State Fair Vendors, 4-Hers Ready For The Spotlight

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- As the sun set on a gorgeous Wednesday afternoon, the push to prepare for 12 days of food, farm animals and all around fun was its final hours at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds.

We caught Rhonda Mendonca as she wiped down the windows at the Poncho Dog booth.

"Just like at home, you want your kitchen clean," Mendonca said. "My nerves are going crazy right now thinking about it because we want everything to be perfect."

Mendonca helps run Poncho Dog, serving a state fair staple four decades strong.

"Because we have the best. We have the original corn dogs. We got the best," she said.

4-H'er William Elskamp sure hopes his pigeons are the best as he prepares for his seventh-straight year of competing.

"In the beginning it was a lot of nerves. Now it's just excitement," Elskamp said. "I've been here so many times. I'm ready to go. This is my time to shine."

He and his mother spent time feeding their birds and spraying them with bug spray to keep insects at bay. He said the bugs can ruin a bird's feathers.

From primping poultry to sheering sheep, animals needed to be ribbon ready before the judges make their picks on the first days of competition.

It is all part of the drill. Floridian Dennis Zamber finally has electricity to finish setting up the lights for his Sea Grass Hat Hut.

"We're just happy to be here," Zamber said.

Zamber, his wife Deb -- and their dog Coco – are now in their eighth year at the fair.

"We've tried a couple other ones, several other state fairs, and we dropped them all and we're sticking with this one," he said.

They say their loyalty is because of the fairgoers. It is that relationship between vendor and visitor, farmer and friend, that makes the Great Minnesota Get-Together a get-together.

"I always look forward to meeting new people," Elskamp said.