Ariel Alvarado bolts a replica airplane to the top of a ride in the Kidway area of the Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. Workers and volunteers are working around the clock to make sure everything is ready for the opening of the gates for the Great Minnesota Get-Together at 7 a.m. Thursday. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
A worker unloads a trailer of stuffed prizes for a vendor on the Mighty Midway at the Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. Workers and volunteers are working around the clock to make sure everything is ready for the opening of the gates for the Great Minnesota Get-Together at 7 a.m. Thursday. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Michael Wald, a volunteer with the Midway Men’s Club, puts the finishing touches to the sign on the philanthropic club’s food stand at the Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. Workers and volunteers are working around the clock to make sure everything is ready for the opening of the gates for the Great Minnesota Get-Together at 7 a.m. Thursday. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Donna Eickels uses a cloth to buff and polish apples for the Pine Tree Apple Orchard display in the Agricultural/Horticultural building at the Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. Workers and volunteers are working around the clock to make sure everything is ready for the opening of the gates for the Great Minnesota Get-Together at 7 a.m. Thursday. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Stationary and empty Skyglider carriers dangle over a busy Underwood Street at the Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Hi on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. Workers and volunteers are working around the clock to make sure everything is ready for the opening of the gates for the Great Minnesota Get-Together at 7 a.m. Thursday. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Chuck Mathison, landscape operations managager for Bachman’s, drives a load of stone to a floral display being created in the Agricultural/Horticultural building of the Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. Workers and volunteers are working around the clock to make sure everything is ready for the opening of the gates for the Great Minnesota Get-Together at 7 a.m. Thursday. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Damien Wormuth adds stuffed animals to a prize display of a game vendor on the Mighty Midway of the Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. Workers and volunteers are working around the clock to make sure everything is ready for the opening of the gates for the Great Minnesota Get-Together at 7 a.m. Thursday. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Blocks of butter, weighing just over 55 lbs., are seen in a rotating carving freezer in the Dairy Building at the Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. The blocks will be sculpted into the likeness of the Minnesota State Fair’s dairy princesses and Princess Kay of the Milky Way. Workers and volunteers are working around the clock to make sure everything is ready for the opening of the gates for the Great Minnesota Get-Together at 7 a.m. Thursday. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
