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When most people are leaving the State Fair, some others are just arriving. A team of sanitation workers clean through the night emptying trash cans, cleaning toilets and scrubbing floors, among other things.   

Why he returns year after year

This family has been selling them for decades

State Fair


MPR producer Max Nesterak has been talking to different people working at the fair.  Recently, he decided to get there early — at 5 a.m. — to talk to those workers just finishing up their shift.


For Jeffrey Martinez, who recently got out of prison, the sanitation job represents the start of a new beginning. 

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A team of sanitation workers clean the fair through the night. For one of them, the job is a welcome opportunity.

When most people are leaving the State Fair, some others are just arriving. A team of sanitation workers clean through the night emptying trash cans, cleaning toilets, scrubbing floors, among other things.

Ex-inmate finds work, possible new beginning, at State Fair

Jeffrey Martinez works the night shift cleaning.

Ex-inmate finds work, possible new beginning, at State Fair

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