9 Bargains You Don't Want To Miss This Year At The Eco Experience

It's the Minnesota State Fair. Of course there is free stuff!

1. Aged Wine Cask Rain Barrel

This prize allows you the use of an aged wine cask, without the unpleasant hangover that comes with drinking an entire barrel of wine. Sign up for our newsletter to be entered into a drawing to win a fab prize worth $200 from Barrel Depot, a local MN company. The lucky winner will be conserving water in style with a functional and aesthetically pleasing, repurposed oak wine cask turned rain barrel.

2. Save Money in the Bathroom

All the hip cats know that conserving water is totally “in” this summer, but many of us are unsure of where to start. Head to the Eco Experience building and pick up your free low-flow faucet aerator, and you’ll be well on your way. Not only does this little baby save water and energy costs, but it also reduces unwanted side-spray and splash, helping to keep up the façade that you actually clean your bathroom vanity daily.

3. $500 Energy Star gift certificate

Take the Energy Star Pledge to be entered into a drawing for a whopping FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS toward energy and money saving Energy Star products. Five. Hundred. Dollars. That is all. Find this bargain in the Commerce Energy House.

4. Toilet Leak Detector Kit

There’s nothing worse than not being able to sleep because you are unsure as to whether or not your toilet is leaking. Rest easy when you test your toilet with this user-friendly toilet detection kit available for free at the Eco Experience. Fixing easily corrected household water leaks can save homeowners more than 10 percent on their water bills, so hurry in for your kit!

5. Children's Activities, Crafts and Prizes

Corralling your sugared up kids at the fair can be exhausting, so bring them to the Eco Experience for some free, educational entertainment! The MPCA is handing out free bike-wheel-whirligig toys and facilitating a hands on puzzle craft. Renewing the Countryside teamed up with HealthPartners to offer a super-duper trivia wheel with prizes and an activity for the little ones all related to healthy eating. A kid-friendly activity at the fair that doesn’t involve animal poop?! Count me in!

6. Organic T-Shirts

Even if you don’t have mad ninja skills, you’re still eligible to win one of these fun and funky t-shirts through a drawing from Renewing the Countryside when you pop by the Eco Experience building this year. Made from soft organic cotton in the USA, it’s sure to ward off unwanted zombie attacks because even zombies know not to mess with a ninja. Other prizes in the drawing include an awesome local foods cookbook and School to Farm DVDs.

7. Free Cold Water

Bring your reusable water bottle into our building and fill it up with fresh, cold deliciousness at our water dispenser. For free. The water refill station is next to one of the best bathrooms at the Fair. Shhh, don't tell anyone!

8. Free Local, Gourmet Food Samples, Recipes and Cooking Demos

Renewing the Countryside will be providing cooking demos featuring healthful local and organic food. Recipe cards and free samples will be available at various times throughout the day. Fair trade coffee from Peace Coffee will be offered on select mornings. Be sure to stop by and taste some yummy stuff! Because who doesn’t like to eat food?

9. Free Personalized Home Energy Advising

Is that light bulb an energy-waster? Where can you find money saving energy rebates? While many people spend a lifetime training with exotic gurus to attain enlightenment about these confusing and elusive concepts, you can find rebates and save money when you take advantage of free home energy advising from the Center for Energy & Environment all in one trip to the fair. “They” say good advice is never free, but they’ve never been to the Eco Experience!

10. Free Demonstrations and Presentations

Hear from gardening experts every day at noon in the front yard. Learn about strawbale gardening, beekeeping, vertical gardening and more. We've got all your gardening needs covered. Take a rest and enjoy the show.

Head inside to our Sustainability Stage to hear from experts in a variety of fields including fashion, reuse, sewage maintance and cooking. Presentations occur on the hour from 10 - 7 each day, including cooking demos (with samples) at 11, 1 and 3.

11. Find all these great deals and more at the 2013 Eco Experience.

ecoexperience.org

Located at the Progress Center at the Minnesota State Fair.

August 22 - September 2.