# Man Spends $847 On Deep Fried Butter, Loses His Wife And Kids At The Great American State Fair, Still Claims It Was "Worth It"
**Minneapolis, MN** – In what experts are calling a “cautionary tale about the intersection of poor financial planning and artery-clogging ambition,” a 34-year-old man from Edina, Minnesota, named Brad Thompson, spent a staggering $847 on deep-fried butter at the Great American State Fair this past Saturday. By the end of the day, he had also managed to lose his wife, two children, and his car keys, but sources confirm he is “at peace with his choices.”
Thompson, a mid-level accountant who “definitely doesn’t have a gambling problem,” told reporters that he entered the fairgrounds at 10:00 AM with a single goal: “To conquer the culinary chaos that is the fair.” And conquer he did. But at a cost that would make your 401(k) weep.
“I saw the line for ‘Butter Island’ and I knew it was my destiny,” Thompson said, gesturing vaguely at a grease-stained t-shirt that read “I Put The ‘Fun’ In Dysfunctional.” “My wife, Karen, she wanted to look at the prize-winning zucchini. My son, Brayden, wanted to ride the Zipper. My daughter, McKenna, wanted a corn dog. But I had a vision. A vision of golden, glistening, deep-fried dairy squares.”
According to the itemized receipt, which Thompson keeps laminated in his back pocket, the $847 was broken down as follows: 47 orders of deep-fried butter at $18 each (because you can’t just order one, that’s for amateurs), a commemorative souvenir butter hat for $12, and, inexplicably, a $3 charge for “extra napkins” that he never used because he “eats like a goddamn animal.”
“The first one was a religious experience,” Thompson recalled, a distant look in his eyes. “The second one was a medical concern. By the tenth, I was seeing the face of Uncle Sam in the grease. By the twentieth, I had stopped feeling my legs. But the butter… the butter was speaking to me.”
This is where the story takes a turn that is both predictable and deeply American. While Thompson was in a butter-induced fugue state, his family decided to stage a quiet intervention by simply walking away. “I looked at him, covered in that weird buttery dust, and I just… left,” Karen Thompson told local news station KARE 11, holding a restraining order and a new credit card. “I took the kids, got a funnel cake, and went home. He chose the butter. He can have the butter.”
By 3:00 PM, Thompson had consumed 23 of the 47 butter sticks. He had also managed to misplace his wife, his two children, his phone, his wallet, his car keys, and his sense of self-worth. “I walked around the livestock barn asking a llama if it had seen my daughter,” he admitted. “The llama did not answer. I respected that.”
The fair’s lost and found reported a record number of calls that day, with one volunteer describing Thompson as “a human grease fire who kept asking if we had any more butter.” When asked if he was concerned about his family’s whereabouts, Thompson paused for a long, greasy moment. “I mean, yeah, sure. But also, I’ve got 24 more butters to eat. Karen will text me. Probably.”
Social media, as it always does, had a field day. The hashtag #ButterGate quickly trended locally, with users sharing memes of Thompson’s absolute commitment to the bit. “This man spent $847 on butter and lost his family. He is the patron saint of poor choices,” tweeted @Thot_Patrol_2024. Another user, @MidwestMom_No1, posted, “I’ve seen husbands lose their wives at the fair before. Usually it’s over a $15 game of ring toss. This guy lost his whole life over a stick of saturated fat. A true legend.”
The internet, predictably, was divided. A Reddit thread on r/AITA (Am I The Asshole) titled “AITA for spending $847 on deep-fried butter and losing track of my family?” currently has over 14,000 upvotes and a lively comment section.
Top comment: “YTA. Not for the butter, that’s a personal choice. But for not sharing. You ate 23 sticks of butter in one day and didn’t offer me one? That’s the real crime. NTA for losing the kids, they probably ran away because they were embarrassed you were eating butter like it was popcorn.”
Another commenter, u/Karens_Husband_Bot, wrote: “INFO: Was it at least the good deep-fried butter? Or was it that cheap stuff they sell near the porta-potties? Because if you spent $847 on gas-station quality butter, I’m revoking your Midwest card.”
But the real kicker came when a local gastroenterologist, Dr. Sarah Jenkins, weighed in. “I’ve seen a lot of things at this fair. I’ve seen people eat deep-fried Oreos, deep-fried pickles, deep-fried Kool-Aid. But 23 sticks of deep-fried butter in one sitting is not a meal. It’s a cry for help. It’s a medical event waiting to happen. Mr. Thompson likely experienced a transient ischemic attack, or ‘mini-stroke,’ during his butter binge. The fact that he’s alive is a miracle. The fact that he’s still looking for his keys is a tragedy.”
Thompson, for his part, remains unrepentant. As of press time, he was spotted at a gas station outside of town, eating a stick of butter straight from the wrapper. “The fair is over,” he said, “but the journey is not.”
Final Thoughts
Having covered state fairs from coast to coast, the "Great American State Fair" isn't just a collection of midway games and fried food—it’s a living, breathing portrait of the nation’s agricultural backbone and regional identity. What struck me most was how these sprawling grounds manage to bridge the generational gap, where a grandfather can teach his grandson the same livestock judging techniques he learned decades ago. Ultimately, a state fair endures because it reminds us that in an increasingly digital world, we still crave the tangible thrill of a prize-winning pumpkin, the dust of the rodeo, and the simple, unpretentious joy of shared community.