Tips, hacks and hidden gems: How to make the most of the Minnesota State Fair

What's new: Over 30 gut-busting featured foods, plus a slew of first-time vendors, exhibitions, and upgrades meant to make the fair more accessible.

• The new rides include a 180-foot tower that touts itself as North America's tallest portable swing.

🎟️ Tickets are $20 for adults and $18 for seniors and kids 5-12 — a $2 increase from last year. Kids under 5 are free.

Plus: Those hoping to snag free parking nearby might be out of luck: Falcon Heights will charge a day rate of $25 for spots on surrounding streets this year.

If you go: We asked readers to share their best tips for making the most of the fair. Here are some of the best hacks and hidden gems:

🍎 Shannon L. praises the cider pops at the apple booth in the Horticulture building as the best deal. She called the treats, which she can buy with the change from a $5 bill, "refreshing, hydrating, inexpensive ... and a great palate cleanser between fried goodies on sticks."

🍪 Abbe C. has a money-saving hack for satisfying a Sweet Martha's craving without buying a whole cone or bucket:

• "Every single time I've asked a stranger if I could have one, they've said yes," she writes.

🍔 Several readers shouted out Carl's Gizmo sandwich — a sausage-hamburger sandwich in a bun available near the north end of the Skyglider — as a must-eat item. "Truly life changing," Carter J. wrote.

• Greg R. went as far as to say this "nirvana on a bun" is "well worth the drive from Urbandale, Iowa!"

☔️ While gorgeous weather draws the biggest crowds, Julie B. thinks real fair lovers should "never miss a rainy day."

• "Much shorter lines, you get to wear a rain poncho, and the clouds weed out the posers," she wrote.
• And if you get overstimulated, the Lee and Rose Warner Coliseum is a "cool and quiet" place to recharge, she added.

🧊 Courtney H. freezes water bottles and keeps them in a cooler with plastic bags that can double as a to-go container for extra food. Putting one in her back pocket as it melts keeps her cool.

• And, on the topic of taking food home, Jan A. stocks up on $100 of salted nut rolls to "freeze and enjoy until next fair."

🐶 As far as favorite attractions go, Ginny J. loves watching the stock dog competition (Aug. 25 at the Coliseum), and Erin P. ends the night with the giant Ferris wheel and group karaoke.

• 🦋 Sarah C. recommends visiting the Butterfly House: "Stay still and let the butterflies land on you."

🌮 Ryan H., a self-described "State Fair freak," says the flour tacos at El Sol are "next level — and so many people don't know about them."

• Still on his fair bucket list is a sit-down meal at the Peg, the only full-service restaurant on site.

🛒 Steichen's Grocery, which Luke H. notes is well-known to 4Hers and others who stay on site, sells everything from diapers to sunscreen to tobacco products to breakfast at hard-to-beat prices.