I Found the Antidote to American Polarization at the Minnesota State Fair The Minnesota State Fair had a national spotlight on it this year. During the 12-day festivities, just under two million people entered the 300-acre playground of deep-fried food, farm animals, crop art and beer gardens — and millions more watched from afar. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz went viral with previous fair shenanigans, then captured the internet’s attention again during his visit on Sunday as the Democratic vice-presidential nominee alongside VP Kamala Harris. Also getting shared and retweeted? The antagonistic “Never Walz” booth in between the Giant Slide and the Space Tower. It seems this state fair, the most popular one in the entire country based on daily attendance, is just a microcosm of our country’s unavoidable polarization. Or is it? As a lifelong Minnesotan, I did my duty and went to the state fair twice this year — once with my wife and one-year-old daughter, once for a Matchbox Twenty concert at the grandstand (sorry, but “Real World” still slaps) — and what I saw was the same thing I always experience at the Great Minnesota Get-Together: the ketchup-slathered, batter-dipped, sweat-stained remedy for everything that seems wrong with the country today. — Alex Lauer, Features Editor | 