Food Fests

Gather, ye friends! And look upon the pronto pups of our youth. Oh yea, it is the time of the fest.

June 15 Viola Gopher Count
Viola, MN. Besides the “famous grilled cheese hamburger” I’m betting there’s a lot of beer at this one.

June 17 SPAM Museum Jam 2006
Austin, MN. How can you beat SPAMburgers, the Smothers Brothers and the Hormel Jingle Singers all in one day? You just can’t.

June 22-24 Judy Garland Festival
Grand Rapids, MN. On Saturady morning, JG fans from all over the world will convene for breakfast with three of the original Munchkins from the Wizard of Oz. I wonder if there will be donuts?

June 23-25 Sauerkraut Days
Henderson, MN. Coming from a proud German heritage myself, I choose to reclaim the name Kraut, to own it as a symbol of spicy pride. To honor this personal act, I pledge to get my keester to Henderson where all the FREE sauerkraut will inevitably lead to an embarssing rendition of “I Will Survive” during the Wild Karaoke session. See ya there.

July 8-9 Dragon Festival
Phalen Park, St. Paul. If you’ve celebrated one Svenskarsdag you’ve celebrated them all. Come and check out a festival geared toward the “new heritage” of our cities. Dragon boats! Taiko drumming! Kite making! and all the yummy Asian goodies they imply.

July 13 Hot Dog Night
Luverne, MN. Get your dog on, for free. Starting at 6pm, over 11,000 free hot dogs will be gilled by the merchants of Luverne. Then watch the oddly hypnotic Wiener Dog races starting at 7pm.

July 22 Aebelskiver Days
Tyler, MN. I am a firm believer that all forms of pancakes deserve a day of their own. For the Danes, it’s all about the aebelskive, a tennis ball shaped pancake celebrated all over the Northland. Don’t forget to grab your official Ove the Nissamaend bobblehead doll!

August 4th Braham Pie Day
Braham, MN. The one day a year that the city of Braham doesn’t think about high school basketball is the day they celebrate the title of Homemade Pie Capital of Minnesota. I just wonder, with over 500 different kinds of homemade pies hanging around all day, does anyone make it to Mama Jennisch’s Spaghetti Supper?

August 25-26 Barnesville Potato Days
Barnesville, MN. If for one day you fall of your carb-hating wagon, make sure it’s one of the Barnesville Potato Days. Imagine the freedom of giving yourself total permission to enjoy potato pancakes, potato sausage, dumplings, rommegot, and potato chip cookies. Oh, and Friday is the free french fry feed. Ready, set, run!

People, this is a mere sampling of events happening all over our state. Explore Minnesota is a veritable Smorgasbrod of tasty events.