ND State Fair: a pivotal week for Minot businesses

MINOT, N.D. (KMOT) – People from all across North Dakota and other parts of the country come to the Minot area for the ND State Fair.

Kim and Bruce Trueblood of Wausau, Wisconsin, were passing through Minot as part of their vacation. They stopped for a bite at Schatz Crossroads Travel Center and encountered a big crowd.

Kim: “We just saw it along the side of the road, and we were hungry, and truck stops always have good food.”

Interviewer: “And was it good food?”

Kim: “It’s excellent, very good, yes!”

Interviewer: “What did you get?”

Kim: “Biscuits and gravy with eggs.”

Kim and Bruce are some of the many customers taking over locations like the truck stop in Minot, and spending their dollars there.

Operations Manager Krista Marshall said they’ve seen bumps in certain departments from year to year.

“We’ve seen certain departments with increased sales as much as 10 percent over last year at the fair, to 60 percent over last year at the fair, depending on the department,” said Marshall.

Marshall said grab-and-go items in the deli have seen the biggest bump, as well as the late-night shifts after concerts let out.

Her restaurant manager Joann Strobel said this may be their best state fair week since the pandemic.

“We’re picking back up. Like, you know, coming out of COVID, this is probably one of our best years,” said Strobel.

Stephanie Schoenrock with Visit Minot said they track the ebb and flow of dollars in and out of the economy, and they’re expecting a great year.

“Even more than normal, we know more from hotels, we know from restaurants, the entire retail sector, we are hearing very good reports on the amount of people in town from outside the area to visit the North Dakota State Fair,” said Schoenrock.

For business owners like Marshall, this week is vital to what they do.

“The increase in business really helps us invest back into the business, back into our employees as well,” said Marshall.

Fair time is a key point in the year for business in the Magic City.

Schoenrock said they won’t know numbers on foot traffic or credit card payments for a few weeks, or maybe even a few months, depending on what they are measuring.

However, in 2020, when the North Dakota State Fair and Norsk Høstfest were both canceled, the area lost somewhere between $70 to $90 million, so it’s fair to say businesses are glad that things have returned to normal.

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