What makes the State Fair so Walkable?
It’s the Great Minnesota Walk-Together! The Minnesota State Fair is an annual tradition and every time I go, I am reminded of how much people want to be in vibrant, walkable places. The State Fair is incredibly walkable.
On the days of the Fair, Minnesotans throng to the streets of the fairgrounds curb-to-curb logging 10k-20k steps and (gasp!) not parking immediately next to their destinations. They get out and have perhaps the most pedestrian-friendly experience our state has to offer!
Here are five reasons why:
There’s something different and interesting every 25-50 feet
Parking is on the periphery
The thoroughfares are pedestrian-only
Robust event programming
Place-based traditions
Something interesting every 25-50 feet
This is the absolute must if you want to have a walkable place. There have to be things to walk to! In a walkable distance! At the State Fair every street is lined with carts, stands, vendors, and activities. Few of the buildings are a block long - mostly they are human-scaled with multiple entrances that prominently face the street. There is a dizzying variety of street-side features, not only of foods but baby animals, butterflies, arcades, beer gardens, tractors, radio stations, politicians, art, demonstrations, rides, goofiness, and merriment.
Each time you walk a little farther and you discover something new
Sometimes the things are clustered together in an area, for example many of the new car displays are near each other. Sometimes they are scattered around, like the Sweet Martha’s cookie sheds. That they are inconsistent is magical and part of what makes the place interesting and worth browsing on foot.
Any pre-war town or village has this feature of something interesting every 25-50 feet because the primary mode of transportation was on foot. It provides a natural scale and pace that encourages walking. Each new thing to see is only a dozen or so strides from the last.
Parking is on the periphery
Map of Fairgrounds with parking highlighted
There are no parking lots within the fairgrounds chewing up acres of space and interrupting the pattern of interesting things every 25-50 feet. Parking lots are walkability killers, and yet we need them for modern transportation. So what to do? The best thing to do is move the parking lots to the outside edges and let people walk into the hubbub of densely walkable activities.
The Fair takes this many steps further by having a robust and convenient park-and-ride system throughout the metro area. Buses are in constant rotation to shuttle people to and from their cars, keeping the parking on-site scarce and at the edges.
Thoroughfares are Pedestrian-Only
This is relatively unique to the fairgrounds. While walking on the streets you occasionally encounter a trash collection cart or an emergency services vehicle. But that’s it! The rest of the time the roads are for people.
Streets for pedestrians
The most walkable places prioritize the pedestrian above all other road uses. What would other prominent places be like if there were few or no cars on the thoroughfares with the densest retail amenities?
Robust Event Programming
The State Fair has dozens of performance stages, vendors do demonstrations, and media organizations to live broadcasts. There’s a daily parade! The Grandstand hosts a different national headliner each night! Each day has fantastic reasons to be spontaneous and walk a few blocks to check out something special happening.
Everyone can find something fun to do
This is no accident. When walkable places are supported by events programming, they become vibrant and self-renewing. Of course it is a challenge to create a good ecosystem of events and provide staff resources to make it happen. But if there is a holistic view of the benefits (or even better, a linkage of the cost and revenue economics), then magic can happen!
Place-Based Traditions
Alongside the daily events I would guess every family has their own set of “must-dos” at the Fair. Ours are to see the baby animals in the birth barn. And check out the butter heads and get ice cream in the dairy building. And see the cool and creative artworks in the art building. And visit our relatives that run the antique tractors on Machinery Hill. And leave with a bucket of Sweet Martha’s Cookies.
Every one of these traditions connects our family to the place and the experience and creates our own unique reasons to cross the fairgrounds on foot.
Conclusions and Takeaways
What lessons can you take from the Minnesota State Fair and apply to your favorite place to make it more walkable?
Can you:
Increase the density of retail and food amenities? Food trucks and pop-up vendors are a place to start.
Prioritize parking that is on the edges instead of the center?
Calm the car traffic on the crossing streets? Or have special festival days where there are no cars?
Create some event programming? Can the local bars and restaurants have some live music nights?
Recognize the traditions that tie people to a place? It could be visiting a landmark church or a daily flag raising ceremony or a special treat at the local ice cream shop or … what are YOUR favorite things to do in your favorite place? Make them a tradition!