Minnesota State Fair: 170 Years of Creative Activities

Creativity is, of course, essential to art.

The creativity on display in the Creative Activities Building at the Minnesota State Fair was once essential to life—and, for some, still is.

Quilting, knitting, sewing, baking, canning. Originally, these creative endeavors entered in the State Fair “were all things that were essential to life on the farm” in the North Star State, says Keri Huber, Minnesota State Fair archivist.

Quilts provided warmth. Canning preserved food to carry early Minnesotans through winter. Sewing and knitting stitched together clothing.

The fiber arts, handcrafts, needlework, cakes and pies, and pickles displayed today in the Creative Activities Building are now about the joy of creating and crafting and less about necessities, Huber says. They spur pride and memories—and both inspiration and intimidation—for fairgoers who marvel at the state’s artistic mastery each year.

“Creating for the sake of creating is what makes us human,” Huber says.

An Evolution: From ‘Woman’s’ to ‘Home Activities’ to ‘Creative Arts’ Building

At the first “Territorial Fair” in 1855, women showed butter, flowers, handwoven rugs, needlework, and more, according to Huber. The exhibition dates to the State Fair’s beginning in 1859, a year after Minnesota gained statehood. The crafts and creations were exhibited in numerous places on the fairgrounds until the “Woman’s Building” opened in 1908.

Though men could enter the competition in later years, the items brought to the fair were about the “life of women and what appealed to them,” Huber says. There are reports, she adds, that “the fairer sex was upset when a man won first prize.”

Things got big-time in 1916 when a curator from the Art Institute of Chicago came to the Minnesota State Fair to judge entries, Huber says. Exhibitors could purchase a ticket and get a one-on-one review of their work.

During World War I, the American Red Cross exhibited and manufactured hospital garments, surgical dressings, comfort kits, and knit clothing in the Woman’s Building. Competition in cakes, pies, and confections was discontinued during the war, and bread had to contain a wheat substitute and no sugar or butter.

In the 1920s, Huber says, there was “get out the vote” information for women and a faux ballot; in 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution received approval from three-fifths of the states and the right to vote was extended to women. There was also a Betty Crocker cooking school and an exhibition of shawls from India.

Canning entries doubled in 1942 during a “Food for Victory” theme. After the judges tasted the food, the entries were resealed and sterilized so they could be returned to home pantries, according to a timeline Huber plans to display at the Creative Activities Building during the 2025 State Fair.

The “Woman’s Activities Department” became the “Home Activities Department” in 1952. The current building was constructed in 1971, and “Home Activities” was renamed “Creative Activities.”

Some crafts had to adapt to historic events. According to Sam Gilbertson, who manages competitions at the State Fair, the popular “Quilt On-a-Stick” was one of the few competitions that was able to go virtual when Covid-19 shut down the fair in 2020,.

Quilt-On-a-Stick—8-inch by 9-inch quilted concoctions—debuted in 2008, a play on the State Fair’s ubiquitous food-on-a-stick. There’s a different theme every year (this year’s is Fair Food, last year’s was Mascots). A paint stick is inserted in the back of the quilt block.

The results? “Kitschy, fun, whimsical,” Gilbertson says. “One walk-through is never enough for me.”

A Looming Presence

For more than 70 years, the Weavers Guild of Minnesota has woven fiber arts magic in live demonstrations in the Creative Activities Building, spinning and weaving on looms of various sizes.

According to Weavers Guild member Nancy Gossell, the demonstrations show wannabe weavers that they don’t need room for a huge loom. “Lots and lots and lots of people would like to try this,” she says.

The weavers allow fairgoers to try a small “cricket loom” with yarn. Gossell remembers a 7-year-old boy who argued with his parents when they wanted to see more of the fair, and he wanted to keep weaving.

During demonstrations, Guild members weave with “what we can actually bring to the Creative Activities Building.” Gossell, who lives in downtown Minneapolis, has a “loom room” in her condo, but says she, like many others, worried about space for a loom. She took classes with the Weavers Guild in the 1980s and then retook beginning floor loom—“I think three times”— before she got hooked on the craft.

The Weavers Guild of Minnesota offers classes at its location in the Open Book building on Washington Avenue in Minneapolis (weaversguildmn.org).

According to Gossell, there are three types of people who “come around the corner and say, ‘Whoa!’” when they see the weavers at the Fair. Notes Gossell:

1. The floor loom, where weavers use their feet, attracts “techie and engineer types.” Programming a computer is similar to weaving patterns, she adds.
2. People who say “I’ve always wanted to do this” but don’t have room for a loom. The State Fair demonstrations show them other ways to weave without a massive loom.
3. Visitors who say they don’t have time. (“I had to wait until my career was over,” Gossell says.)

Gossell figures her interest in weaving is genetic. Her grandmother was a weaver when she immigrated from Sweden. Though Gossell’s mother didn’t weave, her aunts and cousins in Sweden were weavers.

And although Gossell’s German grandfather was a barber in St. Cloud, he saw a neighbor weaving rag rugs from twine and found that his nimble fingers were suited to weaving.

The male side of Gossell’s family wove practical items such as rugs, she says. Her mother’s side sent woven blankets and tablecloths to their American relatives—everyday items that people don’t consider when they see intricate wall hangings and other fiber art pieces.

The Guild presenters get plenty of comments while they’re working at the fair. Says Gossell: Visitors say, “I thought that craft had died.” Or they remember rugs woven from strips of rags in the homes where they grew up. Or they ask silly questions: “Can you make yarn from the hair of a cat or dog?”

With spinning and weaving on display, Gossell jokes with State Fair officials that there’s got to be a way to bring sheep to the Creative Activities Building to complete the creative loop. (It’s not possible with food displays in the building.)

But it’s not just sheep wool.

Weavers Guild members who demonstrate their skills at the State Fair are encouraged to bring the favorite thing they’re working on. One member brought alpaca wool. Her children raised alpacas for 4-H, and the weaver would introduce them to those watching her demonstration: “Now, this is Harry. This is Daniel.”

Weavers also work with plant products such flax, which is used to weave linen, and hemp. The Guild recently hosted a master hemp weaver from Thailand, who offered programs on the traditional Hmong art of processing and weaving hemp by hand.

“I think most people recognize weaving as an art form,” Gossell says. “When does a handmade piece of attire become a work of art, rather than just something to wear?”

“When you see in a rag rug with the most amazing blending of colors,” she says, “that is art.”

Creative Activities Gets a New Look

State Fair visitors will see changes to the Creative Activities Building when they stop by during the fair’s 12-day run starting August 21, 2025.

The Weavers Guild, for which volunteers demonstrate their craft every day of the fair, will have a permanent space for its demonstrations and will add presentations, according to Competition Manager Gilbertson.

Some of the 8,000 creative entries displayed will move to what was once known as the annex, between the Creative Activities Building and the nearby Education Building.

Display cases, which showcase quilting, woodworking, knitting, sewing, collections, baking, and gleaming jars of canned fruits and vegetables, will be rearranged, Gilbertson says.

Gilbertson is banking on the reconfiguration bringing more eyeballs to the exhibits. Just inside the State Fair’s main gate, the Creative Activities Building is a hidden gem that can get passed by as fairgoers hustle to their favorite Pronto Pup stand or the Midway rides.

And creative activities—with their memories, inspiration, and, yes, intimidation—show no sign of slowing down at the Minnesota State Fair. Every division in the competition has seen an increase in entries since 2016.

“It’s art,” Gilbertson says. “We highlight art, really.”▪︎