The State Fair's all-you-can-drink milk will cost twice as much this year

Fairgoers will pay double the price for all-you-can-drink milk at the Minnesota State Fair this year.

The Midwest Dairy Association, which runs the milk stand, will be charging $2 per glass this year – the first price increase in 11 years, according to the organization's website.

"We're really proud of being able to maintain it for that long," Sherry Newell, senior communications manager of Midwest Dairy Association (MDA), told the Pioneer Press. "But the increase really is about sustaining this for years to come."

The higher price is due to the rising costs associated with milk production, the organization notes. Farmers across the country have also been experiencing dwindling profits – some farmers' profits have dropped as much as 40 percent, the Journal Sentinel reported earlier this month.

The Midwest Dairy Association considered keeping the price at $1 and limiting customers to one glass, but decided to increase the price to $2 and continue with the all-you-can-drink option, the MDA notes.

When the milk stand opened in 1955, it charged 10 cents for a bottomless cup of milk. And this year, fairgoers will have the chance to get milk at last year's price – as a tribute to soldiers on Military Appreciation Day (Tuesday, Sept. 1), it'll be $1.

The milk stand is the only all-you-can-drink offering at the fair, the organization notes. Last year, it served 12,576 gallons of 2 percent white milk, and 12,947 gallons of 1 percent chocolate milk.

The Midwest Dairy Association also runs the Dairy Goodness Bar in the Dairy Building, where a few new menu items have been added in addition to its malts, sundaes and cones.

The Salted Caramel Puff – vanilla ice cream of malt, topped with creamy caramel sauce and finished with Old Dutch Puffcorn – will make its fair debut, as well as cheese curds from Redhead Creamery, and zesty and garlic flavored cheese curds from Eichten's.

The State Fair opens Aug. 27 and runs through Labor Day, Sept. 7.