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Curious Minnesota

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Curious Minnesota

Where to find State Fair food favorites after Labor Day

Many vendors once offered an only-at-the-fair experience. That is changing.
September 7, 2024
Curious Minnesota

How did Old Dutch potato chips get started in St. Paul?

The company with the twin pack box created ‘one of Minnesota’s most beloved snack products.’
September 6, 2024
Curious Minnesota

What happened to the frozen whale that used to visit the State Fair?

One of the strangest attractions to ever hit the fairgrounds, ‘Little Irvy’ made a big impression.
August 30, 2024
Curious Minnesota

How the State Fair’s mascot was inspired by a real-life Fairchild

Fairchild and his nephew Fairborne have become enduring symbols of the fair.
August 26, 2024
Curious Minnesota

How did the Minnesota Star Tribune get its start?

The Strib is as old as the city of Minneapolis. It grew out of several strikingly different papers.
August 23, 2024
A brick building photographed in the 1880s shows where the Tribune was once located.
Curious Minnesota

What did Minneapolis’ Block E used to look like?

The Hennepin Avenue commercial strip was once called “exotic, energetic, occasionally evil and full of life.”
August 16, 2024
Curious Minnesota

Where is the real Lake Wobegon?

Garrison Keillor’s famous fictional town took inspiration from central Minnesota — including some businesses that remain open today.
August 9, 2024
Curious Minnesota

Why do Minnesotans have accents?

The state's well-known accent has come to symbolize folksy charm. But it has also been gradually evolving.
August 8, 2024
Frances McDormand plays the role of Marge Gunderson, the local police chief in the move 1995/96 "Fargo" made by the Coen brothers (native sons of St. Louis Park, Minnesota). McDormand is also Joel Coen's wife. Photo by Michael Tackett for Gramercy Pictures.
Curious Minnesota

How did Minneapolis get its name?

The debate over a name for the baby burg was once so fierce that citizens had to “agree to disagree.”
August 2, 2024
Curious Minnesota

What happened to all the leeches in Leech Lake?

The bloodsucking invertebrates appear to be on the decline in their namesake lake.
July 31, 2024
Curious Minnesota

Where were some of the Twin Cities’ most notorious speakeasies?

Caves, hotels and other businesses hosted illegal drinking in the 1920s. Some are open today.
July 26, 2024
Curious Minnesota

How Quonset huts helped solve the post-WWII housing crisis in the Twin Cities

Pop-up neighborhoods were filled with the ‘ugly but necessary’ corrugated steel sheds. Then they disappeared.
July 12, 2024
Rows of quonset hut housing shown from above.
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