Like the price of many things, admission to the Minnesota State Fair is going up.
Fairgoers ages 13 to 64 will pay $17 to get in to the 2022 Great Minnesota Get Together set to run Aug. 25 to Sept. 5. Children ages 5 to 12 and seniors 65 and older will pay $15. The prices reflect a $1 increase over last year's admission prices and will take effect on Feb. 1.
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Discount admission tickets at $13 are on sale through Jan. 31 at mnstatefair.org. Discount tickets will go up to $14 on Feb. 1.
Children ages 4 and younger will continue to get in free.
The price hike was announced during the annual meeting of the Minnesota State Agricultural Society held over the weekend at the DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton in Bloomington. The society is the governing body of the State Fair.
The increase in admission comes after State Fair reported an operating loss of $1.3 million for 2021. That followed a $16.5 million operating loss in 2020 when the fair was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Uncertainty about whether there would even be a fair in '21 lingered into May, creating a significantly compressed time frame in which to produce what is normally one of the largest and best-attended events in the world," said State Fair General Manager Jerry Hammer in a news release. "The fact that we were able to produce a great fair for 1.3 million guests was miraculous."
The 2022 fair will also have shorter hours. Gates will open at 7 a.m., an hour later than the traditional 6 a.m. opening. The fairgrounds also will close an hour earlier at 11 p.m. rather than midnight. On Labor Day, the final day of the fair, hours will be 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., the society said.
