7 ways to save money at the State Fair

It’s easy to blow a lotta bucks at “the Great Minnesota Spend-Together,” as some folks call our State Fair. But planning ahead can get you get more bang for your Benjamins. Here are some of the best ways to save on parking, admission, food, merchandise and entertainment. For details, see mnstatefair.org.

Volunteers get free admission to the fair in exchange for about three hours of work. You can sign up solo or as a group to help out at a variety of interactive exhibits, such as the kid-pleasing Alphabet Forest, Math-on-a-Stick and Kemps Little Farm Hands or displays on equines or local food. No expertise is required, but slots fill quickly.

Through Aug. 20, the fair sells discounted admission tickets online for $17 (regular-priced adult tickets cost $20 for ages 13-64 and $18 for kids 5-12 and seniors 65+), which may be printed at home, downloaded to a mobile device or mailed for a $5 handling fee. Pre-fair tickets may also be purchased in-person through Aug. 20 at the fairground ticket office, Cub Foods and select grocers and Chamber of Commerce locations in greater Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

The annual Blue Ribbon Bargain Book contains 100 coupons to save on food, merchandise and attractions. Using just one or two of them covers the $5 cost of the book. This year’s discounts include $9 off 33 ride and game tickets for the Mighty Midway or Kidway; $4.50 off one order of the Blue Barn’s Chicken in the Waffle; and 50% off one regular-price sweatshirt, jacket or pair of lounge pants by local artist Adam Turman. (You can decide if the discount is worth lugging your purchase around for the rest of the day.)

Before the fair, bargain books can be purchased by the same methods as advance tickets: online (there’s a $5 mailing fee) or in-person at the fairground ticket office, Cub Foods, and select grocers and Chamber of Commerce locations. During the fair, the coupon books are sold at several FairWear gift shops and Bargain Book carts (while supplies last).

On Opening Day, Thursday, Aug. 21, adult tickets are discounted to $18, and kids and senior tickets cost $15. On Seniors Days (Monday, Aug. 25 and Thursday, Aug. 28), tickets cost $15 for those 65+. And on Kids Days (Wednesday, Aug. 27 and Monday, Sept. 1), tickets cost $15 for those ages 5-12. For Military Appreciation Day, Tuesday, Aug. 26, $15 tickets are offered to active military and their spouses and kids as well as military veterans and their spouses. (Valid documentation of service is required.)

The fair offers free parking for non-licensed bikes or scooters at its three free bike corrals. There are also 30 free Park-and-Ride lots located within a few miles of the fairgrounds that provide free bus rides to the fair.

At the fair, most things to see are free: cows giving birth, fine art and crafts, giant pumpkins and pigs, horse shows, lumberjack shows and talent competitions. And there’s some excellent free listening, too.

Star Tribune music critic Chris Riemenschneider recommends the East Los Angeles rock legends Los Lobos, playing the Bandshell Aug. 25 and 26. Also Arrested Development, at the Bandshell Aug. 23 and 24, whose early-’90s hits, including “Tennessee” and “People Everyday,” put a “poetic, topical and Afrocentric spin on hip-hop,” he says, that still sounds relevant today.

And when you tire yourself out, you can always sit down and engage in the favorite free pastime of reading fairgoers’ funny, inspirational and offensive T-shirts.