A crowd gathered Monday at the corner of Judson and Nelson for another Minnesota State Fair tradition: Mark Seeley’s annual state fair weather quiz. It’s a chance to get answers to your weather and climate questions — and to answer some Minnesota weather trivia yourself. 

Seeley was unable to join for the broadcast, under the weather instead of on top of it as he usually is.

Instead, MPR News host Cathy Wurzer was joined by Kenny Blumenfeld, a Senior Climatologist at the Minnesota State Climate Office and adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota’s College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resources.

When we last heard from Ryan Mackenthun in 1994, as a FFA and 4-H kid at the Minnesota State Fair, the then-18-year-old was confident farming was in his future.

Nearly 30 years later, it's still his passion.

MPR News guest host Tim Nelson catches up with Mackenthun about where life has taken him.

Sixty years ago today, more than 250,000 people crowded the National Mall in Washington D.C. for the March on Washington. It went on to become one of the most famous rallies in U.S. history.

A portion of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech from that day has been engrained in our collective memories. And he was just one of 10 people who spoke to the enormous crowd.

Yohuru Williams is the distinguished university chair, a professor of history, and founding director of the Racial Justice Initiative at the University of St. Thomas. He joined MPR News guest host Tim Nelson to talk about a book he co-authored, “More Than a Dream: Sixty Years After the March on Washington,” which comes out Tuesday.

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Every year prices seem to creep up at the State Fair, from admission to your favorite food. For example in 2017 a bucket of Sweet Martha’s cookies was $16. Now it’s up to $19. Many think it’s worth the price. But what if you’re on a budget? Is there a way to have a cheaper day at the fair? MPR News reporter Nicole Ki wanted to find out. She joined guest host Tim Nelson to talk about what she learned.

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We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.

Much of the focus of the Minnesota State Fair is on the food, the crop art and of course, the animals. One of the most popular entries of the Minnesota State Fair Horse Show are the draft horse hitches: teams of four, six or even eight mammoth horses that pull a wagon around the arena.

Fair-goers will stand in awe outside the stalls of the draft horses, marveling at their size. There’s a lot of work that goes into getting those big horses ready to show.

MPR News producer Alanna Elder followed one pair of draft horses and the humans who train, groom and lead them.

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We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.

A stifling week for Twins and Vikings and a heated moment in the Lynx stands: Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson join MPR News host Cathy Wurzer with the latest sports news.

Langfellow is the creator of Minnesota Score Magazine and host of 10,000 Takes sports talk show. Nelson is co-host of 10,000 Takes and the Minnesota Vikings reporter for CBS Sports’ Eye on the NFL.

If you have a question about Minnesota sports or a favorite sports moment from the past week, send an email or voice memo to [email protected].

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Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.   

We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.

This summer, an evangelical church in Minnesota was kicked out of its denomination because of the congregation’s support of same sex marriage — and it likely won’t be the last.

Intrepid fair reporter Tim Nelson spent the morning at the fairgrounds and joined MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer with an update.

Student performance in math, reading, and science was basically flat compared to last year, which means scores remained about 10 percentage points lower than in 2019.

The stress of the unpredictable nature of farming and our changing climate has been rough on the mental health of some farmers.