Minnesota State Fair 'Food Parade' Tickets Prove Difficult To Buy After Unexpected Issues Emerge

Those who were looking forward to the 2020 Minnesota State Fair were likely disappointed to hear that the event had been canceled earlier this year as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, but the recent addition of a drive-thru food parade attempted to reinstate a bit of familiarity. However, tickets to the event proved to be very difficult to obtain.

On Friday morning, the vehicle tickets for the parade went on sale at 10 a.m. local time, but shortly thereafter, a range of issues starting emerging throughout the buying process.

After the $20 tickets became available, state fair officials confirmed that the site experienced an extremely high amount of traffic as people attempted to buy tickets for the Aug. 20-23, 27-30, and Sept. 3-7 events. Additionally, hundreds of people posted on social media that they were unable to access the site, according to CBS Minnesota.

"Our website and ticketing service experience unprecedented volume; in 2 1/2 hours, we reached our capacity of 19,000 vehicle tickets sold for this 13-day historic event," fair officials said in a statement. "The capacity is limited in order to present the event in a safe and enjoyable manner…and we regret that we cannot accommodate more fair fans."

Those who are looking to attend the food parade may still be able to find tickets online, but doing so could require paying more through a scalper. As stated by the publication, scalpers have already started selling tickets on Craigslist for six times the initial cost at $120 each.