The Minnesota State Fair is all about stick-laden, stick-to-your-stomach food, livestock barns and giveaways. Unless it's about Machinery Hill, free music and cheap milk. Or the barkers for midway games and Ginsu knives, the seed art and Ye Old Mill. Or the slide, the Skyride and, of course, the people-watching.

But the fair also is about tradition and legacies -- and the trivial things.

What was the first food on a stick? (Pronto Pups in 1947.) How much butter goes into making the Princess Kay sculpture? (90 pounds.) What factor reduced attendance in 1875? (Grasshoppers.) How many mini-doughnuts are consumed every year? (4.1 million.)

So as a tasty -- and calorie-free-- appetizer before heading to those 320 wondrous acres of fried fare and hilarious hats, here's our Quiz on a Stick to prepare you for this year's festivities, which start Thursday.

1. Which musical act has made the most grandstand appearances?

  • A. Kansas.
  • B. Alabama.
  • C. Chicago.
  • D. Boston.

2. What provided the first evening performance at the grandstand in 1899?

  • A. Harness racing and fireworks.
  • B. A unicycle race.
  • C. A re-enactment of the Battle of Santiago.
  • D. An Alabama concert.

3. Who sold the most tickets for any concert?

  • A. John Philip Sousa, in 1927.
  • B. Frank Sinatra, in 1957.
  • C. Christina Aguilera, in 2000.
  • D. Kiss, in 2010.

4. In how many years were locomotive collisions staged at the grandstand?

  • A. 0.
  • B. 1.
  • C. 4.
  • D. 11.

5. What is the constant temperature (F.) in the Princess Kay "butter head" room?

  • A. 4.
  • B. 40.
  • C. 44.
  • D. 50.

6. In 1906, what did the St. Paul Growers Association use to build a model of the State Capitol?

  • A. Sticks.
  • B. Seeds.
  • C. Rutabagas.
  • D. Onions.

7. Who was governor when the Tilt-a-Whirl debuted?

  • A. Theodore Christianson.
  • B. Floyd B. Olson.
  • C. Hjalmar Petersen.
  • D. Knute Nelson.

8. Which speech was delivered at the fair?

  • A. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
  • B. Teddy Roosevelt's "Speak softly and carry a big stick" evocation.
  • C. John F. Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner" exhortation.
  • D. Jesse Ventura's inaugural address.

9. Which of these is not 100 years old?

  • A. Progress Center.
  • B. Grandstand.
  • C. Fine Arts Center.
  • D. Ye Old Mill.

10. Which building was not used as a war plant from 1943 to 1946?

  • A. Barns for swine, cattle and horses.
  • B. Commissary.
  • C. Food Building.
  • D. Fine Arts Center.

11. Who was the last president to appear at the fair?

  • A. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
  • B. Calvin Coolidge.
  • C. Teddy Roosevelt.
  • D. Franklin Roosevelt.

12. Which of these was not served on a stick in 2006?

  • A. Lutefisk.
  • B. Hot dish.
  • C. Mac and cheese.
  • D. Spaghetti.

13. Which is the largest number?

  • A. Calories in 75 corn dogs.
  • B. Calories in 50 orders of deep-fried cheese curds.
  • C. Rolls of toilet paper used in an average year at the fair.
  • D. Gallons of milk consumed at the All-You-Can-Drink stand annually.

14. Which weighs the most?

  • A. The largest pumpkin ever at the fair.
  • B. The largest boar ever at the fair.
  • C. The grease used daily at a Pronto Pup stand.
  • D. Ex-Viking Bryant McKinnie.

15. How many children, on average, are lost at the fair in a day?

  • A. 7.
  • B. 17.
  • C. 27.
  • D. 70.

16. On a clear day, what can you see from the Space Tower?

  • A. State Capitol.
  • B. North St. Paul snowman.
  • C. Mall of America.
  • D. "Spoonbridge and Cherry."

17. How much manure was composted at the fair last year?

  • A. 310 tons.
  • B. 1,130 tons.
  • C. 1,300 tons.
  • D. 3,100 tons.

18. What cannot be used in the seed art competition?

  • A. Kudzu seeds.
  • B. Sorghum.
  • C. Sudan grass.
  • D. Dried Honeycrisp apples.

19. How many benches are there at the fairgrounds?

  • A. 150.
  • B. 500.
  • C. 1,200.
  • D. Not enough.

20. How many public buildings at the fair are air-conditioned?

  • A. 2.
  • B. 4.
  • C. 8.
  • D. Seriously, not enough.

QUIZ-ON-A-STICK ANSWERS

1. B; Alabama has performed 18 times.
2. A; the battle re-enactment was the year before — in daylight.
3. C; Aguilera sold 22,117 tickets.
4. C; in 1920, '21, '33 and '34.
5. B; or more precisely, 4.44 degrees Celsius.
6. D; no word on how piquant that got.
7. A; Christianson was governor in 1927, when the Faribault-made ride first appeared.
8. B; Roosevelt made it in 1901, when he was vice president. (Lincoln's address was no doubt reprised at four Gettysburg battle re-enactments in the late 19th century.)
9. D; Ye Old Mill is a spring chicken at 98.
10. C; the Food Building didn't open until 1948.
11. B; Coolidge appeared in 1925. Eisenhower addressed a crowd of 50,000 in 1947, when he was Army chief of staff.
12. A; hot dish on a stick actually debuted that year at Ole and Lena's, and more than 30,000 were sold.
13. D; the order is milk (25,000 gallons), cheese curds (23,750 calories), corn dogs (23,250 calories), toilet paper (22,000 rolls).
14. B; Reggie the boar weighed in at 1,450 pounds last year.
15. A; no statistics are available on the number of lost parents.
16. A; tower owner Errol Kantor said the visibility extends to the two downtowns and planes taking off and landing from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
17. D; that's 6.2 million pounds, by the way.
18. A; plants used in seed art must be suited or adapted for Minnesota.
19. D; OK, this is really a "gotcha." Though most people would say "not enough," fair officials never have counted the benches.
20. C; Coliseum, Miracle of Birth Center, J.V. Bailey House, two police stations, the Care & Assistance Center and two medical aid stations — although "not enough" is certainly not a wrong answer.