THE BALLOON MAN

Family living a State Fair dream
After years of planning, a mother-daughter duo are thrilled to have a food stand at the fairgrounds.

 

Pam Olson and Marta Lindsey
Kyndell Harkness, Star Tribune
Article by: JULIE PFITZINGER , Special to the Star Tribune
from: startribune.com
Updated: August 25, 2012
Here's an interesting bit of foreshadowing. For the first few weeks of her life, Marta Lindsey was a very fussy baby and not easily soothed. That is until her mom, Pam Olson, brought her to the Minnesota State Fair for the first time.
"I still call that the first happy day of Marta's life," said Olson. "She was only about a month old, and she was so happy just looking around. People kept telling me that she was the sweetest baby they had ever seen."
From the beginning, Lindsey, like her mom, has been a self-proclaimed "dyed-in-the-wool" fair person who has rarely missed a year and worked at the fair as a teenager. This year, the pair -- Olson from Shoreview and Lindsey now from San Francisco -- are embarking on the ultimate State Fair adventure as they open Ole's Cannoli, their new food stand in Heritage Square.
When Lindsey was living in Boston several years ago, she and Olson visited a popular spot called Mike's Pastry, where both fell in love with what Lindsey calls "real-deal cannolis." They immediately thought these sweet filled pastry shells, an Italian dessert, might be just what the Minnesota State Fair needed.
"We had been talking about the idea of a State Fair business for such a long time that I told my mom we either had to do it or stop talking about it," said Lindsey. "And so, for the next two years, we launched ourselves into figuring out the nuts and bolts of this idea and putting together our application."
read more:
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/taste/167252955.html?refer=y