Lollapalooza, Chicago's sprawling four-day music festival, required proof of COVID vaccination or a negative test for entry earlier this month. In September, Milwaukee's Summerfest, long considered the nation's largest music gathering, is planning the same for those wanting to catch Megan Thee Stallion and other headliners.

So it is frustrating and deeply concerning that the large, family-friendly event looming in Minnesota — the State Fair — will not require similar admission safeguards amid another alarming national COVID surge. On Wednesday, fair officials announced that while they recommend COVID vaccination or testing for fairgoers, as well as masking inside fair buildings, none of these will be mandatory.

We expected better from the leadership of one of Minnesota's best-loved events. At the very least, the COVID protocols in place at the fair, which starts Aug. 26, shouldn't lag those of other big regional draws.

If those other events can make vaccination or testing requirements workable, the fair owed it to the state to try. Putting a mask requirement in place inside buildings also would have been a reasonable precaution, particularly with the vaccine still unavailable to kids 12 and under.

It needs to be said that Jerry Hammer, the fair's general manager, and his hardworking crew have long earned Minnesotans' respect. The Great Minnesota Get-Together annually delights by deftly combining our agrarian roots with imaginative food and compelling entertainment. Massive work happens year-round behind the scenes to ensure that the 2.1 million in attendance are safe and satisfied.

This year's COVID policy is a rare mistake. It's also a missed opportunity to boost Minnesota's vaccination rate. A State Fair requirement likely would have spurred many vaccine holdouts to finally get immunized. Currently, 65% of those 12 and up are fully vaccinated.

It cannot be emphasized enough that the delta variant is dangerously more transmissible than earlier strains of the COVID virus, with cases rising rapidly across the nation. Hospitals in hard-hit Southern states are now reporting ICU capacity in negative numbers.

The fair's outdoor setting is less risky for COVID transmission. But this doesn't mean there's no risk, particularly when there are often crowded conditions and delta is circulating. Dr. Peter Bornstein, a St. Paul infectious disease expert, told an editorial writer that there is ''probably no 'safe' indoor space for anybody not wearing a respirator [N95]," with "ideal conditions for viral transmission" occurring in indoor areas where people are crowded and dining. Bornstein also worries about COVID spreading if people crowd into buildings during a storm.

In an interview, Hammer pointed out that the fair's annual attendance (2.1 million in 2019) dwarfs Lollapalooza (400,000 in 2019) and Summerfest (718,144 in 2019). Checking entrants for vaccination or testing could cause hazardous backups at gates near heavily traveled roads. In addition, he said it would be difficult to enforce a mask mandate.

It also doesn't appear that many other state fairs have put vaccine, testing or mask requirements in place this year. The Iowa State Fair's COVID policy, for example, mirrors Minnesota's.

But it's worth remembering who the blue ribbons go to in the fair's highly competitive livestock, produce, art and other competitions. The winners are those who diligently strive to do better than everyone else. The State Fair would have best served fans if that same attitude had shaped its 2021 COVID policy.