Well, I survived another fun annual trip to "The Great Minnesota Get-Together," the Minnesota State Fair. My feet are sore, my tummy is satisfied, and my mind is spinning with T-shirt ideas.
Yes, you can get hotdish on a stick at the Minnesota State Fair!A Slice of the Midwest
I can't think of a better slice of the good ol' midwest - flyover country - middle America than our fair. It's the largest state fair in the United States, by the way. With the daily attendance record broken at 128,966 people at the fair on Wednesday alone, it serves as a pretty good look at what regular folks are wearing (and eating...but that could be a blog of it's own!).
Good News for CafePress T-shirt Designers
After looking around today during the 8+ hours we spent there, one could safely assume that of those 100,000+ daily attendees, at least half or more were wearing T-shirts. I think the T-shirt market is here to stay.
What are They Wearing?
Since I was there in the morning/afternoon hours, we saw more mainstream families (the later hours at the fair seem to attract a more fringe crowd). I saw a lot of funny phrases...they never seem to go out of style. I saw more skulls and cross bones, Harley Davidson Tees everywhere, kids with shirts about being in band or sports. Overall people are wearing things they're proud of; something that identifies them, whether it's their heritage, their school, their religion, their sport, their political candidate of choice or the latest concert they went to.
Here are a few pictures I took at the Minnesota State Fair today...hopefully they can provide you with some inspiration...
My favorite T-shirt at the Harley Davidson tent. Nice use of tattoo imagery.
The 93X FM (Twin Cities hard rock radio station) booth was selling T-shirts. Lots of skulls and cross bones.
Harley Davidson T-Shirts for babies and kids.
"Eat, Sleep, Hockey!"
More Harley T-shirts.
"FBI Full Blooded Irish"
Another great retro-looking Harley Davidson T-shirt.
Fair fashion at it's best (or worst?).
Some cute signs being sold in Heritage Square. Great T-shirt phrase ideas.
The "Freak Show" in the midway had some interesting artwork. Any T-shirt ideas here?
I was excited to find these old seed corn bags.In the Ag-Hort Building (Agriculture-Horticulture for you non-Minnesotans) there was a big seed display where corn and various seeds were judged and awarded ribbons. Hanging above the corn on display were these great old seed bags from various seed companies (I think they were all from Minnesota).
Throw sleeves and a neck hole on these and you've got some pretty cool retro T-shirts! Great inspiration for you own retro graphic designs.
Well, that wraps up my T-shirt inspiration from the Minnesota State Fair for 2006.
What T-shirt inspiration are you seeing at your local fairs?
Please Note: Just a reminder that anything posted on this blog is for inspiration only, not copying (or worse yet, stealing!). These photos of T-shirt designs and other artwork are copyrighted material and cannot be used in your own T-shirt design. Use them only for reference, ideas and inspiration for your own designs. You may feel free, however, to link to or blog about them.
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