THERE WAS MUCH SCREAMING AND

MOOING AT THE 2017 FAIR.

The 2017 edition of the Steele County

Free Fair kicked off in grand style with

the opening ceremonies on Tuesday

night August 15th. Large crowds en-

joyed the fair Tuesday night and

Wednesday until late afternoon. After an early closure due to

weather on Wednesday night, the fair kicked back into gear

on Thursday afternoon and fair goers flocked to the fair all the

way through the weekend.

Saturday was one of the biggest days

the Steele County Free Fair has ever

seen, kicking off with a very successful

4-H Market Sale and continuing with

huge crowds the rest of the day. The

food and product vendors were kept

very busy and over $44,000 was tak-

en out of the ATM machines at the fair

that day. Gold Star Amusements pro-

vided lots of smiles and thrills on the

Midway and David Smith Jr, the Hu-

man Cannonball, was again a big hit.

Add in the four free entertainment

stages, Ye Olde Beer Garden, over 2000 4-H exhibits, and

nearly 4,000 Open Class Exhibits and you have the ingredi-

ents for another memorable fair. I would like to personally

thank the Steele County Free Fair Board of Directors, all the

volunteers and staff, the vendors along with the community

and surrounding area for their support and friendship.

See you next year when we will celebrate “A Century Scene

in 2018” the 100th Anniversary of the Fairgrounds at it’s pre-

sent site. Jim

Volume 23 No. 10 September 7, 2017

FACTS FROM THE FAIR 15,304 visitors were in the Auto

Museum which was a new rec-ord. Saturday’s attendance was a new daily record of 4463.

The Muckle Museum had 1,890 visitors.

The ZCBJ

Lodge gave

away two

bikes during the fair. The win-

ners were Adrean Kapp from

Lake Mills, Iowa and Mena

Langer from Coon Rapids, MN.

94 kids participated in the Kid’s Pedal Pull. Winners were Samantha Nelson age 4, Wes-tion Johnson Age 5, Sawyer Deml Age 6, Jaxson Meiler Age 7, MacKenzie Edel Age 8, Saw-yer Ebner Age 9, Alyssa Age 10, and Ben Hagen Age 11. The Pedal Pull was held on Fri-day, August 18th and is spon-sored by the Ameri-can Dairy Association of Steele County.

Social Media was busy during the week of the fair and prior to the fair. Our website received 761,000 hits during the month of August through the end of the fair. Our facebook page had almost 59,000 hits.

Thank you Exchange Clubs and

Golden K Kiwanis for handling the parking lots in the fair-grounds.

CENTURY WHEEL IS MOST POPULAR

ON MIDWAY There were many rides on Gold Star Amusement’s midway this year. Top rides were 1. Century Ferris Wheel 2. Flying Bobs 3. Slide 4. Merry Go

Round 5. Tilt 6. Monkey Maze 7. Gravitron 8. Tilt A Whirl #2 9. Re-Mix 10. Musik Express

FOOD VENDORS RECOGNIZED BY FAIR The SCFF has presented awards to various food stands the past few years under the direction of Evaluations Supt., Terry Wiese. Award winners for 2017 are: Most Unique Product Waffle Chix Best Lit Stand Candy Land Best Bargain Kid’s Biz Root Beer Most Colorful Waseca Snow Biz Best Appearance Operators Dino’s Gyros Best Appearance Stand Fresh Fries Best Product Minneapple Pie Best New Product Bubba’s Fried Chicken Best Service B & D Greek Foods Most Attractive Solem Lemonade

SCFF OFFICE INFORMATION SCFF email: steelecountyfreefair@scff.org Web site: www.scff.org Facebook: Steele County Free Fair Phone: 507-451-5305 Office Hours: Monday-Friday 8 AM—4:30 PM If you would like to receive your monthly Barker Newsletter by e-mail, please contact the fair and we will be happy to add you to the list. If your address is changing please contact the office. The Post Office charges for every newsletter returned. If you plan to winter in another part of the county and would like your Barker emailed, please let us know.

TALENT SHOW WINNERS

Pre-Teen: Jenna Klecker, Owatonna Hip Hop Dance Teen: Julia Dallenbach, Owatonna Lyrical Dance Open: Dave Granlund, Medford—Viola solo with acoustic guitar. These three will be performing at the Minnesota State Fair.

The fair’s website and Facebook page were both very popular with over 300,000 hits each. Some of the comments are listed below: The people working at the gates and

parking were very good about giving rides for handicapped people. I think the staff who work on this event did an amazing job.

it's my favorite week of the year. El Sol Burritos, Greek Gyros and Ka-bobs, Fresh Fries, and Mini Donuts are the best... I also have 2 little girls who have an absolute blast everyday of the fair! Can't wait for next year already!

We moved here last year, and prior to moving here we would come up to visit from Colorado just to come to the fair! (And visit family)

One heck of a county fair. I have nev-er seen a fair with such colorful food vender carts. The alligator, deep fried pickles, smoked turkey leg, and the beer was awesome. Had a fantastic time. Oh and they charge you nothing to go into the fair.

Thanks for another great fair! Such an awesome family event. It always amazes me thinking of how many vol-unteers and how much work goes into making this event happen. Truly in-credible! Our community is wonder-ful. Our community is grateful. Thank you to everyone involved!

We have about 500 vendors at the Steele County Free Fair. A few of their comments are: Thank you for taking such great care

of us!. It’s hard to leave on Sunday—It’s always a good time at the Steele County Fair.

Everyone was very helpful and con-genial. Love coming to this fair! Nice and clean!

Very Pleasant Fair, Very Busy!

Best Fair Around!

Thanks for your hospitality!

Thanks for the great service.

GOLD STAR AMUSEMENTS

CONTINUES BICYCLE GIVE AWAY

The Gold Star Amusements midway continued the tradition of the Saturday ride special with 8 bikes giv-en away. The 2017 bike win-ners included Bo Moriarity, Claremont; Nolan Leiran, Albertville; Dominik Lulic, Rochester; Raelyn Tilus, Jordan; Noah French, Kasson; Rylee Hilner, Owatonna; Vonda White, Owatonna and Maria Miranda, Albert Lea.

HOW DO WE PICK OUR THEMES EACH YEAR?

People ask how do we pick the theme

each year?It has be-come a fun venture. In January and February

we seek the public’s input on theme sug-gestions for the following year. March 1st a committee looks through all the suggestions and decides what the theme will be and then the work of having a design put together begins. The 2018 theme “A Century Scene in 2018” was suggested by Naomi Jirele If you have a suggestion for 2019, you don’t need to wait until January or Febru-ary, you can submit it at any time to the fair office.

HOME MADE BEER DEPARTMENT RESULTS 70 total entries comprised the Home Made Beer Department for 2017 with 18 brewers or brewing teams. Grand Champion was Gary Muchow-Belgian Dark Strong, Second Place was Korey Borchert-Sweet Stout, and Third Place—Korey Borchert-Wee Heavy. The Label contest was also held and Tim Hunst –Lettin’ Off Some Steam was the Top Label.

NEWS FROM THE CULINARY DEPT.

Monica Kruschke, Superinten-dent reported that: Betty Hager of Owatonna was this year’s Supreme Ruler. Katie Ihrke of Owatonna was this year’s Junior Supreme Ruler. Ava Cox, Owatonna won the Culinary Creation for Juniors Champion. Ronda Prechel, Faribault won the Culinary Creations for Adults Champion. Thank you all for participating.

UPCOMING DATES AT THE

FAIRGROUNDS Sept. 8 Back to School Dance Sept. 9 Wedding Sept. 16 2 Weddings Sept. 21-30 Owatonna Motor Company Sale Sept. 23-24 Rabbit Show Sept. 27 Homecoming Float Building Sept. 30 Wedding Nov. 2 Annual Meeting

www.scff.org

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

FOR 2018

AUGUST 14-19

August 14-19, 2018

TO YOU FROM US -

THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING THE 2017

STEELE COUNTY FREE FAIR