bikini showing this year.
Farmer to farmer at the Fair
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by Mary Turck, 8/24/08 • White enamel church basement coffeepots hang from the ceiling, but the coffee bar inside doesn’t have Grandma’s egg coffee. The Farmers’ Union booth now offers karaoke and cappuccino, along with the more traditional balloons and yardsticks.
