County fairs across Minnesota continue to draw numbers

The county fair.

What kind of image does that conjure up in your mind? In Minnesota and probably in states across the nation, the images vary widely.

If you call a metropolitan area home or are largely confined and content in suburbia, it might be that you simply say, "Huh?" when talk of county fairs comes up. Or maybe, if you call a big city home, images of smelly animal barns, toothless "carnie" workers, lame rides, and food that puts your cholesterol level through the roof pop into your head.

But in rural Minnesota, for many of the very same reasons that metro-area folks might think a county fair, in the most positive sense, is an event that is simply not considered, and, in the worst sense, is something to be reviled, county fairs are embraced, they're held near and dear to the hearts of many.

A summer without a county fair? Why, that just wouldn't be summer!

We love to check out the animals in those smelly barns and see if any 4-H kids we know have taken home any significant hardware. We love to banter with the carnival workers who are trying to get us to invest our hard-earned money in games of chance in which we have little chance to win much of anything beyond a stuffed animal that practically fits in the palm of our hand.

Many of the rides might indeed be lame, but there are still plenty on hand to make us more than a bit queasy, assuming we dare ride them.

And the food? Who wants to eat a healthy salad at a county fair?

It's fairly easy to find county fairs in Minnesota that have existed for more than a century, in some cases well over a century. Certainly they've changed drastically through the generations, and some are probably quite a bit smaller or scaled-back than they once were.

But don't for a second think that these slices of Americana are on their way out. Sure, there's the isolated case where over-worked fair organizers have finally thrown in the towel, but a quick scan of the Minnesota Association of County Fairs website (mfcf.com) shows that county fairs continue to be a major economic force, not to mention a great source of summertime entertainment.

Last anyone checked, Minnesota was home to 87 counties, and yet the MCFC lists "95 county fairs and going strong" in Minnesota. So something must be going right.

Even with several county fairs in Minnesota not listing their attendance figures for 2011, approximately 2.5 million people attended county fairs in Minnesota last year. You don't have to be a math wizard to know that amounts to approximately one out of every two Minnesota residents attending a county fair in 2011. (Sure, some of the more devoted fair-goers probably attended many county fairs, but why nit-pick?)

So there are the carnival rides, there's the food, maybe a beer garden, too, there are the grandstand events that charge admission and the smaller-scale, often more quirky events that are free of charge, and there are those smelly animal barns.

Talk to anyone about how Minnesota's county fairs are doing these days, and what the future might hold, there seems to be an underlying concern about 4-H programs in the state. The question seems to be, are there still enough kids engaged enough to be in 4-H, and are they going to keep taking care of these animals, or doing these other projects that they enter in all these fairs?

The answer appears to be a "fairly" resounding "yes!"

"County and state fairs not only make great memories, they help 4-H youth grow into successful adults," said Dorothy McGargo Freeman, state 4-H leader. It's not about just entering prized animals or various projects in fairs, either, she added, 4-H kids play a critical role at many county fairs, leading tours, conducting workshops and doing hands-on demonstrations.

The Legacy Amendment's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, passed by Minnesota voters as an amendment to the state constitution in 2008, is even being invested in county fairs. While there was some debate over whether or not voters had county fairs in mind for state taxpayer money investment when they voted yes, in 2011, each county fair was allocated around $7,800.

That money was distributed equally to each fair to "enhance arts access and education and to preserve and promote Minnesota's history and cultural heritage," according to a Minnesota Public Radio story. The other half of the $2.8 million Legacy Fund investment has been appropriated to a competitive grant program for county fairs that can be used to upgrade facilities or boost programming.

So how's your county fair doing and what might the future hold? Minnesota newspapers owned by GateHouse Media, in Crookston, Granite Falls, Redwood Falls, Montevideo, Sleepy Eye, St. James and Cottonwood, and Devils Lake Journal in North Dakota, are asking just that, and what accompanies this story are some answers.