We have a home-grown Minnesota band for two nights: Todd Eckart and the Centerville Allstars. We are also adding to our history of the fairgrounds display.
We are excited to have the same pottery lady come back this coming year. She will be teaching a class where people can make their pottery, then she will kiln dry the pieces and bring it to the fair so people can learn how this process is done. We will have a local lazer engraver come to show how jewelry and leatherwork is done with a machine. The balloon artist is coming back along with a face painter and henna tattoo artists. We also intend to have a local sled dog musher visit with his dogs to teach fairgoers how important sled dogs were in the early days.
The legacy portion of this grant will go toward a magician/entertainer who will initially stroll the grounds interacting with fairgoers (mostly youth) demonstrating balloon animals and then having a sit-down magic show twice a day. We will be have fiber weaving/crafting demonstrations throughout the fair week. These demonstrations will be done by 2 people showing from start to finish how fibers (sheep, dog, etc.) are spun into yarns and then woven into other products. We will also be enlisting one of our locals in demonstrating the art of forging.
We will provide a variety of free music, educational activities, and programing for fairgoers of all ages. Minnesota artists will provide various types of music such as country, blues, rock, pop, folk, and polka. We are also working with the Goodhue County Historical Society to provide presentations and activities to educate and promote Minnesota history and culture. Partnering with the Anderson Center, we wish to bring an artist to demonstrate their skills. This year, we are planning to bring a glass blower to our fair.
Our Legacy project will consist of a variety of items: we hold a craft day for kids where they can come to the fair and make various craft projects throughout the day. Kids usually go home with 2-3 projects each. We will also host a non-denominational church service; Legacy funds will go towards the musical group and their sound man that provides the music for the service. We are also looking to upgrade our sound system by our stage area, as well as renting a portable stage. We will also be purchasing portable pop canopies/tenets to provide shelter for outside craft vendors.
Hennepin County Fair would like to use their Legacy grant money for the following items: Wood turner demonstration, pottery demonstration, Chuck Perry - musician/magician, and stage rental for musicians.
With the Legacy Project, we intend to use the funds to purchase:
-- "Chalk Animals"- Chalk animals will be a combination of Animals from Plywood cut outs that we paint with chalkboard paint. They will be available around the fairgrounds for kids to use sidewalk chalk to color and embrace their creativity. These will be erasable and reuseable for years to come!
-- Balloon Animal Artist - We will hire Balloons with Kevin, a balloon artist as apart of our Kids Day Program.
Headwaters Science Center will give presentations on animals and science during Kids Day at the fair. Dazzling Dave will provide Minnesota-based entertainment to all fairgoers as he completes his walking tour of the fair.
We will be able to use this money to pay for the free entertainment for fairgoers, such as Doug Ohman. He is from our wonderful state of Minnesota, and has a wide variety of history and items of storytelling as well as making it fun and interesting. This is someone whom all ages can benefit from regarding history of our home state. We will also have a glass blower, Steven Weagel, who is from Pequot Lakes, MN. He provides all equipment to give educational and informative entertaining experience to everyone with shows every hour.
To provide a variety of artists, talents, and cultures for public viewing. These artists include many genres and some that normally our public would not have access to. Some will be entertaining, and some will also be educational. For all ages and open to the public.
We want to invite back to our fair:
- Doug Ohman who is a History Teller, he brings different content for the different sessions he does at the fair.
- Kevin Lindh is a balloon twisting artist. In the past he's had a continuous line of children to get their unique balloon figures. He does animals, characters, shapes, etc.
- Jeremy DeWall (and band) is a local Minnesota singer. He will bring his hometown music to our stage during the fair.
This year's grant dollars will be used for 3 different events at our county fair:
1) Woodsman Axe - Attendees will see how to throw the Axe plus be able to try it themselves! Along with that they will learn the history of Axe throwing.
2) Singing Pines of Cambridge - music of the 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's.
The Kandiyohi County Fair Association would like to invite RJ Kern of Kern Photography. RJ offers six different 30-minute in-person shows, showcasing education about
photography, county fair 4-H, and agricultural history.
For children we plan on having Alfy's World of Robotic Puppets; Wonderful World of Woody; and interactive show
Silly Ms Tilly, a balloon artist.
We will also have Honky Tonk Troubadours - music through the decades.
The Koochiching County Fair will feature two Minnesota-based bands. The Snowmen Band members come from the Bagley, MN area and the HWY 71 band is from Bemidji, MN. Both bands will be performing at the Grandstand on Aug. 10th. and are free and open to the public.
Grant funds will also assist in covering costs of the Kids Tractor Pull, also free to the public.
A portion of the legacy grant will also be used to fund our sound technician.
Jeremy Lepak (ventriloquist and variety show) will perform four stage shows to entertain the crowd during the fair.
Rook- Musicians and Entertainers playing 70s, 80s, and 90s music, with 2 shows.
Halls of Magic - 3 magic shows performed throughout the fair.
A --- Big Ideas Trailer ---- seeing the possibilities and learning about various trades through electronic interaction and one-on-one conversations with instructors.
B --- Doug Traxler and the Hired Hands ---- a very well known local musician specializing in folk ballads and easy listening tunes.
C --- Larry Novotny "The One Man Band" --- long time entertainer for the local area. He is multi-talented and plays many instruments, from old-time music to polka.
The Lincoln County Fair would like to bring a Mobile Sign Shop to the fair. This program is located out of the Twin Cities. They would be on the grounds and connect fairgoers to artist-created, mobile tools that are purpose-built to pique curiosity and prompt interaction. Our local library has agreed to pay for $500 of the cost if we could get them to come during the fair. The Larry Olsen Band, out of Lake Benton, MN, plays polkas, waltzes and other old-time music. We will have them perform in our Rainbow Pavilion (an old dance hall).
Wanda the Clown plays Kazoo, ukulele, sings, juggles preforms magic, shares her sillness and fun with all ages. Wonda the Clown is with Homeward Bound Theater Company in Chanhassen, MN.
The Route 68 Band (Big Band Sounds) is a group of musicians from southwest Minnesota.
They will be our band for Senior Citizens Day.
The Mahnomen County Agricultural Society's Legacy project is to purchase a sound system and bleachers for our free stage used for local artists, cultural demonstrations, and other events open to the public.
The fair is in process of updating our "park" area of the grounds. This is where performers are on stage. In 2024 we would like to add a cover, and more electric and lighting.
Stearns County continues to grow in diversity especially with our Hispanic community. We have had numerous requests to include a Hispanic band as part of our free stage entertainment. We would like to hire them for our Friday evening.
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.
We propose to use the Legacy grant funds to hire Homeward Bound Theatre Company's "Alfy's World of Robotic Puppets." These robotic puppets stroll around the fairgrounds and talk to the children about many agriculture-related topics.
The Traverse County Fair would like to book Gen X Jukebox, a band from Eden Prairie, Minnesota. We would also like to hire Rick Fidler to perform country music for people who attend our fair.
We will have special music (by a local band and single performer). We also want to build new display racks for the handmade quilts to share the local talent with fairgoers.
We want to provide free music entertainment for our senior citizens and country western fans by having Sherwin Linton perform. Our other free musical act is geared toward the younger generation for the 2- year-olds on up! Legacy of the Loud is a rock and roll band from Minneapolis.
RJ Kern's photography shows feature storytelling and agricultural photography and will be coming to our fair this summer. RJ does different shows: Being a National Geographic agricultural photographer; Being a Commemorative Artist for the Minnesota State Fair; The Unchosen Ones: Advice for 4-H Competitors and Life Skills Learned in 4-H; iPhoneography Tips for Your Award-Winning Photography; History of Agricultural Photography 101;
Historical Photography Demonstrations.
We bring many artistic programs to the fair each year. We plan to have a balloonologist this year. It is an amazing form of art that needs to be kept alive. It is truly amazing to watch them twist and turn a balloon in no time, and turn it into art! That takes a lot of talent and practice to be able to do this.
We would like to use the Legacy grant to help fund Minnesota bands in our entertainment building. This year we are looking at a "rock" band for Friday night, which will attract the younger crowd to the fair. On Sunday we highlight Senior Citizens, Farm Family Recognition and have a musician that plays old country and gospel music. For the younger youth on the fairgrounds we have free face painting on the grounds Saturday.
2024 summary of projects:
Balloon artist Janet Fossen; Fiber arts - Scandinavian knitting, weaving, spinning, weaving; Hands-on activities with local artists; Musical entertainment - Slamabama (all musicians are from Barnsville, MN).
We would like to hire an agricultural educational magician to perform Friday and Saturday of our fair. Rick fiedlier and Eric Reitan will also perform. The remainder of our funds will be to host our horse and pony pull demonstrations.
This year we'd like to use our Legacy funds to promote the history of Minnesota agriculture through the presentations of Doug Ohman. We're also excited to welcome back chainsaw artist Kurt Ingvaldson to showcase his unique talents. We'll have a spinning demonstration from a local artisan along with music from local jazz and blue grass bands. There are plans to have a local artist repaint our livestock barn signs and we're also looking at creating signs for our antique tractor display to better inform the public about the historical types of tractors.
The following 3 shows are what we are planning for the Cannon Valley 2024 Fair through Homeward Bound: 1) Mandana's ABC (Agriculture, Balloons, and Comedy) Extravaganza! 2) Dr. Street You are Magic Nick's magic inspires imaginations! He will show children how to believe in their dreams. 3) Alfy's Robotic Puppets: Through the ?magic? of radio control, these life-like puppets will be visiting and sharing jokes and quips with unsuspecting event goers.
The Legacy grant will help support bringing in local artists to do demonstrations and classes on jewelry making, macrame, and hat designing. There will be a class each day of the fair for both young and old where participants get hands-on experience in designing jewelry and creating their own piece to take with them, as well as creating a macrame design like a hanging pot holder or wall-hanging. Lastly a session will focus on hat designing. The hats (usually cowboy style) will be provided by the artist and the participant will be able to add cords, beads, feathers, etc.
