Your complete guide to Day 8 at the Minnesota State Fair

What's one thing that donuts, tacos, cheese curds, lemonade, and fudge all have in common at the Minnesota State Fair? Pickles!

At least six pickle foods made the fair's 2023 new foods list, while many other vendors hopped on board, too. So what's the big dill?

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Bumper cars won't get you anywhere fast, but they sure can be fun - unless your co-workers gang up on you on the Midway!  

It's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt — and last year, someone was hurt in a nighttime shooting near the entrance to the Midway.

Frank and Rhonda Goldman, of St. Louis Park, said they make it a point to thank police officers whenever and wherever they see them — and that's happening a lot during their visit to the fair.

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Let's just say that things got a little competitive among our WCCO team members as they tried Can Can Wonderland's "Mini Golf on a Stick."

We know a day at the Fair requires quite a bit of walking, so what's the best pair to wear?

Derek James' sons, Tyler and Chase, decided they wanted to take their father on a full tour of the State Fair's sheep barn.

The WCCO morning team had their chance (scroll down to see the evidence), now it's time for WCCO's The 4 crew to submit to the blindfolded taste tests that are "What in the World Are They Eating?"

Spoiler alert: Some of the foods were spat out, not devoured.

There's no shortage of things to buy at the Minnesota State Fair.

First off, grab a bottle of "K" Mama Sauce at the State Fair Grandstand. Here's an explanation from Kyung Chun.

Also among State Fair's many art forms are these wood mosaics, created by Nathanael and Anna Bailey from Duluth.

Finally, "Project Runway" contestant Christopher Straub introduced everyone to his newest character creations!

As we mentioned earlier, starting next month, Joseph Dames will be joining the weekday morning show permanently.

Wondering who will be stepping in to handle weekend mornings and other NEXT Weather coverage? Wonder no further. Adam Del Rosso is joining our NEXT Weather ranks as our new weekend morning meteorologist! Watch his introduction to both WCCO and to the Minnesota State Fair below!

At the halfway point, only one day has broken the daily State Fair attendance record, and that was the first Friday. Since then, the 2023 fair has had plenty of robustly-attended days ... but nothing that's breaking any new records.

Wednesday's attendance was a solid 128,068, very respectably ahead of the 2021 and 2022 equivalents, but roughly 17,000 shy of breaking the Day 6 record.

Our noon show Thursday saw a double shot of fair foods for Shayla Reaves to sample. First up were the deep-fried olives, a relatively new-ish food that's since become a fair staple for many.

Next up, a brand-new food from Baba's, the unique Al Taco Baba, which features pitas on a stick and a bowl full of rich flavor! We gave this food a solid three-star rating in our rundown of the new fair foods!

Every year, officials with the Minnesota State Fair single out the cream of the crop among fair vendors. On Thursday, the fair unveiled 2023's official winners of the "Best Awards."

Among the winners were two high-profile recent food vendors with an eye toward giving fairgoers a truly international culinary experience. Afro Deli and Union Hmong Kitchen were dubbed two of the best from this year's Great Minnesota Get-Together.

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Every year we play a round of "What Are You Eating?" It's a blindfold taste-test guessing game that usually gives some of our WCCO anchors a ... memorable moment.

One thing we've got to say — A.J. Hilton has absolutely no poker face when it comes to food.

After that game, it wasn't surprising that A.J. was ready to wash that pickle fudge down with some Minnesota wine.

If you feel like exploring a floral fantasia, you'll want to head over to the Agriculture Horticulture Building at the State Fair. Karen Bachman Thull talks about the display Bachman's has put together that's all about fairytale endings.

We kicked off our 9 a.m. show with a special announcement. Joseph Dames is officially the new weekday morning meteorologist at WCCO! Congratulations to Joseph and we know he's going to be a great addition to our morning team!

A few things you might not know about Joseph: he loves playing the guitar, he's a big fan of getting out into nature, and ... what's with that chicken?

Finally, to seal the deal, each member of WCCO Mornings offered up a personalized gift to welcome Joseph to the new gig. Pauleen Le, in particular, offered up a way for Joseph to straddle the line when it comes to border battles this fall!

Pauleen Le met some of the talented 4-H kids and their animals.

The Blue Moon Dine-In-Theater has a lot of fair favorites, but it's their new food this year that's getting all the attention.