It's never too early for Christmas at the Minnesota State Fair

Did you know that the Minnesota State Fair hosts the largest exhibit competition of both Christmas trees and decorated Christmas trees in the country? But what makes it unique is that the fair uses regular people as official judges. And I had the honor of being a judge this year and got a chance to see the process. Until the last four or five years, judging was done by what we call professional judges. But I recognized that anybody who puts up a real tree is qualified to be a judge. And so unlike other things at the fair where there's real definite criteria, what makes you qualified to be a judge is simply putting up a real tree. And so we now have 20 plus real tree buyers who are the judges. What do judges look for at the real trees? Each of them have a little different opinion and they're fairly passionate about what their opinion is and they like. So shape, color, needle length, the branches that poke out, which we call pokey outies, those are important. Very technical term. While tree growers look for technical perfection, consumer judges bring a more personal touch. For first time judge Hannah Love, finding the winning tree isn't about flawless symmetry. I think the perfect tree was actually not about the tree itself, but being able to imagine it in my house. Imagine the ornaments that my mom passed down to me on the tree, imagining the smell in the house, the needles that will inevitably be on the ground three months later. Undecorated trees dominated when the competition first started in 1966, but now decorated trees have exploded in popularity. Ten years ago, we would have six trees, of which five would have been brought in by tree growers. And now we're close to 30 and the decorations, the creativity, the authenticity, the handmade ornaments has just taken off and it's wonderful. The decorated tree competition is divided into two categories. 12 is a traditionally decorated tree. Traditional decor and contemporary. Creativity at its best. Prince, Star Trek, Winnie the Pooh, you name it. Competitors have five hours on one day to decorate. I think it took a while for people to know that there were no strict requirements on being allowed to decorate a tree. And then people had a notion of, well, I don't have a tree, so how can I decorate anything? And the Minnesota Christmas Tree Growers Association will supply a tree if you don't have one. For veteran judges like Ryan Davison. Perfect, thank you everybody. Taking part in the State Fair exhibition is the ultimate kickoff to the holiday season. The real trees really hits me hard. In a world where there's so much deception and AI, like real trees are real trees all the way through and through. And the industry has so much tradition and it's rooted, no pun intended, in family values. I'm about Christmas. I gotta tell you, I've not been to the display. It was the first time going there. If you have not been, you really should go. The creativity will blow your mind. I did find out that the Winnie the Pooh tree won first place for the contemporary in the contemporary category, so that was fun. And you know what? You can actually go. If you'd like to be a judge, you can sign up online to be a judge for next year. And if you want, you can also vote on your personal favorite. They do a people's choice, so you can go over there and you can fill out people's choices. I know you came back though. You had such a good time. Oh my gosh, I had a blast.