All things Prince

Today is Governors Fire Prevention Day and I realized late in the day, after my volunteer shift, that I failed to see any firetrucks, get my fire related swag and reminisce at the Red Cross doll house.   I was a little sad, but the day was filled with my quest to find all things purple!  

The State Fair declared this day "Unite in Purple" to honor Prince.  As I entered the gate there was a list of all the purple activities, merchandise and food to try! 

I hoped I could document as much as I could before my first volunteer shift at 3pm.   

I realized there was no line in the DFL booth so I asked a nice kid to take my pic with these powerhouses.  

The Farmers Union coffeehouse was offering Raspberry Beret Frappes!  I'm not a fan and tried to get a picture, but was unsuccessful! 

Then I decided Blueberry tipsy pie qualified as purple food, even though it wasn't on the official list! 

There were media outlets offering different Prince merchandise, so I headed to the closest radio station to find this beauty, but sadly not in my size.

 I then headed to the Star Tribune to find out the t-shirt they had to offer would not be sold until 5 pm and I couldn't even see what it looked like.   Well *pfffft*  on them.  I knew I would not make it back before they were likely sold out.  I checked out the advertised "purple pride" shirts at KFAN, only to find (they didn't exactly lie) but it was only Vikings shirts they had to offer.   

I walked past Andy's Subs and Malt shop and they were offering purple sprinkles on cones and malts.  It was 9:30 am and I didn't feel like ice cream, so I kept waiting for someone to order one and there was finally a customer, but she bit into the cone so fast I didn't have a chance to ask if I could take a pic.  I decided I would try later.

I walked past Bayou Bobs and noticed the beautiful purple petunias and decided, not only would I find all the purple food offerings, but I would only take pictures of all things purple.

I headed into the Grandstand to see what I could see and to look for a special gift for Mom & Dads Anniversary gift.  I tried to bid on it at the taste and lost out,  but I knew I could find it during the fair. 

I entered the building and there was the My Pillow booth.  They were not, in fact purple, but after six years, it is time to replace ours.  I took advantage of the State Fair Deal of two full size and two travel pillows,  I also found the new annual Christmas ornament for mom...also not purple, but since I was there.... 

 The Sleep Number Bed people put purple pillows on all the beds!   

I headed upstairs to find the "third eye" glasses at the Spectacle Shoppe, and there they were, but when I inquired about the price, he said $2.99.  I thought wow! That's super cheap!, He must have seen the look on my face and repeated..."two hundred ninety nine..."  I said "OH!"

They are cool, but not in my budget!

The Creative Accent booth had all their purple finery on display and they said they were selling quite a bit of it!  

I wandered most of the Grandstand and it was getting quite crowded and I still had not found the Syndicate Sales Group where I would find the Anniversary gift. I emailed the company via cell phone to ask where they were located, not expecting a reply back on a Friday.   I wasn't sure what I was looking for exactly.  It was coming close to 11:00 am and they would be announcing the name of my calf soon.  No matter the winning name, I will still call him Bullseye!  I walked over to CHS Miracle of Birth and found my little guy nestled in.  Another calf was born at 4 am this morning and that was it so far!  

When I asked the vet, watching over my little Bullseye when they would get news about the name, he said around 11:00, KARE11 would be there, but it sounded like the winning name was "Prince".  No surprise.  I didn't feel like being there with all the press, so I headed toward Kare11 Barn and passed by the Turkey to Go booth.  I was hungry, and vowed to only eat purple food, but was discovering that much of the food would be offered until after 5 pm.  Since the Turkey Booth is purple, I decided I could justify this purchase!  YUM!

I walked into the KARE11 Barn, just as the news was starting and found myself on camera for a moment.  Sure enough they announced "prince" was the name, I also learned a little bit about the plan for "Unite in Purple" day as the organizers and Princes' DJ Dudley D, were interviewed.  

I walked all over taking fun "purple pix", The Spin Art people were offering lots of purple paint today, and there were some purple people spinning purple paint! 

I found the purple cotton candy

and the purple floats, but the lemonade girls weren't dying the lemonade purple until after 5.  I'd be back! 

I walked past purple merchandise

and headed to find all the purple art I could in Creative Activities.

 My favorite is this Purple Cow quilt.

 It takes me back to St. Anthony Park Elementary School and Mrs. Healy's class!

I searched the Annex to see if the vendor I was trying to locate in the Grandstand might be here. It was not, but I found this lady in purple, carrying her purple St. Thomas bag next to the purple jewelry tables!  

I thought about buying purple spatulas...just because, but they were out of the littler sizes already! 

I did have my first wine slushie of the season! It was "purple~ish",

and this was a cute little puppet hanging nearby!

After walking over 4 hours, I was feeling quite tired and I had some time to kill before my shift, so I walked back over to Simpson Street, and there was my water guy in his Prince purple

and I noticed these lovely Hosta blooms next to the house!  

I closed my eyes for a bit on the big comfy couch a Moms house, but didn't really sleep due to all the buzz around the parking in the neighborhood!  While I was resting I heard a lady justifying being parked halfway into the neighbors driveway, blocking traffic and her whining that she had been driving for two hours looking for parking and why couldn't she just park there?!?!?  Dad had a hard time explaining to people (who saw one car parked on half the front yard) why he did not have space to park them.  He tried to explain it was all reserved for family, but people still argued with him!  Yikes!  Day Two....

I felt somewhat revived, if not well rested and my mobile devices got a recharge too!  I headed back over and went to the Eco Technology Hall to find the giant Paul Bunyan

created from discarded clothing. He was on the list of all things purple, described a sporting an enormous purple scarf.  All I saw was this purple bandanna sticking out of his back pocket.  

Again, maybe after 5 pm that would change.  I had some time to wander through Fine Art and found some purple creations.  I as focused on only purple, so I made it though in record time! 

I found a bench near the Alphabet Forest to wait for my shift and Dan grabbed me and said, "let's go check out the free cereal!"  Nearby is the Malt 'O' Meal people and they have a big "Cereal is Right" wheel and a cereal bar where you can indulge in free cereal shots!   There are also large cereal samples!

I decided to down them all, considering a few of them contained purple!

I started my shift and my day was made when my little buddy Cullen came to visit me!  

He and his big sister Kinley had lots of fun in the Forest, but it was the cutest when Cullen grabbed my ipad and tarted taking pictures of the people in the photo booth, just like I was!  

My little helper!

My shift ended at 6 pm, and it was too late for me head out of the gate and back in to get the door prizes for the first 7000 guests of purple glow bands and buttons, so I opted to head over to the Kiwanis and get my blueberry malt!  It was a colossal mess, but delicious!

Alexi told me to come visit her after work, so I headed to Guest Services.  

She came out to greet me and had all sorts of Purple Swag for me!  Love to her and Pam for thinking me on this special day!  As a thank you, I ran over to Sweet Martha's and brought back a bucket of cookies!  No picture, they were not purple, and you all know what a bucket of cookies looks like!  I will say, the place was getting crazy crowded, and the lines were very long and I think the cookie team, needed a bit more training...preferably not on the job.  With only 12 days to get it right, I guess much of it is learn as you go!

The kid helping me opened a half filled hanging bucket, proceeded to scoop up a "platter" of cookies all stuck together and laid it across the top of the bucket.  I told him, he just made a big hole and I wanted him to fill it!  He looked at me like I was nuts.  For $16...you better fill my cookie bucket!

All decked out in my purple finery, I ran into my kiddo and her bestie Raelyn heading into the fair for their own adventure! We made plans to connect after 10:00 pm. 

I started wandering....quite slowly at this point.  My legs were tired and my feet a bit sore from walking funny all day to compensate for the ghost toe. 
I walked to find purple light, purple food and Prince music!

I finally found the Prince Berry Cheese curds and they were a bit disappointing.

 Not sure if it was the florescent lights, or the fact they were trying to make orange food purple, but they looked sort of blackish.  Not being a fan of battered and fried foods anyway, I risked it and tried one.  I just ate one.  

The Midway was lit up purple.

The Coliseum was lit up purple.

WCCO was lit up purple.

The dance party in the park was purple.

The Grandstand was lit up purple.

Even Andy's Malt's & Subs was purple, but they had run out of purple sprinkles.

I was walking so slowly I missed the Prince tribute Laser light show, up on the north end, which I was sad about, but just could not move any faster.

I did walk back past the purple lemonade though!

I sat down on a bench around 9:30 and just as I was sitting, I ran into this awesome lady!  

Jean and I have been friends a long time, but only seem to keep up on Facebook these days!  We chatted for almost an hour until I reconnected with girls and was ready to go home.  

The only purple regret I had is I forgot to ask Stella to get a snapchat pic with the Purple Prince filter!
When I got home, my ghost toe needed some triage....maybe its best to keep it clean and covered since I cannot get it into a shoe! 

....and I had walked another 21K steps today!