Making Their Minnesota State Fair Dream Come True

At their food stand at the 2012 Minnesota State Fair, Pam Olson and daughter Marta Lindsey only need a couple minutes to freshly stuff and top Italian cannoli.

But for Olson, of Roseville, and Lindsey, a 1996 Roseville High School graduate; owning and running the concession booth at the Great Minnesota Get-Together has been 10 years in the making. 

The mother-daughter team's inspiration for the food concession they call Ole's Cannoli was a visit in 2002 to an Italian bakery where they first sampled cannoli.

“First, cannoli are ridiculously good, and second, they’re a perfect food for the Minnesota State Fair,”  Marta recalled.

Pam added, "“It really was love - and inspiration - at first bite.”
By the end of that day in Boston, Pam and Marta decided they would like to serve Swedish coffee with cannoli and had already come up with a name for the stand: Ole's Cannoli.

Marta said the name Ole's Cannoli brings together Sweden and Italy for the ultimate gourmet dessert experience.

Pam noted too, "It (Ole's Cannoli) rhymes and sounds cute."

Marta said that cannoli are a signature Italian dessert: a flaky, fried pastry shell filled with a sweet, smooth ricotta cheese filling. But she noted it's hard to find cannoli, let alone really good cannoli, outside of Boston, New York and Phladelphia.
“It took us a long time to figure out if we could even make this (business) happen,” said Pam. “We only wanted to do this if we could bring an exceptional cannoli to Minnesotans.”
In the years since their visit to Boston, Pam and Marta have developed and tested their cannoli, taking it to street fairs in San Francisco, where Marta now lives. 

Having won acceptance with their cannoli in San Francisco, Pam and Marta were ready to bring it to the Minnesota State Fair. But their next challenge was applying for a food concession stand and getting accepted, as few spots open up in a given year, Marta said.

Then in May, State Fair officials notifed Pam and Marta that they had been invited to bring Ole's Cannoli to th 2012 fair with their spot inside the entrance to Heritage Square.

With their dream finally coming to fruition, Pam and Marta said they have been working non-stop the past three months to get the stand ready. Marta told Roseville Patch Saturday that the preparations have been like going through a boot camp.

The flaky cannoli pastry tubes are baked off site, then freshly stuffed at their fair stand, Marta said. That's so the cannoli don't get soggy, she explained. Plain cannoli sell for $4 and chocolate cannoli for $5.

In their first year, Pam said working the stand has been an eye-opening experience. "We are looking to cover our expenses," she said, indicating that any profits will be added frosting. 

Despite the hard work of running the stand, mother and daughter said the endeavor is very worthwhile donsidering they are both State Fair fanatics worthwhile.

“A big part of why we’re so thrilled is that we absolutely love the Fair.  Obsessed might be a better word," Marta said. "I’ve been to the State Fair every year of my life since I was six weeks old,” said Marta, now 34. 

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