FAIR: State Fair Releases List of New Foods and Vendors for This Year’s Event

Nearly three dozen new foods and six new vendors have been announced to debut at the 2024 Minnesota State Fair.

Early Tuesday morning, fair officials released the following items as new foods for fairgoers to try:

• 3 Piggy Pals On-A-Stick – Smoked sausage slices wrapped in bacon, stuffed with a cream cheese blend and drizzled with barbecue sauce. This meal will be served at Sausage Sister & Me in the food court.
• Afro Poppers – Deep fried pastries seasoned with vanilla, cardamom, ginger, cloves and nutmeg. They can be drizzled with mango, caramel or chocolate sauce, and can also be topped with coconut flakes or sugar of your choice. These pastries will be served at Sausage Sister & Me in the food court.
• Sour Cream and Onion Hummus – Sour cream and onion hummus with beef bacon, sumac-crusted potatoes, caramelized onions, green onions, black cumin seeds, and chive oil on pita bread topped with sour cream and onion powder. This meal will be served at Papa’s on the east side of Underwood Street, just south of Little Farm Hands.
• Delicious Greek Meals – Hummus, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, green onions and crushed red peppers deep fried and served with roasted red pepper hummus. You’ll find these at Dino’s Gyros between Nelson and Underwood Streets.
• Buffalo Cheese Chicken Tacos – Buffalo cheese tacos with fried chicken topped with blue cheese sauce, in a fried flour crust. You’ll find these tacos at Richie’s outside the sheep and poultry barn.
• Mango Chili Whip – A smooth international mango drink with rims and topped with chamois and tajin with a tamarind candy lollipop. Located at Tasti Whip on the northwest corner of Dan Patch and Underwood Street.
• Crunchy Cookie Butter Mini Donuts – Vanilla mini donuts topped with vanilla sugar, cookie butter and cookie crumbs in a bucket surrounded by cookie butter and cookie crumbs. These mini donuts will be available at the Mini Donuts and Cheesecake Shops between Murphy and Lee streets.
• Iced Cotton Candy Team – Pea Flower Tea with edible glitter and a hard candy mixing stick. This will take place at Loon Lake Iced Tea, which can be found on the west side of Underwood Street between Wright and Dan Patch Streets.
• Crab Poached Chicken Wings – Chicken wings marinated in hot sauce before being grilled and fried with corn, chicken sausage, apple and potatoes. They will be tossed in a crab poached butter with a slice of lemon and parsley. They will be served at the Soul Bowl in the dining building.
• Fried Halloumi Cheese – Halloumi cheese (a blend of sheep and goat milk) wrapped in pastry dough and then fried before being served with sweet chilli sauce. Find it at Holy Land Deli in the International Bazaar.
• Fried Ranch Dip – Found at LuLu’s Public House on the south end of Schillings Amphitheater, this is a ranch dip with ranch seasoning, yogurt, and cream cheese in a panko crust that is fried and then covered in ranch powder. It will be served with a spicy honey dipping sauce.
• Dill Pickled Potato Chips – Imagine a mini version of dill pickled potato chips. You’ll find them at Tot Boss.
• Fried B-Nana Pie – Handmade pie crust filled with honey, bananas and cookie butter and fried. Find it at Sabino’s Pizza Pies.
• Grilled Sticky Rice – Grilled sticky rice topped with either shredded dried beef or pickled mushrooms. Garnished with fresh herbs and spicy aioli. Served in Union Hmong Kitchen.
• Pork and Pickle Rolls on Potato Skins – Potato skins stuffed with sour cream, cream cheese, chopped pickles, and fried pork covered in potato crumbs. This meal will be served at Route 666 Roadhouse Chicken in the food court.
• Lady Shoe Marble Ice Cream – Located at Bridgeman’s Ice Cream, it will feature strawberry ice cream, lemon marshmallow cream, and lady cakes layered in a cup and then topped with whipped cream and a cherry.
• Marco Park – Located at Jamie Sammy’s in the North End, this restaurant will serve rhubarb jam, thyme-marinated tomatoes, cheese, peppers and honey with grilled gluten-free flatbread. A vegan option will use thyme-marinated tofu dip and maple syrup instead of cheese and honey.
• Mocha Madness Shave Ice – Imagine an iced drink with decaf coffee, caramel foam, and a cold macchiato, drizzled with chocolate syrup and topped with dark chocolate espresso beans. This drink will be available at Minnesnowii Shave Ice.
• Nixtamal and Wild Rice Platter – Available only from August 28 to September 2 at Midtown Global Market in the International Bazaar, the dish will feature a choice of bison meatballs or sweet potato dumplings, served on a bed of nixtamal (white, yellow, and blue corn) mixed with wild rice seasoned with maple and spices, and topped with a mixed cranberry sauce. Seeds and cricket mix are optional.
• Potato Chip Pie with Potatoes – Potato chip ice cream sandwiched between Wrecktangle Pizza focaccia bread, topped with butter, honey, potato chips and herbs. Find it at West End Creamery.
• BP Bacon Cakes – Bacon dipped in pie crust and topped with peanut butter whipped cream, grape jelly and banana chips. Find these cakes at The Blue Barn.
• The Frenzy Ball – A sesame mochi dough ball with a vegan cheeseburger filling that will also be fried. This ball will be covered in bacon-flavored powdered sugar and can be found in the food building at Herbivore Butcher.
• Delicious éclairs – choux pastry éclairs with a choice of two fillings: banh mi or lobster. The lobster version is filled with lobster meat, celery, mayonnaise, hot sauce, lime, chives, salt and pepper, with added dried corn and cilantro. Meanwhile, the banh mi version is filled with pickled pork, chicken liver paste, pickled carrots, white radish, cucumber and sriracha mayonnaise. You can find these at Scenic 61 by New Scenic Cafe.
• Squid with Mushrooms – Oyster mushrooms that are breaded and fried before being served with chipotle sauce. Find them at French Meadow Bakery & Cafe.
• Strawberries and Cream Waffle Stick – Belgian waffle filled with strawberry shortcrust pastry and topped with whipped cream and strawberry sauce. Find it at Waffle Chix.
• Strawberry Lemonade Donuts – Available at Fluffy’s Hand Cut Donuts, this donut is covered in lemon buttercream, topped with crunchy strawberry lemonade, and garnished with lemon gummy candies and freeze-dried strawberry slices. A straw filled with strawberry lemonade will accompany the donut.
• Swedish Ice Cream – Vanilla ice cream topped with raspberry jam, sprinkled with Swedish gingerbread crumbs and garnished with a gingerbread heart. Find it at the dining hall at Salem Lutheran Church.
• Swedish wild rice and cranberry pancakes in the form of mini pancakes, served with dill Havarti cheese and a red pickle that includes beets, red onions, red peppers, cranberries and blueberries on brioche bread. These pancakes will be served in the dining hall of Hamelin Church.
• Sweet Corn Cola Drink – Sweet corn cola drink and sweet corn ice cream in a cup, topped with whipped cream, puffed candy and homemade frozen caramel. You can find this drink at Blue Moon Dine-In Theater.
• Crunch Bacon Sweet Heat – Twice smoked bacon marinated in red barbecue sauce, topped with a crunchy honey and chili sauce and served over white rice and green onions. You’ll find this dish at RC’s BBQ.
• Turkey Christo Sandwich – Tex-Mex toast with turkey, white cheddar, apple butter, spicy brown mayo and a sprinkle of powdered sugar. You’ll find this sandwich at the Minnesota Farmers Union Café.
• Walking Shepherd’s Pie – a warm pastry filled with slow-cooked minced meat, mashed potatoes, onions, carrots and peas in an herb sauce. This pie will be served at O’Gara’s Restaurant at the show.
• Wrangler Waffle Burger – Available at Nordic Waffles, this is a beef patty with melted Whataburger patty sauce, American cheese, and a waffle patty drenched in caramelized onions.

You can find a gallery of new items at the bottom of this article.

Meanwhile, show officials announced the following new vendors who will be participating in the 2024 event:

• Chan Restaurant
• Burrito Market
• Our kosharina
• Iced Tea from Lone Lake
• Original Food Lab by Midtown Global Market
• Payla Depo

These items and vendors will be among 1,600 items available for consumption at nearly 300 concession booths located on the fairgrounds.

The 2024 Minnesota State Fair will be held from August 22 to September 2. click here To cover the entire exhibition by KSTP.