FALCON HEIGHTS The Minnesota State Fair's "Alphabet Forest" expands in its second year with the addition of a different fan-favorite children's book author or illustrator for each day of the 2011 "Great Minnesota Get Together."
Jill Kalz, who grew up in New Ulm, will be featured along with her award-winning title "Farmer Cap" on Aug. 29. All the featured creators, lauded as "Minnesota's Homegrown Authors," have deep roots in Minnesota communities ranging from "A" (all the way up north in International Falls) to "Z" (Zumbrota).
The brainchild of Debra Frasier (Minneapolis), author/illustrator of the book "A Fabulous Fair Alphabet," the Alphabet Forest is an innovative family literacy project that proved popular with fairgoers ranging from toddlers to grandparents during its first year. As the Pedersen Family from Brownton wrote after their 2010 visit, "This was the best experience this year. We will be back next year looking for the Fair Alphabet!"
Inspired by a simple alphabet game card that encouraged attendees to collect vocabulary words as they walked around the fairgrounds, 2010 State Fair visitors turned in nearly 100,000 words, took thousands of photos, and participated in numerous other playful free activities around the little log cabin located in the fairground's Baldwin Family Park. Each of the 12 days of the fair this year will also feature a unique free activity created by that day's author-in-residence.