One month from now, we will be working hard at the Minnesota State Fair. The Savvy Celiac, Celiac Center of Minnesota and Twin Cities ROCK have come together to organize gluten free at the Minnesota State Fair for all 12 days.
We are in charge of four major tasks: 1. creating a gf food vendor list 2. creating a gluten-free booth for info and fun 3. getting sponsors 4. recruiting volunteers! It is no small undertaking, but it is definitely exciting.
In the last six weeks, we have come up with a fun game that will be inside the booth which is located in the HealthFair 11 building. We got in to see the space earlier this month.
Inside the HealthFair 11 Building July 9. Benches will be pulled to make room for our Gluten- Free Booth and many other booths.
We also mailed out inquiries to nearly 250 food vendors at the fair to find out first, if they would like to be included in the gluten-free list and second, what menu items are gluten free. Lots of answers are coming back via US Mail, email and our online survey.
There are additional follow up questions we look into as well: do they fry in shared oil, do they use gluten-free soy sauce, what are the ingredients in said menu item…. So far we have nearly 3 dozen vendors who have come forward! It should be a good comprehensive guide to get you started in your search for gluten free food at the fair.
250 vendor letters to send
US Mail responses pouring in this week.
We are also still working on obtaining sponsors. These organizations will help us defer costs for the booth, get us some fun food samples and in return, they will get some name recognition on the day they sponsor. If you own a business that caters to gluten free, feel free to contact me and I can get you sponsorship information as soon as possible.
And of course volunteers. We are looking pretty good here. Several days are full. But if you have a weekday where you can come join us, that would be great! Maybe your boss will let you leave work early so you can volunteer! We are looking for folks with a good working knowledge of living gluten-free and kids need to be 12 years and older. All volunteers get a free entry into the state fair for that day, plus a t-shirt. Please see our online signup form for additional information and available dates and times!
Distribution of the gluten-free list will happen in mid-August on the ROCK, Celiac Center of Minnesota and The Savvy Celiac‘s websites. Of course they will also be printed up and available each day at the fair at our Gluten Free Booth inside the HealthFair 11 building at the corner of Dan Patch and Cooper.
Tags: booth, eat, fair, food, free, gluten, gluten-free, HealthFair 11, Minnesota State Fair, Vendor, volunteer
August 4th, 2014 at 3:05 pm
Hey there! a friend passed this along to me and I was wondering if you have any additional info about the new Gluten-Free
Beer-Battered Brat advertised on the link below. They claim:
A locally-made gluten- and nitrate-free brat, dipped in a homemade beer batter and deep-fried on-a-stick.
Find it at Sonny’s located inside the Food Building.
http://www.mnstatefair.org/fun/new_food/
Very intriguing if it were to be true!!! Though I’m highly skeptical 🙂
August 5th, 2014 at 7:24 am
All of this is being worked on now and the final list will be posted in a few weeks. We are working with the maker of the brat too!
August 6th, 2014 at 10:28 am
Thank you for all of your hard work! This will be my first state fair after my celiac diagnosis, and I’m looking forward to checking out and supporting the GF vendors. (Please, please, please let the french fry stand be on the list…)
August 6th, 2014 at 12:10 pm
I am trying to get the french fry stand info. Keep your fingers crossed.