Minnesota State Fair

[Tiller]

Thought I'd make a thread for the state fair since there isn't one yet.

Have there been any studies about attendance capacity at the fair? With population growth and densification, I'd figure there will be a point at which they convert some of the parking to more fairgrounds. Ideally in the future we could run some transit with enough capacity to significantly reduce the need for parking through, though it should be able to support itself the rest of the year.

[mamundsen]

Ideally in the future we could run some transit with enough capacity to significantly reduce the need for parking through, though it should be able to support itself the rest of the year.

We do this already. There are countless park and rides from all over the metro. Also, there are many churches in the surrounding miles that setup as temporary park and ride lots. I would be interested to see what percentage of fair goers use park and rides. I would not be surprised to see between 33-50%. Any have that info?

[Minnehahaha]

While I don't think any parking has ever been converted, they do seem to have made an effort to increase usage of the the less visited corners of the fairgrounds to spread folks around. The northern reaches of Machinery Hill used to be pretty dead compared to today. Coming from Hamline-Midway (typically on foot) I haven't had reason to check out the new transit center, but I expect there are more folks passing through that corner of the fairgrounds than Heritage Square had drawn in years.

[Silophant]

Yep. Today, at least, the transit center gate seemed much busier than the other gates I walked past. It would be interesting to see a breakdown of what percentage of attendees entered through each gate.

[Wedgeguy]

I took the 3 today from downtown and got off at gate 9 on Como. Last year we took the 960 and got dropped off at the just completed new transit hub on the west end. Would have done the 960 again this year but they did not start running buses until after 8 am. By the time the first 960 bus would have left I had already been at the fairgrounds for 30 minutes.

I'm glad they moved the transit center, as it was a mess when it was located south of Como across from gate 9. Between the people crossing Como to the bus stations and the buses having to sit in traffic on Como was a nightmare.

[RailBaronYarr]

This says nearly half of fairgoers arrive by bus, which jives with a report I saw (but can't find) that had it in the high 40% range.

The new transit center is definitely a welcome improvement. Also, the new space that replaced Heritage Square is the kind of small additions I'd expect to keep seeing.

Also, minor gripe, but the bike parking at Randall and Buford is super frustrating. I find it hard to believe a small paddock right next to the gate would be hard to fit in. I brought my bike by bus the first Saturday (had to work a later shift after my wife/kid left and didn't want to bus home). Had to walk the bike back out then walk back in.