Marjorie Johnson, Minnesota’s blue ribbon-winning baking darling, has died at age 106.
Since her first baking contest entry in 1974, Johnson went on to amass more than 3,000 state and county fair ribbons, more than 1,000 of them blue ribbons. Her status as a Minnesota State Fair icon propelled her onto the national stage, where she walked numerous red carpets for events such as the Grammys and the Emmys. Johnson appeared as a guest on talk shows such as “The Kelley Clarkson Show,” “The Martha Stewart Show” and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” Leno so adored Johnson that she became a guest correspondent, the blue-ribbon winner’s sharp wit and humor as signature as her petite frame and red lipstick.
In 2007, Johnson published “The Road to Blue Ribbon Baking,” sharing her secrets on making breads, rolls and cakes.
Johnson was born in Minneapolis in 1919 and resided in Robbinsdale until her death. She has said her love for baking started at a young age. She learned from her mother, who was a great baker, and baked her first cake at the age of 8, she once told the Pioneer Press.
Johnson continued to bake and enter contests. In a 2023 interview with the Star Tribune, Johnson, who had just turned 104, said she planned to continue to bake and compete in contests in pursuit of more ribbons as long as she could.
She gave this advice to aspiring bakers: “Just practice, practice. Practice really does make perfect. And the other thing, in case you enter the fair and don’t win a ribbon: Don’t. Give. Up!”
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