When the Minnesota State Fair announced its cancellation for 2020, some fair food fans wondered where they'd get their deep-fried treats on a stick.
Fortunately, a mother and son duo launched a Facebook group to help people locate food vendors that were popping up in parking lots, in driveways and on roadsides all across the metro area.
Fair Food Finder now points to dozens of addresses where you can sample the tastes of late summer, without an admission ticket.
Not all of these stands were official Minnesota State Fair food vendors; some had presences at county fairs or in fairs in other parts of the country that were also canceled. But all of them make food that you might expect to find along the Grand Concourse.
Locations and dates continue to be added; be sure to check websites or social media for the latest. This is just a slice of what's out there. Browse the Fair Food Finder app for more.
Cheese curds
You'll find Blue Loon Concessions' cheese curds and corn dogs parked outside various Menards stores through the end of the summer.
facebook.com/blueloonconcessions
Corn dogs
Kennedy Concessions' will be selling corn dogs and cheese curds outside the Coborn's in Hastings this weekend and at Sever's Fall Festival in Shakopee through Halloween.
facebook.com/kennedyconcessions
Deep-fried pickles
JD Concessions supplies customers with fried pickles from the Pickle Stand, as well as WONderTONS ("gourmet wontons") and Arlo's Mini Donuts.
facebook.com/WONderTONS
Fair fusion
Fresh off the Wisconsin State Fair's drive-through food event, Cheese Curd Tacos combines two great fair foods in one.
facebook.com/cheesecurdtacos
Fresh-cut fries
The Fair Faves food truck has been parking all over the metro area this summer, serving fries, corn dogs, cheese curds and mini doughnuts.
facebook.com/fairfaves
Fried apple pie
State Fair fixture Minneapple Pie sells deep-fried apple handpies from its signature pastel green stand.
facebook.com/minneapplepie
Giant egg rolls
The food truck KCM Eggrolls , often found in the east metro, has put its house specialty jumbo egg roll on a stick.
facebook.com/kcmeggrolls
Mini doughnuts
The Donut Family has been selling buckets of mini doughnuts, cheese curds and more at locations in Lakeville and Vadnais Heights.
facebook.com/Thedonutfamily
Pronto Pups
Get your Pronto Pups from a county fair regular who has been parking her stand in front of her Faribault home all summer.
4828 Morristown Blvd., Faribault, Minn.
Waffle on a stick
Now That's Waffles is a food truck offering Belgian waffles, dipped in chocolate and on a stick. Aka the Fudge Puppie.
facebook.com/NowThatsWaffles
@SharynJackson
Correction:
Previous versions of this article misstated sale locations for Kennedy Concessions.
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Guides
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Here’s how critic Rick Nelson will get a fill of his State Fair favorites this year Some of the best food on the fairgrounds is available elsewhere, either in carbon copy form or as a close facsimile.
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