North Dakota, Are You Going To America's 2nd Largest State Fair?

I knew the Minnesota State Fair was a monster but I had no idea that the Minnesota Fair is second only to the Great State of Texas! The rest of the state fairs ain't really even close to the top two. "The Big E" is billed as New England's Great State Fair.

It's known by all as "The Great Minnesota Get-Together"

State Fair of Texas (2.25 million visitors)
Minnesota State Fair (2 million visitors)
The Big E (1.5 million visitors)
The Great New York State Fair (1.2 million visitors)
Tulsa State Fair (1.15 million visitors)

In comparison, the North Dakota State Fair has averaged over 310,000 people over the last few years. Not too shabby for our population base. It's probably because of the great entertainment we pull in...y'know, like Kid Rock.

Too soon with Kid Rock?

Unlike the country music-leaning ND State Fair, the Minnesota State Fair features a number of rock shows but also seems to lean a lot on nostalgia acts. They did throw the Zac Brown Band in the lineup for the country fans.

Getty Images

Food seems to be more of a focus too. The Twin Cities news organizations actually put together a roundup of all the new fair foods and rank them. They also feature all their new foods on their website. I'm not a foodie, so I'm not driving all that way for a fresh duck egg sandwich.

But what about mainstage entertainment?

Looking over the grandstand lineup nothing really knocked me over. Although Diana Ross may have got me Upside Down.

Getty Images for The Recording A

The Minnesota State Fair website is great because it also lists all the tiers of pricing.

Here's the 2022 Grandstand lineup

Thursday, August 25

Alice In Chains, Breaking Benjamin, and Bush

Friday, August 26

Counting Crows and The Wallflowers

Saturday, August 27

Portugal. The Man and Manchester Orchestra

Sunday, August 28

Pitbull and Iggy Azalea

Monday, August 29

The Beach Boys, The Temptations, and Tower of Power

Tuesday, August 30

Jim Gaffigan

Wednesday, August 31

Florida Georgia Line

Thursday, September 1

REO Speedwagon and Styx

Friday, September 2

Zac Brown Band

Saturday, September 3

Diana Ross

Sunday, September 4

MSF Amateur Talent Contest

Monday, September 5

Disney Princess- The Concert

2020 Census Ranking Of North Dakota Immigrants By Country

I believe you may be surprised by who is the number one exporter of future North Dakotans. For that, we turn to Stacker.com by way of voiceofalexandria.com. It's a very diverse group of nations indeed. You will be WOWED by number one. I kid you not.