It's been a few years since I've been to the Minnesota State Fair. I developed some food allergies and intolerance over the years and it was always a struggle to find something to eat.  

This year my friend invited me to go with her and how could I refuse. The fair now has a ton of options for those who are gluten free and dairy free. Plus, I forgot how much fun it is to go see all of the farm animals and people watch. 

My friend and I took the whole day to enjoy the sites and many flavors the fair has to offer.  We started with the furry farm animals.  I was very excited when we were able to actually pet a few of the cows, including the Highland Cattle. I'm easily entertained and I happen to love cows. 

After we covered all of the farm animals, it was time for lunch. Normally, this would be a point where I would reach into my bag and pull out a snack, but I was able to find a few things to eat. ​ 

I started with a  batch of Fresh French fries (which were delicious and I may have gotten a large bucket) and turkey leg. The turkey leg may have been a poor decision having just come from the farm animal buildings, but I tried to enjoy it all the same. 

Wondering aimlessly is a great way to see a lot of the fair. We happened across Minnesota Wine Country which had wine flights, wine by the glass, and wine smoothies.  The sparkling rose wine was my favorite! 

I'm a big fan of the French Meadow Bakery and love that they have a place at the fair. I enjoyed one (OK, maybe two) of their gluten free, dairy free brownies and even got one for the road. 

For all of the fermented tea lovers out there, the Minnesota State Fair now has a booth that serves Kombucha.  The Produce Exchange has two different flavors of Kombucha and it comes in handy after filling up on all the deep fried food on a stick!

With a decent amount of food under our belts, we decided to check out the Coliseum and International Bizaar.

We even made friends with the owners of Tennessee Moon Shine Cakes (located in the Coliseum). While I couldn't try their cakes, my friend said they were amazing.  I tried the honey and jams, which were also really tasty. I brought a few of them home to try and can't wait.  The owners were really sweet and posed for a picture with me. I hope the enjoyed their first time at the Minnesota State Fair. 

While I've listed a few things here that people with food sensitives can eat, there is so much more now than ever before.  They even have a page for it on the website - http://www.mnstatefair.org/general_info/visitor_guide/Food-Allergies.html

Here are a few more pictures from our journey that day! If you get out to the fair this year, snap a picture and tell us what your favorite part was! 

A new book just came to the wonderful world of Amazon called Keeping the Doors Open: An entrepreneur’s guide to survival.  The book was written by one of my clients, Steven Bell and I'm very excited to be a part of it. 

There are many books out there offering business advice, but this book offers some real insight for those tough days when you just want to throw in the towel and call it quits. 

According to a published report in Inc. Magazine, 96 percent of all new businesses fail in the first ten years, but not every business has to fail! There are ways to keep going and fight the uphill battle, even when you like you can't do it anymore. 

​My favorite part of the book is that you are encouraged to keep going, keep the doors open and never give up. 
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Don't just take my word for it, check out Amazon for a few snippets of the book. It's moderately priced and worth you the read.