With its grid street structure, tree-lined sidewalks and ‘districts’ like the animal barns or the old Machinery Hill, the Minnesota State Fair has the look of a real city. It even has its own branded water tower and police chief.

If the State Fair were in fact its own city, it would be the world’s most bustling metropolis, by a significant margin. By average daily attendance, its population density trounces Saint Paul’s by over 50 times.

That kind of vibrancy is the stuff of city planners’ dreams — and clearly Minnesotans’ too, given the hundreds of thousands of us who flock to the fairgrounds during each of the fair’s 12 precious days.

Scott Burns, a ubiquitous presence in metro-wide civic circles — including the governing board of the Star Tribune, and previously the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce and the Saint Paul and Minnesota Foundation — has been named general partner at Mairs & Power Venture Capital, a new subsidiary of the century-old investment company.

The Saint Paul Port Authority, the city’s industrial redevelopment arm, has made a new hire of its own. Kristine Williams, recently of the small brokerage IAG Commercial Real Estate and previously a longtime North American real estate manager with Canadian Pacific Rail in Minneapolis and Calgary, Alberta, is the Port Authority’s new director of real estate.

Momento in Saint Paul reopened Wednesday with a new look and new flavors. 

The restaurant, which had been closed for a month, has welcomed new executive chef Aaron Uban, who drew on influences from North Africa, Spain, Greece, southern France, Italy and Turkey while creating the restaurant's new food and beverage menus.