Lifestyle

Anglers in Minnesota have plenty of tales about the fish they caught. They probably have many more about the ones they didn't. But for some, the memories are not hooking a fish, but how they hooked themselves. Most times getting stuck with a fish hook is a minor nuisance, but it can mean a trip to the emergency room. In the central Minnesota town of Alexandria, people in the ER have found a creative way to keep track of fish hook incidents.
Deep-fried Twinkies joined deep-fried candy bars on the State Fair's roster of fattening, tempting foods this year. Katherine Lanpher, Lynne Rossetto Kasper and restaurant critic Rick Nelson conduct the annual Midmorning Fair food tasting.
Tips for buying corn and other delights of the farmer's market as Midmorning broadcasts from the Minnesota State Fair.
Since the early 1990s, the Minnesota State Fair has been actively working to improve accessibility for people who have disabilities. That means updating some old buildings, and providing many new services. Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer toured the fair recently with an eye toward accessibility.
The sport known as geocaching combines high-tech gadgetry with the ancient lure of treasure hunting. Geocachers use hand-held global positioning satellites, or GPS units, to search for objects hidden by other geocachers, who post the GPS coordinates and other hints on the Internet.
One of the country's most popular skateboarders helped promote a Minnesota-based builder of skate parks during a demonstration at the Minnesota State Fair.
Minnesotans love their butter sculpture. At least that's Linda Christensen's impression from inside the big revolving, glass-enclosed refrigerator at the Minnesota State Fair. Each year at this time, Christensen spends her days in at the Minnesota State Fair creating images of dairy princesses from big blocks of butter. On Saturday, she sculpted Jessica Felling, a dairy princess from Stearns County.
Eventually during their visit to the State Fair, more than one million Minnesotans will get tired and head for home. But for people who live near the fairgrounds, there's no going home from the fair. Some neighbors make the most of it by making a cottage industry of parking cars. Along one block, car parking brings a neighborhood together.
It wouldn't be the Minnesota State Fair if there weren't some politicking among the cheese curds and livestock exhibits. It's not an election year for state officials, but that hasn't stopped politicians from converging on the fair. Republicans have handed out "DFL lies on a stick", and Democrats are gathering signatures asking Gov. Pawlenty to release his tax returns.
The Minnesota State Fair opened for business Thursday with Gov. Tim Pawlenty greeting some of the first visitors early in the morning. As always, there's a mixture of new attractions and old standbys at the fair, which officials hope will draw more than 1.75 million people over the next 10 days.