State Fair drives $250 million in economic activity over two weeks

Mike Brennan, Linda Young and Charlie Burrows are veteran St. Paul-area bar-and-restaurant operators who just finished a third year as partners in Lulu’s Public House, a two-story eatery in the Minnesota State Fair’s two-year-old “West End Market,” a spacious mosaic of food, retail and performance.

The three, who for 12 years operated a small food stand called Axel’s Bull Bites on a busy corner at the fair, in 2014 invested more than $1.3 million to build what was a packed joint through the good-weather, 12-day stand of the fair that ended on Labor Day.

“It worked,” Brennan said. “Business has been fantastic.”

http://www.startribune.com/minnesota-state-fair-s-drives-250-million-in-economic-activity-over-two-weeks/392957941/