Kickoff to Summer in Minnesota Announced for 4th Year

The Minnesota State Fair has announced their plans for the 4th annual Kickoff to Summer event! Who else is ready for summer already?

I know the weather has been incredibly mild lately but after the bitter cold recently and the Farmer's Almanac prediction for an... interesting spring, I'd like to just skip straight to summer. Please and thank you.

READ MORE: Farmer's Almanac Prediction for Spring 2024

Minnesota State Fair's Kickoff to Summer

The state fair first launched their Kickoff to Summer event in spring 2021. After a year of the pandemic and the state fair getting changed to a drive-thru-only event, we needed something fun to look forward to that we could enjoy safely outside.

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I also believe this was put together to try and make up some of the revenue the state fair lost by not being able to host the fair in 2020. I'm not sure if that was ever officially said but I'm sure that's a big reason, too.

People loved it, though, so now it's back for a 4th year!

Kickoff to Summer 2024

This year's Kickoff to Summer is happening, as usual, the weekend of Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer. So for 2024 the dates are Thursday, May 23rd through Sunday, May 26th.

Attendance is limited! So if you want to get into the event this year you have to buy tickets in advance before they sell out. They aren't on sale yet, you've got some time. The tickets will go on sale in early April, no official date for that has been announced as of now.

You can expect the event to be kind of like a mini state fair. A state fair warm-up. A pre-game, if you will. There will be nearly 40 vendors that are some of our state fair favorite foods and drinks, music and entertainment, 20+ specialty Minnesota merchants, the Giant Slide, history tours, games, and more.

They're also bringing back the Milk Run 5k.

This is a super popular event that will be on Saturday, May 25th at 9 AM. It's $45 per runner. Each runner gets a Milk Run shirt, admission to the Kickoff to Summer event for that day, a breakfast sandwich, a ride on the Giant Slide during the Kickoff to Summer, admission to the State Fair, and a malt coupon to redeem at the 2024 fair.

Tickets for the 5k go on sale at 10 AM on Tuesday, March 5th, and it's limited to the first 2,000 registrants.