Live updates from opening day 

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

The Giant Slide at the Minnesota State Fair has always been a character in Stacey Pittroff-Barona’s life. 

Her parents, Fred and Beverly Pittroff, designed the slide in the 1960s while living in California. Summer meant traveling to fairs across the country, surviving on greasy food and meeting fair industry legends. 

At 14, Stacey began running the slide at the Minnesota State Fair, as well as duplicates at the Wisconsin State Fair and a fair in Sydney, Australia. 

At 22, when she decided to marry Rob Barona, only one place made sense: the top of the giant yellow slide in Falcon Heights on opening day of the Minnesota State Fair.

“You could have heard a dime drop, it was so quiet,” Pittroff-Barona said. “You couldn’t stand for two blocks.”

During a sunset ceremony on Aug. 22, 1996, in front of about 10,000 people, Stacey and Rob said, “I do.” Her father walked her up the 100 steps of the slide, where the wedding party and Rob stood. And she remembers it felt like even more of a hike in a wedding dress, especially with her dad stepping on her dress the whole way up. 

“I’d walk and I’d tilt to the side because he’d step on my dress,” Stacey recalled. “And I said, ‘Daddy!’ and he’s like, ‘I’m really nervous. Just don’t talk to me right now. I don’t want to fall down the stairs.’”

Stacey and Rob celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary this year. Fittingly, the two met at the fair as well. 

Rob is from Roseville and worked at Mike’s Hamburgers when Stacey led the slide operation. They went to a wedding together one night after the fair on their first date and hit it off. 

A few years later when it was their turn to marry, friends suggested the fair as their venue.  Stacey laughed. 

But the more she and Rob talked about it, it didn’t seem that strange. After all, they were engaged during the International Fair Convention in Las Vegas. 

The idea was so popular, they had to cap groomsmen and bridesmaids at seven each after people begged to be part of the big day. The top of the Giant Slide only holds about 20 people.

Following the more-traditional wedding fare like doves and “I do,” everyone got onto their burlap sacks and slid down Stacey’s parents’ creation. The reception was at the Pizza Palace. 

The next morning, they got back to work in the family business: running the Giant Slide.

Each year they celebrate their wedding anniversary with the first ride together on the slide on opening day, before the crowds come in. 

Stacey said she wouldn’t have it any other way. No fancy dinners or surprises, just the family business in the Minnesota summer for 12 days until they pack up and head to the next fair.

State Fair

NewsPartners

Homepage

Sam Stroozas

Author

Stacey Pittroff-Barona and Rob Barona met at the fair and later decided to get married at the top of the Giant Slide, paying homage to Pittroff-Barona’s family business and the couple’s love of the fair. 

30 years ago this couple said ‘I do’ on top of the Giant Slide at the Minnesota State Fair

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox