Ticket prices to the Minnesota State Fair will not increase for 2026, organizers decided over the weekend.

The Minnesota State Agricultural Society, the organization that operates the Fair, voted to keep admission and Fairgrounds parking prices steady for this year at its 167th annual meeting in Bloomington. The last time ticket prices did not increase was 2024.

For 2026, regular gate admission for adults 13-64 will remain $20; children 5-12 and seniors 65 and older will be $18; children 4 and under will still be admitted free.

Pre-Fair discount admission tickets, available now through Aug. 26, are $17 for all ages.

Ticket information is available online at mnstatefair.org/tickets.

The board also approved about $67 million in expenditures, including the State Fair’s annual $44 million operating budget and $23.2 million in Fairgrounds maintenance and improvements. Most notable among these projects is the massive Lee & Rose Warner Coliseum renovation, which will bring new seats, redesigned entryways and aisles and updated amenities to the arena. Other planned improvements include repairing street and sidewalk pavement, installing new fans in the Food Building, expanding the South Bike Lot and buying portable drinking fountains.

“Minnesotans care deeply about their State Fair, and our approach is to make smart investments that honor tradition, set the standard for high-value, high-quality experiences, and ensure the fair’s continued relevance and significance for generations,” State Fair CEO Renee Alexander said in a statement.

The Fair is financially self-supporting and does not receive government funding.

As for events at the Fair, two Grandstand shows have been announced so far: ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic is set to return for his seventh Fair show on Aug. 28, and Rod Stewart is playing what could be his last large-scale show in the Metro on Sept. 1.

State Fair admission costs have been rising rapidly in recent years. Ticket prices are up $5 from the busiest-ever 2019 Fair, the last before the pandemic. Last year’s $2 increase to $20 adult tickets was the largest single-year jump since 2007, when admission was raised from $9 to $11 per adult. Over the past decade, ticket price increases have taken place in 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025. (The 2020 Fair was cancelled due to Covid-19.)

Annual Fair attendance remains high, though. More than 1.94 million tickets were sold for the 2025 Fair, making it the busiest Fair since the pandemic and the fifth-best attended of all time.

The 2026 Minnesota State Fair runs from Aug. 27 through Labor Day, Sept. 7.

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TORONTO – For players like Minnesota Wild forwards Hunter Haight and Ben Jones, who are still working toward every-night spots in the NHL lineup, each game they get to play in “the show” is a gift worth savoring.

But when the rash of injuries that had the Wild playing without five veterans again on Monday lines up with the team’s lone visit to Toronto this season, for players like Haight and Jones who grew up near Canada’s largest metro area, it’s a special treat.

“I definitely felt like I bled blue for a while,” said Jones of his childhood as a Maple Leafs fan, growing up roughly an hour outside the heart of Toronto. “I went out for lunch with my family yesterday and everyone said that if I got a chance to play here and they saw me on the ice, there would be a lot of tears flowing. It’s exciting for them and kind of a full-circle moment for sure.”

Jones, who was skating in his 25th game of the season on Monday, played youth hockey in Toronto on a team with Quinn Hughes when they were kids. Haight, who was slotted in for his fourth NHL game on Monday, was born a little more than 20 miles west of the city and witnessed his first NHL game at the rink where he was working for the Wild.

“It’s something you dream of growing up,” Haight said after the Wild’s morning skate on the Maple Leafs’ home ice. “Always watching through their playoff runs and all that. I haven’t been in this building since I was like seven years old.”

For Wild coach John Hynes, having seen many players return to their hometowns or their former employers over his coaching career, there’s a balance by the emotional boost from playing in front of friends and family, and the need to focus on the hockey, blocking out any potential distractions.

“I think it’s always exciting for guys to be able to come back and play in their hometowns,” Hynes said. “Sometimes it’s no different than if they’re coming back to play for a team they used to play for. Usually it gives them a little bit of extra pop and excitement.”

For both players, there was a little more pop in their wallets as well. The Maple Leafs have some of the most expensive tickets in the NHL, and Haight was on the hook for “a bunch” of them with more than 30 friends and family coming to Monday’s game. Jones said his father took him to his first NHL game in Toronto as a kid, and on Monday night, Ben got to return the favor.

Briefly

Former Gophers star forward Matthew Knies has been a hit in Toronto since he signed with the Maple Leafs just hours after the U of M’s loss in the 2023 NCAA title game. But a nagging lower body injury kept him off the ice for Monday’s morning skate and Toronto coach Craig Berube was unsure of Knies’ availability to face the Wild.

“It’s obviously bothering him a lot for quite some time and hasn’t gotten really much better,” Berube said. “Other than when he gets some breaks, Christmas time and stuff, he comes back, it feels better, but it’s an ongoing issue.”

Knies, 23, has a dozen goals and 28 assists in 45 games for Toronto this season. Originally from Arizona, he spent two seasons with the Gophers, helping them reach the NCAA Frozen Four in back-to-back years and winning the Big Ten’s MVP award in 2023.

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Goodbye, Animal Control. Hello, Animal Services?

Weeks away from relocating into a new building, the city division currently known as St. Paul Animal Control is looking to sport a new name.

Angie Wiese, director of the city’s Department of Safety and Inspections — which oversees the unit that handles endangered and abandoned animals — told the council on earlier this month that the term “Animal Control” is passe within the industry, where workers are more likely to try and rehouse kittens or reunite a missing iguana with its owner than to control rabid dogs.

“The term ‘Animal Control’ is very outdated in the animal services world, and comes from a time when animal care looked a lot different than it does now,” Wiese said. “One of the drivers to make this change now is that we’re preparing to move into a new space, and we want to brand that new space.”

Wiese shared pictures of a giant turtle, a large white goose, an iguana, a kitten and other abandoned or escaped animals that were returned to their owners or rehomed with new families through partnerships with area nonprofits. “We do a lot more than dogs and cats,” she said. “We provide a number of services that are more than just control of animals.”

Wiese said DSI has also worked closely with Human Resources to recast job titles such as “Animal Services officer” and “Animal Services manager.”

The city council will host a public hearing on the division’s potential name change on Wednesday, and likely a final vote a week later.

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Animal Control currently operates out of an outdated animal shelter at 1285 Jessamine Ave. West, by McMurray Fields, that was built in the 1970s. Work began around last April on remodeling what had been a privately-held shelter in the same neighborhood at 1115 Beulah Lane, which will offer better separation between large and small animals and more space for veterinary care and adoption services.

Animal Control is expected to move into the new facility early this year.

Team Fjordwitches, a team of three women from Quebec, Canada, is once again the winner of the World Snow Sculpting Championship, which was held Wednesday through Saturday in downtown Stillwater.

Team Fjordwitches — Fanny-Fay Tremblay-Girard, Joelle Gagnon and Marie-Claude-Paris-Tanguay — beat out 15 other teams from around the world to win this year’s competition and a $1,500 prize with their entry, “The Inosculation of Souls.” The team, which was also crowned champion in 2024, also won the Artists’ Choice Award, which had a $500 prize.

Team Falcon of Mongolia placed second and won $1,000, and Team Thailand took third and won $500.

The People’s Choice Award, which had a $500 prize, went to Team Kawsay of Peru.

Teams were judged on creativity, technical execution and overall visual impact, said Robin Anthony-Evenson, president of the Greater Stillwater Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

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“These artists represent the very best of international snow sculpting,” Anthony-Evenson said. “The championship brings global talent to Stillwater while creating a shared winter experience that celebrates creativity, culture, and community.”

The championship, which brought more than 67,000 people to town Wednesday through Sunday, is considered the marquee event of the city’s World Snow Celebration, which continues through next Sunday, and includes live music, food and beverage events, a winter market, and family activities.

“Visitors are encouraged to experience the sculptures up close while enjoying the broader festival offerings,” Anthony-Evenson said.

The sculptures will remain up for viewing in Lowell Park as long as weather permits, she said.

For more information, go to www.worldsnowcelebration.com.

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