Description
Illustration by Nuri Ducassi, 18×24
This poster, which is part of a 12-poster series, is an homage to “the North Star state’s great display of the products of the earth and air, the outpouring of the horn of plenty into the lap of Minnesota’s loyal people,” as the Minneapolis Tribune wrote in 1896.
The grandstand has offered entertainment as varied as the fashion choices strolling through the midway, from champion horses to country legends to cat videos to pop princesses (see above). The wooden, two-deck grandstand packed in the crowds in 1885 to watch horse racing “under perfect conditions — without pool selling or betting or the influence which ordinarily … contaminate this splendid sport”; the “absolutely fireproof” new grandstand built in 1909 (and still standing today) offered “Austrian Ballet” and vaudeville for ladies and gentlemen. In 2000, the biggest crowd of all turned out for Christina Aguilera, “and the 22,117 concertgoers — the majority preteen and teen girls — responded by screaming and waving souvenir green glowsticks,” wrote music critic Jon Bream. Minnesota favorite son Bob Dylan played the grandstand twice, and rock ’n’ roll was permitted to take the stage in 1974. The 2021 grandstand lineup so far includes country and kiddo music, with more fine entertainments to be announced.
Each poster is printed on-demand on heavy quality photo paper. Posters will arrive in 10-14 days.
