County Fair Legacy Project

Project Details by Fiscal Year
2024 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$3,755
Fund Source
Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund
Recipient
Steele County Free Fair
Status
Completed
Start Date
April 2024
End Date
June 2025
Counties Affected
Steele
Steele
Project Overview

Each year we try to highlight some form of the arts that the public may not get to see often. In 2024, we will be featuring a glass blowing demonstration in our Family Zone. The Glass artists do shows demonstrating techniques and create a piece for the audience to see each step off the process. They do multiple shows daily between 10am to 9pm.

Also this year, we are featuring Paul Bunyan at the Great Outdoors Center, Friday - Sunday, August 16-18. Paul interacts with small groups of people, like a family or group of friends, on a personal basis. He talks about what it was like to be a lumberjack back in the day and lets everyone hold an axe that is similar to axes used by lumberjacks in the 1800's. After describing the lumberjack industry from long ago, he goes on to talk with everyone about the myths and lore surrounding Paul Bunyan and Babe. We are looking forward to having Paul at the fair.

Legal Citation / Subdivision
Minnesota 2023, Chapter 40, Article 4 Section 2. Subd. 10
2024 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$3,755
Proposed Measurable Outcome(s)

We anticipate that over 2000 people will participate in the Glass Blowing education programs over the six days of the fair. We ask our vendors doing demonstrations to provide estimates of attendees as it is often hard to get exact numbers when people are fee to move about. The Director for Outdoor Exhibits, does go around and visits with guests at each of these demonstrations. This gets feedback from guests and helps us and vendors improve the experience for the future. We have made changes for this year based on feedback from previous years.

We estimate that about 1000 people will interact in some manner with Paul Bunyan. We will ask Paul to count his interactions using a clicker. We know from one of the booths in the building that they had interactions with over 1500 people last year.

Recipient Board Members
Dan Deml - President
Wayne Steele - Vice-President
Timothy Arlt - Treasurer
Scott Kozelka - Manager/Secretary
Project Manager
First Name
Jon
Last Name
DeMars
Street Address
1525 South Cedar Ave
City
Owatonna
State
MN
Zip Code
55060
Phone
507-451-5305
Email
steelecountyfreefair@scff.org
Administered By
Administered by
Location

625 Robert Street North
St. Paul, MN 55155

Phone
651-201-6000
Email the Agency