Those political booths at the State Fair — the candidates and parties, and this year, the booths for and against each of the proposed constitutional amendments — get the fair's cheapest rental rates, along with schools and nonprofits, says a Good Question story on WCCO-TV.
That rate is $70 per frontage foot, so the Vote Yes and Vote No on the Marriage Amendment booths, both with on Cooper Street and a few hundred feet apart, each run about 10 feet along the street and would each pay about $700 in rent to the fair.
Exhibitors pay a higher rate: $90 per foot. Concessionaires, who sell non-food products or take deposits for future deliver, pay $105 per frontage foot.
With food vendors, it's a whole different deal. They pay the fair 15 percent of their sales; beer and wine vendors pay 18.5 percent.
And all employees and volunteers at the booths have to have admission tickets which cost $12 this year (or $9 if purchased before the fair).