Hello TCL-ers!  We've been broadcasting live from the State Fair since opening day last week...and it's taken each and every one of us to pull things together.  Here's how it works: during the morning, you can find two or three of us out at the 5 Eyewitness News booth making last minute revisions to the show.  A few more of us are out and about on the fairgrounds, filming video, taking pictures, and occasionally grabbing a bite to eat.  And the rest of us are back here at the station, manning the phone lines, writing and editing stories, and dreaming of Sweet Martha's cookies.

We couldn't be successful at the fair without the help of our interns, Megan and Megan.  They are always among the first to step foot on the fairgrounds each morning and the last to leave each evening.  They hunt down story ideas, snap pictures of fairgoers, and shuttle video and props back and forth between the fairgrounds and the station.  Whew.  I hope they find time for a corn-on-the-cob or two!

At 1 p.m., John and Rebekah hop onto the 5 Eyewitness News stage and host a game of Bingo for anyone that happens to be passing by our booth.  They've got some great TWIN CITIES LIVE prizes, so if you're out at the fair this week, stop by for a game!

After Bingo, John and Rebekah review the show together and meet with that day's guests.  They also spend a few minutes beautifying themselves at a tiny make-up desk that they share with the 5 Eyewitness News anchors and reporters.

Around 2 p.m. we start seating the TCL audience in the 5 Eyewitness News booth and we're excited to see so many of you arrive to watch the show!  To express our gratitude, our audience receives lots of free fair foods.  Last week, they enjoyed pickle-pops from The Preferred Pickle, scones from French Meadow Bakery, and tator-tots on-a-stick.  Yum! 

Finally...it's 3 p.m. and we're live!   So far, our State Fair experience has been nothing but fun!  Hard work, but fun.  To those of you that have stopped by the 5 Eyewitness News booth already, thank you.  And to the rest of you, we hope to meet you soon!  If you're not able to make it to one of our fair shows, remember that you can always request tickets to be part of our Friday studio audience by emailing us at twincitieslive@kstp.com.

One last thing before I get back to work.  I had to share this photo.  Seth, our staff photographer, was extremely excited to meet Danica McKellar when she was in-studio last week.  As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.