What is Minnesota’s State Tree? What’s the official flower of the Minnesota State Fair? And what’s lichen anyway?

There were over 1.8 million visitors to the Minnesota State Fair this year — the fifth largest attendance in the fair’s history, and the largest post-COVID — and between grabbing buckets of cookies, watching the dog show, and riding the Giant Wheel, spectators tested their agriculture knowledge at the Andersen Horticulture Library‘s booth.

Visitors who answered their questions correctly won bookmarks, postcards, and candy, while AHL volunteers and staff told them about the library’s holdings and resources, from the third largest seed catalog collection in the country, to its collection of rare botanical books.

The University of Minnesota Libraries also made an appearance in the U of M Central building, where Marguerite Ragnow, curator of the James Ford Bell Library, and members from the Center for Premodern Studies, quizzed people’s trivia knowledge. And over in the 4-H building, the Wangensteen Historical Library showcased interesting medical artifacts and had audience members guess what they were used for.

But if you didn’t know that the red pine (also called the Norway pine) was Minnesota’s State Tree, or that the red canna lily is the State Fair’s official flower, or that lichen is a colony of algae and fungi, you’ll have another opportunity at next year’s fair. We hope to see you there!