Automotive, Family, Food, Gatherings, Seasons, Travel, Uncategorized

State Fair Checklist

32 Comments
  • Ask boss for every day of the State Fair off. Check.
  • Get tickets and coupon books (that’s right, two books). Check.
  • Make grid of which kinds of dogs are at the Pet Pavilion on which days. Check.
  • Add what days there are bunnies at the bunny barn to the grid. Check.
  • Check where this year’s Park & Ride lots are situated. Check.
  • Install the State Fair app on my phone. Check.
  • Look at all this year’s new food with YA. Check.
  • Extra points for writing some of the new foods on the grid. Check.
  • Go over possible schedule with YA. Repeatedly. Check.
  • Purchase some more individual wet wipes. Check.
  • Dig the turtle purse out of the attic (it’s the perfect size for the Fair). Check.
  • Start a “take with” pile (purse, sunglasses, wipes, tickets, coupons, address labels, couple of band aids, couple of ibuprofen, collapsible food container). Check.
  • Watch the weather forecast like a hawk.  Check.
  • Do laundry so the clothes you like best are ready on Thursday. Check.
  • Get gas for the car (probably not needed, but what the heck). Check.

Except for getting some cash on Thursday morning, I think I’m ready!

What’s the last occasion you “prepped” for?

32 thoughts on “State Fair Checklist”

  1. Not for the State Fair – way too any people for my liking! Except for a Grandstand show (maybe), I would be fine going once every 10 years or so. My sister goes at least 3 times and her husband probably makes it there 5 or 6 times. I consider that torture.

    I do prep for any kind of travel. Morocco is coming up in October. My “to do” list (which I made months ago) is almost complete.

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    1. I have never had the itch to go to Morocco. Our neighbors and another set of friends went and really enjoyed the trip.

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  2. Rise and Shine Baboons,

    I am planning for the seasonal canning I do–mostly tomato basil soup and jams and jellies. The big news is that it is a good year for wild grapes, and I have spotted several natural arbors, one in my neighbor’s back yard! I juice those and make wild grape jelly, which is unbeatable for flavor. I also have many peppers this year which means pepper jelly. Those also can go into bread and butter pickles with the cucumbers purchased at the local farm stand.

    And all this must be completed by Sept 15, before the knee replacement surgery.

    I am going to the State Fair, too, but not with the devotion of VS and YA. I still miss the Morning Show at the State Fair. That was what I planned for. The last several years we invited our friends, brought our own coffee and breakfast on a stick. When we poured the coffee people around us oohed and sniffed.

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  3. The last big occasion I prepped for was The Move from Port Huron to Saint Paul. Of course, others did the work. Chloe, the family Labrador, and I mostly watched those who actually planned, packed and lugged stuff. They also serve who only wag tails and keep out of the way.

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  4. My BWCAW Trip in June. I have what I thought was a fool-proof packing method that has me double and triple-checking gear, yet I still managed to forget to pack my sleeping bag and toothbrush. “D’oh is me.”

    Chris in O-town

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  5. my last prep was last week taking daughter and her furniture to chicago
    change the spark plugs on the monster pickup with 10 cylinder engine (wow)
    getting trailer ready to pull behind with tarp and tie downs amidst downpour
    tea , tunes, munchies, wife, daughter. all set

    state fair is easier

    bucks battery charger phone
    that’s it
    going with family saturday
    may go with daughter thursday (she’s off to london tuesday to do theater school)
    she got her checklist cooking right now with number one priority being how you get your phone working over there
    then netflix
    then how do you do a fake id in london?

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        1. Beer, wine, and cider. The drinks have to be purchased by an adult, and they have to be consumed in the part of the establishment that serves food, not the bar portion of the establishment.

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        2. potato’s don’t count as fermentated stuff
          grain or rice in distilled form either.

          cider and mead are becoming a big deal with the micro brewery mentality

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    3. I had one of them 10 cylinder trucks. I remember 7 or 8 of the spark plugs were fairly easy to reach and change. But those last ones… hoo boy.

      Just got a different used Truck.

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  6. I am on the quality assurance committee at work, and I have to review a select number of client charts every quarter using a four page checklist of required documentation. It is my least favorite part of my job.

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    3. as part of your preparation for paving the way for your successor why don’t you figure out how it should be done.
      can this be farmed our or do you need someone with direct interaction to do this checklist
      if it’s a matter of checking items on a checklist and submitting a spreadsheet of anaylitics
      i can help with how to get that off your plate

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  9. Many parents might identify with this. As your kids grow, you introduce them to things that meant a great deal to you when you were younger. You read a book to them that was dear to you once. You prepare a special treat, hoping that the kid will like it as you once did. You slap a DVD in the player and show your kid a movie you loved years ago. And in spite of the hazards of this, you keep hoping the kid will love what you loved.

    Well, in a few days, my grandson will experience his first Minnesota Fair. I can’t lie. My daughter and I are edgy as the time for this approaches. What if he has a bad time and says he’ll never go back? Could happen. But if my daughter is careful and limits the first visit, chances are very good he’ll love it. Fair food. Rides. Sweet treats. Cute lil’ animals. I shouldn’t worry about this. But I do.

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    1. I will think good thoughts on this one. The s&h has never missed a Fair since the summer before he was born. It has been a near thing the last couple of years. I was afraid he would decide to just skip it the year he left for Carleton on the very first day of the Fair, but he decided an early morning mini-Fair was better than no Fair at all.

      For us, the trick is knowing when we have had enough. We go early and once the street in front of the NPR stage is completely packed with a sea of people, we are done (generally shortly after the parade).

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  10. I prep for election day. Snacks, fruit, milk, water bottle, thermos of coffee, supplements, pen, notepad, little tray for paper clips & rubber bands, reading glasses, name tag, reference manual, reading material for slow times, phone, power bank for phone, sweater in case it’s chilly, fan on a stick in case it’s overly warm. It’s a long day and I hate to be unprepared.

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    1. I don’t think you’ll have any slow times this election.
      At least here, the presidential year elections are much busier than off year elections.
      Will you have the iPads for the roster book? We tested them in March- they worked pretty well.

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      1. You’re getting a little ahead of yourself, Ben. It just SEEMS like the presidential campaign has been going on for ages, but it is only just beginning.

        This year is an off year. City council. I expect it will be pretty slow. 2020 will likely be off the charts with new registrations.

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  11. The s&h is home for a whole 3 days (plus travel days each end of that) the end of the month. A day at the Fair and going to see his old high school teammates run their first meet has to get worked into that.

    He goes back early for cross country training camp, but can’t move into his dorm at that time.

    And I am about to get a welcome and necessary wave of work any day now.

    So I just keep turning the Rubik’s cube of packing and scheduling and hope it is all going to work out.

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