She looks so sweet and absolutely like a grandmotherly type of person. I’m so glad she was able to follow her passion for baking and that she became so well respected for it. I would have loved to have been able to try some of the foods she baked!

Yes, she wasn’t technically a sideshow performer, but she found success with a personal talent in a very similar environment, and I think her life deserves to be remembered!

Some facts about her:

\-she was born in Robbinsdale, Minnesota.

\-as a child she loved visiting the Minnesota State fair and various traveling carnivals with her family, and always had an interest in seeing the different exhibits and demonstrations. She also said she especially loved the amusement park rides.

\-originally, her children pushed her to enter into carnival and fair competitions because of the cute doll clothes she was making in the mid 1960s, but she didn’t end up competing until 1974.

\-she became interested in baking in 1974. She won 3 blue ribbons during her first competition.

\-she won over 2,500 ribbons during her career as a baker, including 1,000 blue ribbons.

\-she became a celebrity at the Minnesota State Fair.

\-she made red dresses her signature style.

\-her favorite things to bake were pies, sticky buns, and yeast breads.

\-she explained later in like that she had a special connection to sticky buns because they reminded her of her mother who used to make them during Marjorie’s childhood.

\-during her baking competition peak, she was entering as many as 50 different entries. 

\-she liked keeping herself busy as it always gave her things to look forward to. 

\-she entered baking competitions for more than 50 years.

\-she and her husband were extremely devoted to each other and he was very supportive of her baking endeavors.

\-even into her later years she was very passionate about exercising, and would typically take walks on a treadmill while watching Wheel of Fortune.

\-she was extremely extroverted and always sought out places where she could meet and talk to people.

\-by the time she was 100 years old, she was 4 feet 6 inches tall.

\-in an interview with Minnesota St. Paul Magazine from 2019, she said that the opening of the Minnesota State Fair was a day she looked forward to each year. She would patiently wait for the gates to open and to see if she had won any ribbons saying, 

“It’s so exciting to see a ribbon on anything you brought in–gosh it is.”

And

“I get excited as though it were my first ribbon, because Minnesota has so many, many wonderful bakers. So, the competition is just fierce, because, oh gosh, you’re competing against people who are wonderful bakers. I’m always grateful when I see a ribbon on anything I bake.”

\-during an interview in 2023, she said 

"What I do, is I wake up in the morning and say to myself, 'Today is going to be a wonderful day.' And at the end of the day, it will be a wonderful day."

\-she went on to appear on several talk shows throughout her life including, The Late Show with Jay Leno, The Kelly Clarkson Show, The View, and The Rosie O’ Donnell Show.

\-her peak height was 4 feet 8 inches (142.24 cm) tall.

\-she became a correspondent for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno when she was 88, in 2007. Her segments included her bringing her baked goods to several major events such as the Grammy Awards, the Emmy Awards, and the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

\-she also released a book in 2007 titled, The Road to Blue Ribbon Baking: With Marjorie.

\-she turned 100 years old in 2019 and made an appearance on the Kelly Clarkson Show to celebrate.

\-she passed away in late 2025 at the age of 106.

I’m so glad she was able to live such a long and happy life doing what she loved. I agree with her on keeping busy, it’s nice to have things to look forward to in life and to be able to follow things you’re passionate about!

Marjorie Johnson (1919-2025) was a famous American baker and TV personality who was born with a form of dwarfism. She won over 2,500 ribbons during her career and was nicknamed ‘The Blue Ribbon Baker’. She died at the age of 106.