“I’ve been coming here for almost 70 years. I was born here and lived right across the street from the fair until I was about three or four years old,” said Cheryl Grondahl. “I’ve been coming here forever. We just have to come and take it all in, and the corn dogs, of course.”

Cheryl Grondahl’s husband, Myron, laughed at the corn dog comment. The delight on a stick was no joke with him. From his shady bench near a row of food stands at the fair he was very much aware of the nearest place to purchase a corn dog.

“Right there. Right behind me,” he said.

While the Grondahls weren’t about to pass on the chance to grab a corn dog or two at the fair, they were there for other reasons, too. Cheryl enjoys looking at the horses in the horse barn, walking down the midway and simply watching people. Myron said he was at the fair for a “general inspection of everything here.”

Kim Fundingsland/MDN Cheryl and Myron Grondahl, Bismarck, found a shady place to rest up before touring the fairgrounds on Wednesday. Eating a corn dog was high on their “must do” list for the day.

He recalled his younger days when he used to show horses at the fair.

“That was back in the ’60s. A week straight,” remarked Myron Grondahl.

The Grondahls were early arrivals at the fair on Wednesday, choosing to beat the crowd and rising temperatures.

“We also can park close early and get a bench in the cool air,” said Myron Grondahl.

Among other morning visitors to the fair were Debra and Dean Lindvall of McVille. They were making a special visit to the fair on Debra’s birthday.

“I haven’t been here since I was a teenager,” said Debra Lindvall. “I want to see the horses and the animals. I’m the animal person and he’s agriculture.”

Dean Lindvall said it was his first trip to the State Fair, although he’d been to the Red River Valley Fair in Fargo a few times. With a late harvest in the eastern part of the state he figured he had ample time to attend the fair in Minot. Dean Lindvall said he would take time to check out the machinery displays but admitted he had other business at the fair too.

“Food! Food is a good thing for me,” said Dean Lindvall with a broad smile.

The couple was accompanied by Heszik, a five-year-old Great Dane service dog from Budapest, Hungary. Heszik was friendly to all who took a moment to pat him on the head. The big dog is attached to Debra Lindvall. Heszik alerts her when she is in danger of having a seizure.

“He can predict a seizure 15 minutes prior to it happening. His nose knows,” said a grateful Debra Lindvall. “I live a normal everyday life like everyone else, all because of him.”

Fair enough.