With the month of August upon us, many Minnesotans consider this the best month of the summer. This means the Minnesota State Fair, an event that is without a doubt one of Minnesota's biggest attractions, is only a few weeks away. The State Fair means food, people watching, and of course, more food. As each year passes, there are of course small changes (and some big) to the event. Heritage Square, a fixture at the fair for sometime, will soon be one of those changes.
Heritage Square is a spot to walk around, try various foods (like the delicious kettle corn), take in a concert on the small stage, or browse the merchandise from many of the skilled vendors who sell their crafts there. It's a beloved spot of many fair goers. But soon, it will not exist. Plans are being put into effect to take the space and completely renovate the it into a bus depot.
"Heritage Square as it stands today will not exist," State Fair deputy general manager Jim Sinclair
said Thursday. "It was never really intended to last as long as it has; it's basically plywood. It's lived its life."
The plans to turn the space into a transportation hub have not yet been finalized -- but this transformation is all but done. The State Fair Board will vote on the issue in the coming weeks. The plan is to move buses and their current hub off Como Avenue, which would help improve the flow of traffic -- the busses would now pick up and drop off fair goers at the former Heritage Square.
With Heritage Square's future bleak, mainstay attractions of the area, like the Minnesota Newspaper Museum, need to find a new home on the fairgrounds. The museum has no plans of not being a part of the fair in the future, so the search for a new location is on.
Each year, the fair changes -- most of the time the changes are barely noticeable. But when Heritage Square comes down, there will be very few who won't notice a significant difference.
Photo via:
VisitMNHistory.org
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