Maple Grove Sisters Set to Rock at the Minnesota State Fair

For the last few months, four Maple Grove siblings have been preparing for a moment that will finally come this Saturday, Sept. 3 at the Minnesota State Fair.

Sals Sisters, a pre-teen rocker band made up of four sisters, will take the stage at the Leinie Lodge Bandshell and perform in the State Fair Amateur Talent Contest. If they win, they’ll get a chance to jam under the lights on the Grandstand stage this Sunday night.

It comes as no surprise that Paul Strangis shaped his four daughters—Kristine, Sabrina, Cassandra and Angelina—into band members. After all, he spent the better half of his life behind a drum set playing for The Forgotten, a local cover band that fizzled when Paul’s priorities shifted from music to family life.

“Since I was a drummer growing up, when we had our first daughter, Kristine, I bought her a set of drums,” Paul said. “She was playing them by the time she was two.”

From there, it was a slippery slope. With each daughter that was born, so was another band member.

Today, the band is comprised of 17-year-old drummer Kristine, 14-year-old guitarist Sabrina, 12-year-old singer Cassandra, and 11-year-old bass guitarist Angelina. For the group, the sometimes most difficult thing about creating a band—finding a name—came easily.

“The girls named the band after their little brother,” Paul said. “After having four girls, my wife and I finally had a son. We named him Paul Salvatore Strangis, but we call him Sal for short.” 

The talent show experience isn’t new for the group. Sals Sisters performed at the same Minnesota State Fair show last year, but didn’t advance to the final round. They hope this year will be different. “It’s really fun to get up on stage and show everyone our talents,” Sabrina, the guitarist, said. “We’ve been practicing for this show every day this summer.”

On Saturday night, the girls will perform “Perfect” by Pink, a song that fits in to their pop rock motto.

“The girls love to play songs that they know,” Paul said, “so they get a lot of their influence from artists like Pink, Evanescence and Linkin Park.”

The fair performance is the biggest performance of the year for Sals Sisters. Since the group’s youngest member is 11 years old, their venue choices are limited.

“The girls play at pool parties and church talent shows,” Paul said. “But they also have classes and sports during the school year, so this is really a fun summer thing.”

Every night, the fair hosts a teen and pre-teen division of six talent show acts each. The best acts of the night in each division advance to Sunday night’s show. But for Sals Sisters, their dreams extend beyond The Great Minnesota Get-Together.

“We are making our first CD this winter,” Sabrina said. “I just hope we can all be really famous someday.”