Good Question: How Do You Get A Booth At The Fair?

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - Competition for booth space at the Minnesota State Fair is fierce.

There are only four new food vendors this year but about 470 people on the wait list. It's a little easier for non-food vendors, where 900 people were waiting for 75 spots this year.

So, how do you get a booth at the State Fair? Good Question.

"I always say the stars have to be aligned," said Dennis Larson, the State Fair's License Administration Manager. "Right time, right fit."

Vendors must apply and that application is good for three years.

Sara Hayden's Tipsy Pies broke the record for the shortest time on the State Fair food booth wait list.  She got the call six weeks after she applied. At the time, she only had an inventory of 600 pies. She spent the next two months baking and is now up to 18,000. She also got a congratulatory call from Martha of Sweet Martha's cookies.

"I didn't think it was real; I thought it was a joke from a friend," she said. "I still can't believe it. I was planning for five years, thinking that's when I would get in."

Space is at a premium at the fair. In most cases, a new vendor can only come in when an old one leaves. Once that booth opens, Larson then looks at what's nearby and what facilities are necessary for that vendor.

Tipsy Pies fit right into the Food building, where there were no other pies, and Hayden's booth didn't need cooking facilities. Larson and his committee also like to have a variety of foods across the fair.

"Once we decide the genre of food we want, I go to the registration pile and create a short list of maybe the top 10 people and the food committee looks at it and decides what would be the right fit for that space," he said.

At the other end of the spectrum, the owner of Quesadilla Junction waited 20 years to get his spot at the State Fair. Oliver Regal's parents began applying in 1985. He's worked at festivals and county fairs in the past, but he think his new trailer pushed him over the top.

"I bought this," Regal said. "It's a showcase, it's a beautiful trailer."

Larson said experience in serving a large number of people is a one of the most important factors in his ultimate decision.

"Have you ever served 1.8 million people?" he said.

Non-food vendors go through a similar application process. Larson said the fair also tries hard to allow all political and media groups access to booths.

"It's one of the platforms of our foundation [that] the fair is the medium for an exchange of ideas," said Larson.  "We want to be apolitical and neutral and give everyone a stage."