10 minute read
Southern Minn County Fairs
from SCENE JUNE 2022
by Kate Noet
Southern Minnesota
By TOM NELSON Guest Contributor
are not to miss
An iconic part of any summer in Southern Minnesota, the 2022 county fair schedule will offer area residents a wide range of affordable fun-filled attractions and events. Listed below is information on the various county fairs in the Southern Minnesota Scene’s readership area that will take place during the months of July and August in 2022.
Goodhue County Fair The 2022 Goodhue County Fair is set for Aug. 9-13 and the fairgrounds are located in Zumbrota.
This year’s fair promises to provide a wide range of entertainment highlighted by daily grandstand events. A kids’ lawn mower derby and power pull is a free grandstand event on Tuesday evening. The week continues in the grandstand with a demolition derby on Wednesday, tractor pull on Thursday and Autocross racing on Friday along with another demolition derby on Saturday. All of these are ticketed events for the grandstand.
“The Autocross has become our new premiere event,” said Bob Gonsior, Goodhue County Fair Board president. “It’s a little bit of auto racing with a bit of demolition derby. They go in a circle and within that circle there are jump…and it’s OK to run into another car! It’s a fun night and people really get into it.”
Gonsior said there were over 240 cars entered in the event last year and the Autocross attracts crowds of 7,000-8,000 spectators.
The fair offers free music entertainment in the beer garden each day and the All-American Lumberjacks show runs twice each day during the fair. The show includes everything lumberjack related from wood carving to crosscut saws to log rolling. The antique tractor and farm implements will be back on display this year and the fairground’s old schoolhouse will provide daily shows touching on the history of the county.
A carnival will provide fairgoers with a chance to experience the thrills of the midway, while the 4H barns will have livestock judging each day.
“It’s a fun small, town fair and there is always something going on at the fair,” Gonsior said. “What draws people to our fair is that it is truly a down home style fair…it’s the food vendors, the carnival and the 4H.
“Our fair the the 4H go hand-in-hand. It is really the grass roots of our fair. The 4H clubs really play an important role in our fair.”
For more information on the Goodhue County Fair, visit: goodhuecountyfair.com.
Le Sueur County Free Fair
Located on the fairgrounds in Le Center, the 2022 Le Sueur County Free Fair will take place on Aug. 18-21.
Admission is free to the fair with parking at $5 per day or you can purchase a week parking pass for $15. Grandstand events at the fair will include a demolition derby on Friday night along with a truck and tractor pull on Saturday night and the Ranch Rodeo on Sunday afternoon.
The fair schedule will also include music performances by Blue Ringers on Friday and Smokescreen on Saturday along with the always popular carnival. The pig races are also back this year and the fair will also feature a petting zoo and pony rides. New to the fair this year will be an axe throwing booth and archery, provided by the Nye Nature Center, a hypnotist/magician stage show and a Civil War battle re-enactment.
“There are a lot of fun things this year and I am super excited about it,” said Jessie Filter, a member of the Le Sueur County Free Fair board. “We have a good feeling for this year. Our food
trucks are getting their applications in and we have the carnival coming…I think it is going to be a great year.”
For more information on the Le Sueur County Free Fair, visit: lesueurcountyfair.org.
Attendees enjoy a ride at the 2021 Waseca County Free Fair. (File photo/southernminn.com)
The demo derby at the Rice County Fair in 2021. (File photo/southernminn.com)
Ticketed grandstand events this year will include harness racing, a truck and tractor pull, demolition derbies and auto racing. The beer garden music stage will feature performances by the Wendinger Band, Uncle Chunk, Jared Graff, and The Red Dirt Band. Crescent City Amusements will be on hand with a full contingent of carnival rides and games and wrist band specials will be offered for unlimited access to rides. 4H and open class judging will take place throughout the fair along with a full range of exhibits in the Commercial Building and the Hasse Petting Zoo in Agriculture Education Building.
For more information on the Nicollet County Fair, visit: nicolletcountyfair.com.
Rice County Fair
The Rice County Fair will make its 2022 run from July 20-24 at the fairgrounds, which are located in Faribault.
Admission to the fair is free but there is a daily charge on the fairgrounds for parking. This year’s ticketed grandstand events include compact and full size Enduro Races on July 20, the glitz and glamour of Midwest All-Star Wrestling on July 21, the Barnes PRCA Rodeo on July 22, the United Pullers of Minnesota Truck and Tractor Pull competition on July 23 and the always popular Demolition Derby set for July 24.
Kids Day at the Fair is set for July 22 with unlimited carnival ride wrist bands available until 4 p.m. Other kids’ attractions include the Children’s Barnyard (open daily) and the Kids Pedal Tractor Pull on July 20. The Rice County Historical Society will also be on hand daily to provide demonstrations and a look at the past on topics such as blacksmithing, corn shelling and grinding and hoop rolling.
A wide range of musical and family entertainment will be available at the Rice County Fair on the Sellner and Cannon Stages along with nightly musical guests in the fair’s beer garden. Scheduled to appear in the beer garden in 2022 are Smokescreen, the Chad Johnson Band and Mister Peabody.
What would a county fair be without a midway and this year’s carnival at the Rice County Fair will offer a full range of favorite rides and games. Fairgoers can purchase an unlimited ride pass for the entire fair in advance at the Hy-Vee or Fareway stores in Faribault and they can also purchase them at the fairground’s office located near the Grandstand. Daily carnival wrist band offers will also be available during the fair.
Senior Day at the Rice County Fair is set for July 21, and it will offer golf cart rides from the parking lots and around the fairgrounds, a spotlight meal in the Straight River Room, special “senior spotlight” price deals, a musical performance by the Whitesidewalls and the presentation of the county’s 2022 Senior Citizen of the Year Award.
Fair food fanatics will be in heaven as the Rice County Fair will offer a wide range of food vendors throughout the fairgrounds and a variety of businesses will be featured in the fair’s indoor and outdoor commercial exhibition areas.
The 4H and open class judging take place daily and it will give fairgoers a chance to see farm animals during the judging sessions and in the fairground barns.
For more information on this year’s Rice County Fair, visit: ricecountyfair.net.
Kids power wheel derby at the Le Sueur County Fair in 2021. (Courtesy of the Le Sueur County Fair.)
Steele County Free Fair
The Steele County Free Fair is billed as the largest free county fair in the state of Minnesota and it will return to the fairgrounds in Owatonna Aug. 16-21.
The first Steele County Free Fair on record was held in 1860, and it moved to its current location in Owatonna in 1917. The fair typically attracts over 250,000 visitors each year. Grandstand music acts slated for this year Maddie and Tae, Joe Nichols and Hairball, along with Grandstands favorites the Demolition Derby, an antique tractor pull and a rodeo with bull riding and barrel racing. Of note, admission to the fair free but there is a charge for the grandstand events.
In addition to the grandstand entertainment, a wide range of free music and other events are available at locations throughout the fairgrounds including United Prairie Bank Stage headliners The White Sidewalls, Power of 10 and The Transit Authority (a Chicago tribute band). The Ye Olde Beer Garden stage will feature Arch Allies, The Johnny Holm Band, Street Talk, Shag, Led Penny, Mason Dixon Line, the Dan Stursa Band and The White Keys.
The always popular carnival includes over 40 rides and the fair will also include a petting zoo, an All-Star Stunt Dog show, antique tractors and farm equipment along with the Jurassic Kingdom dinosaur show. The fair will also showcase a full range of 4H exhibits and animal judging and a chance to check out wildlife up close in the fairgrounds newly refurbished Great Outdoors Center.
“We have over 100 food booths throughout the fair grounds, so you have just about everything you can think of for food,” Steele County Free Fair spokesperson Wayne Steele said.
Steele said another popular destination are the booths set up in the Four Season hockey rink area. Over 250 booths are set up in the CONTINUED page 8
SOUTHERN MINN COUNTY FAIR DIRECTORY
Blue Earth County Fair
Dakota County Fair
Dodge County Free Fair
Goodhue County Fair
Le Sueur County Free Fair
Nicollet County Fair
Olmsted County Free Fair
Rice County Fair
Scott County Fair
Steele County Free Fair
Owatonna, Minn. Aug. 16-21, 2022 www.scff.org
Waseca County Free Fair
Handlers, helpers and spectators watch the show pen action during the market swine show on Thursday morning at the Goodhue County Fair.
Harness racing at the 2021 Nicollet County Fair. (File photo/southernminn.com)
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building which houses two full sized hockey rinks during the ice skating season.
“The Four Season building is really popular,” Steele said. “A lot of people walk through it because everyone is looking for something, either to talk with a business to remodel their home or to buy something.”
Steele added, “The fair here is huge. People actually take vacations to attend the fair here. Our fair has a little bit of something for everybody.”
For more information on the Steele County Free Fair, visit: scff. org.
Waseca County Free Fair
The Waseca County Free Fair will take place on July 1317 at the fairgrounds in Waseca.
Admission is free for the fair and parking is $5 per day or you can purchase a week long parking pass for $15. Grandstand highlights for 2022 include bull riding on Thursday, demolition derby on Friday and the Enduro auto race on Saturday. Music headliners scheduled for the beer garden stage include Johnny Holm, Blue Ringers, Tripe Dog Dare and Lady Luck. New to the fair this year will be the Waseca County Sings talent and singing competition on Saturday afternoon and a performance by Dueling Pianos.
“People really like our grandstand and our carnival is great,” said Robin Dulas, Waseca County Free Fair Secretary/Treasuer. “People look forward to the fair all year and we always get great comments about it and how nice it is. Our schedule of events is pretty packed this year, and we are pretty excited about that, we have more going on this year than we did last year.”
For more information on the Waseca County Fair, visit: wasecacountyfreefair.com.
The summer schedule for the other county fairs in the region include the Blue Earth County Fair on July 28-31, the Dakota County Fair on Aug. 8-14, the Dodge County Fair on Aug. 8-14, the Olmsted County Fair on July 25-31 and the Scott County Fair on July 27-31. See the websites listed below for more information on these fairs.
