To offer arts activities that highlight the special attributes of local culture. The Clearwater County Fair will host two workshop sessions of Scandinavian rosemaling, and exhibit the work of two local Native American artists. These two very different cultural events will provide community members the opportunity to learn about cultural differences, similarities, and the rich heritage of the area.
To upgrade a portable stage. The Cottonwood County Agricultural Society has purchased a new portable stage that is larger in size and accommodates a greater variety of performers. With this upgrade, the Agricultural Society will be able to accommodate 50-60 uses throughout the year at different venues and help to bring a larger, culturally diverse group to performances.
To offer multi-cultural and multi-generational history and music exhibitions. A lumberjack show will highlight the experience of early settlers, and folk-music and a polka performances will promote intergenerational and intercultural amity.
1. Kern Photography: R. J. Kern is an American artist whose work investigates ideas of home, ancestry, and a sense of place. His portraits focus on intimate, interdependent relationships of people, animals, and landscape as a means of exploring how ancestry shapes identity and how myth intertwines with personal history. His camera has led him from an inquiry into his lineage in the farming communities of Scandinavia and Ireland to the examination of similar communities near his home in Minnesota.
We are holding a blacksmithing demonstration where the blacksmiths will display as well as show how metal is forged and made into useful artistic tools and show when this art started. We are having an onsite pottery artist come and demonstrate how pottery is made and what is involved. We will have a local balloon artist come and show her many talents of balloon art as well as a face painter and a henna tattoo artist (which has been around for centuries). Live music from local Minnesota musicians will also be involved in the fun.
The St. Louis County Fair will be presenting several different programs that will reflect various art forms. These programs will be comprised of different entertainers including a couple bands playing musch that is multi-generational and multicultural (Finnish). We will also be presenting forging demonstrations.
We will use this grant to focus on the rich history of agriculture in Minnesota through presentations and displays by photographers Doug Ohman and AJ Kern. We're promoting art in our area and state through the chainsaw art of Curt Ingvoldstad and the hands-on demonstrations of Lisa Douglas. The antique tractor display at our fairgrounds will be a bit more educational with a sign displaying the various types of tractors, along with facts about some that are on display.
We need updates to the 4-H exhibit building that is owned by the Agricultural Society, but it is used by the 4-H exhibitors to house their projects during the fair. Fine Arts, Crafts, Photography, Woodworking, Clothing and Textiles, and Quilts are just a few of these project areas. This building sustained some water damage to the interior of the building. The problem has been fixed but the interior plywood and insulation needs to be fixed to safely have these projects, exhibitors and fairgoers inside of this building.
We would like to be able to provide fairgoers a fun experience at seeing horses and ranchers work and run different events with their horses. To see how a blacksmith operates and create iron work. Our magician will create a fun experience for all ages to learn more about agriculture.
We need updates to our Scandinavian Arts Building that houses local artists' projects on display during the fair. This building houses the rosemaling/Scandinavian art projects in the front of the building. Rosemaling originates in Norway and is the painting of wooden furniture and objects with flower motifs. This art is really popular in our area and at our county fair. We are just submitting an estimate for repairs to the front of this building under the legacy grant project. The siding is rotten and now there are holes in the sides of the building.
We are hoping to continue to promote Minnesota art by bringing items back from prior years, but also improve our arts section for our fair. We would like to bring back our Birch Coulee Working Ranch Rodeo that shows our patrons the older styles of a working ranch such as cattle sorting, roping, and doctoring cattle. This also allows local participants to attend and try the different events it offers. Another popular activity we had was bringing a local blacksmith into our fair to show fairgoers the ways they created different tools in our past.
"So Hot Glass", glass blowing artist, educational and interactive presentations (6 daily) to entertain fairgoers with the beauty and skill of glasswork.
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.
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.
To improve the exhibit space for arts, cultural heritage, MN history displays at the St Louis County Fair by improving lighting and purchasing new display easels.
To highlight local talent by enhancing the fine arts display area with finished display cabinets. Additionally, funds will be used to bring live bluegrass music to the fair.
The Floodwood Four Rivers Legacy Encampment Park will make its debut at the 2012 Southwest St Louis County Fair. Located on the banks of the Floodwood River, the encampment will consist of several live, interactive demonstrations and displays depicting early trades and activities that took place on the area rivers. Fair visitors will enjoy activities such as birch bark canoe building demonstrations, fur trading reenactments, Native American homestead displays, and early logging equipment displays and demonstrations.
The Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) is an invasive insect that has been decimating ash trees throughout the Great Lakes states. It was first discovered in Minnesota in 2009 and is now found in four counties (Hennepin, Houston, Ramsey, and Winona). EAB poses a particularly serious threat to Minnesota because it is home to nearly 1 billion ash trees that occur throughout the state - the second most of any state.
To expand the awareness of the arts and history of music in America. The fair will host a jug band, polka band, folk singer and yodeler. To enhance the performances, a sound system and portable bleachers will be purchased.
Funding supports an Irrigation Specialist to develop guidance and provide education on irrigation and nitrogenbest management practices (BMPs). In this position, Dr. Vasu Sharma provides direct support to irrigators onissues of irrigation scheduling and soil water monitoring. She is collaborating on the development of new irrigationscheduling tools that help irrigators manage water and nitrogen resources more precisely. These tools help reducenitrogen leaching losses in irrigated cropping systems.
To offer new arts and cultural heritage programming at the St. Louis County Fair. Programming will include performances by Irish Dancers, a Native American pow-wow, children's theater, vaudeville, and music featuring a barbershop quartet, gospel, and Americana songs.
Native to the western United States and Canada, mountain pine beetle is considered the most devastating forest insect in North America. Trees usually die as a result of infestation and an unprecedented outbreak in the west is currently decimating pine forests there. While mountain pine beetle is not presently believed to reside in Minnesota, there are risks posed by an expanding species range resulting from warming climate and the potential for accidental introduction via lumber imports from infested areas.
To offer arts and educational opportunities for youth and seniors of Norman County. The Norman County Fair will offer several interactive arts and educational workshops including tie dying, a singing and dancing event called “Penny and Pals,” and a glass blowing demonstration. The fair will also feature a folk band and a draft horse exhibition.
To provide a variety of programming at the Winona County Fair that preserves and promotes Minnesota's history and cultural heritage. Art demonstrations will feature painting, watercolor, drawing, oils, spinning, weaving, and quilting. Visitors will be able to view antique tractors and learn about their history and restoration process. Children can watch a marionette show and learn about ventriloquism. The fair will feature a bluegrass band and a dog sledding display.
To provide new arts programming at the South St Louis County Fair. Programming will include a Bluegrass band, barbershop quartets, and children’s music.
To increase access to historical and cultural presentations in southwest St Louis county by building an amphitheater on the banks of the Floodwood River. Because the community of Floodwood has not previously had a grandstand area, the stage will be an excellent venue to promote the arts, cultural history, and the ethnic mix of people who settled in the area.
To bring a variety of historical programming to the Southwest St Louis County Fair. Programming will include a reenactment of voyager encampment life featuring fur traders, blacksmiths, and other encampment entrepreneurs. The fair will also host a dogsledding demonstration.
To increase arts and cultural heritage programming at the Southwest St Louis County Fair. Professional artist Brian Jarvi, the first to win both the Minnesota Duck and Pheasant contest in consecutive years, will be an artist in residency during the fair. Reenactments of fur trading, fur trapping, and camp life will also be available to visitors.
To preserve the one room schoolhouse on the fairgrounds. The Little Red Schoolhouse will need painting, window repair, and electrical upgrades. The Winona County Historical Society will help organize materials for programming and exhibiting.
Funds will also improve lighting in two art exhibit buildings.
